Zivame — the online lingerie retailer, has undergone top-level management restructuring a few times, just like other established startups including Flipkart and Snapdeal. In the latest development, as per the report from ETTech, the company’s co-founder Richa Kar has submitted her resignation to the board.
Further, the report also states that the online platform has reverted to a marketplace model where it presents curated collection across brands.
Earlier, in January this year, Richa Kar disposed off day-to-day responsibilities and Chief Operating Officer Shaleen Sinha took charge of daily operations. This happened after the board-led decision to reshuffle the top deck in the company. The shareholders had also appointed managing director of Zodius Capital Shilpa Kulkarni as the representative who’d direct strategic decisions at the company.
In an email response to ETTech about appointment of new member, the company’s spokesperson said:
Since this is a widely held company in terms of ownership with five shareholders, who entered the company at various stages of the company’s growth, it was mutually decided by all five shareholders that for the purpose of efficiency and also clarity to the management (that) they appoint one member of the board to be the point person for all interactions with the management. We have found this (to be) very effective for young companies where founders and management may not have the breadth to handle or listen to diverse views from multiple shareholders. This was put into place late last year and has worked very well for Zivame.
The shareholder representative would be active and engaged only in strategic decisions, which would include annual business plan and overall team structure and goals for the forthcoming year, and so in the months of March and April this would be a more engaged role.
It appears that Richa Kar will continue to be a member of the board and has not diluted or sold her equity in the company yet. A source aware of the development also added that Richa Kar had to comply with the board’s decision and her involvement was completely ‘coming down’ after the recent discussions.
Now, the company is planning to open standalone stores across 10 cities in India that will retail its private labels. Commenting on this, company’s spokesperson said,
To broaden our portfolio, we are handpicking and curating exclusive styles from other brands which at any given point of time will contribute less than 20% of to our overall business. There is no change in our retail strategy.
As per the documents filed with Registrar of Companies, Zivame recorded total expenses of Rs.43.3 crore for investment in growing its private label and for product design. The company reported 84% increase in net losses at Rs.54 crore for FY16 and 38% growth in its net sales at Rs.62.6 crore.
