BlueStone Sees FY25 Losses Soar 56% On Offline Push

Jewellery startup Bluestone recorded a 56% surge in its net loss to INR 221.8 Cr in FY25 from INR 142.2 Cr a year ago. 

According to its red herring prospectus (RHP) filed on August 5, the omnichannel jewellery brand also reported a revenue of INR 1,770 Cr in the fiscal under review, up 39.9% from INR 1,265.8 Cr last year. The healthy uptick in revenue was offset by the company’s rising expenses and high capital expenditure to fuel its offline push.

Founded in 2011 by Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, BlueStone sells a wide range of jewelleries to a diverse customer demographics and needs. Its products target both women and men, aged between 25 and 45 years.

BlueStone sells gold and studded jewellery through both online channels, including its website and mobile app, and a growing number of physical showrooms across India. 

Though it was initially known for its strong online presence, BlueStone saw a relative decline in revenue from the online business, and then it turned more reliant on offline sales through owned retail stores and franchisee-run outlets. 

BlueStone’s Offline Push

According to the draft IPO papers, 93.34% of the company’s revenue in FY25 came from the offline channel while online sales accounted for a mere 6.66%. This marks a shift from FY23, when online sales made up 15.63% of its revenue. 

The share of online revenue has declined steadily over the past three years, while offline sales have become the dominant channel for the brand. As of FY25, the company had 275 stores, a 43.2% increase from 192 it had in FY24. 

This rapid expansion has been central to its revenue growth strategy. However, average revenue per store for the company remained largely unchanged at INR 6 Cr in FY25. 

The Delhi-NCR alone saw the store count for BlueStone grow from 23 to 40 in the last one year, leading to steady growth in revenue per store per month (PSPM). 

In FY25, PSPM revenue in Tier-I cities rose to INR 64 Lakh, up from INR 55 Lakh in FY24 and INR 32 Lakh in FY23. Tier-II cities saw PSPM grow to INR 52 Lakh from INR 45 Lakh in the fiscal ended March 2024. The PSPM revenue for Tier-III cities reached INR 40 Lakh from INR 37 Lakh. 

BlueStone plans to keep up this momentum by opening over 290 stores by FY27, focussing on deeper market penetration and enhancing the omnichannel experience. 

On the customer acquisition and retention front, the company’s repeat revenue ratio stood at 44.61% in FY25, reflecting its growing base of loyal customers. 

As per the RHP, North India contributed the highest revenue to BlueStone’s kitty in FY25 at INR 698.70 Cr, making up about 39.47% of total revenue from operations. The southern region followed with INR 430.81 Cr or 24.34% of the pie, while the West and the East contributed INR 391.52 Cr or 22.12% and INR 248.98 Cr or 14.07%. 

The company relies heavily on studded jewellery, which accounted for about 67.8% of the total revenue in FY25. With this product mix, BlueStone remains primarily a seller of high-margin, design-focussed jewellery, rather than traditional gold pieces. 

Breaking Down The Expenses

BlueStone’s total expenses stood at INR 2,049.9 Cr in FY25, up 41.7% from INR 1445.7 Cr in the year-ago period. Let’s take a look at the various heads contributing to the outgo.

Employee Benefit Expenses: The company’s expenses for employee welfare grew 46.3% to INR 202.6 Cr in the period under review from INR 138.4 Cr last fiscal. 

Cost Of Material Consumed: In the year under review, these expenses increased 39.4% to INR 1,721.5 Cr from INR 1,234.6 Cr in FY24. 

Advertisement And Marketing Costs: In FY25, the company’s promotional expenses grew 28.2% to INR 15.9 Cr from INR 12.4 Cr in the previous fiscal.