Saturday, November 6, 2021

THE STRATEGY OF CARING BEAUTY: THE NYKAA STORY

 


Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, in the same way for the Indian financial arena year 2021 rests for Initial Public Offerings (IPO). You must be wondering how these two quotes complement each other? The answer is Nykaa's IPO.

The global beauty industry has never lost its allure. Along with its steady growth, the industry has amassed a slew of devoted customers over the years. However, with the emerging technological trend and internet boom, people cannot physically visit cosmetic stores. Why should physical stores be the only option when online cosmetics stores allow customers to order products at any time and from any location?

Nykaa is one of these e-commerce platforms for beauty and wellness items, and it has quickly become the first choice for all cosmetic lovers in India. Anyone who has even the slightest interest in using beauty and wellness products has heard of Nykaa at some point in their lives. This is an e-commerce site that specializes in Beauty and cosmetic products. Since its inception in 2012, this platform has played a critical role in dispelling the myth that e-commerce and beauty retail do not perform well in India.

Nykaa's success is the epitome of the Indian startup's innovative ideas and long-term sustainability vision. A beauty and personal care product brand founded by IIM Ahmedabad graduate and former investment banker Falguni Nayar started its journey as an online store. In nine years, the brand has ventured from an online store to an omnichannel model and from Beauty and personal care products to a seller of fashion products. With more than 350 brands and 3000 products, Nykaa.com is the most significant player in the nation in its segment. Apart from its online presence, the brand has around 80 physical retail stores in 40 cities.

At the time of its IPO company has valued at $1.2 billion, and with its 4000-crore funding raising activity, the brand tried to expand its verticals by fortifying the financials. The investors will take Nykaa's shares and how it will perform in the index that time will tell us. Still, the story of the hour is how in the era of e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart, Nykaa came up as a dark horse and established itself as a household name in Indian Beauty and personal care products. Let us decode the strategies that make Nykaa a giant killer.

A Brand for Solution

Nykaa.Com is the one-stop online terminus for you to sit back, relax, and shop at your leisure, with free beauty advice and assistance over the phone, advice from beauty experts, the latest beauty trends, product reviews, tutorials, and celebrity looks on the Beauty Book Blog, and a fun Virtual Makeover tool. This is the uniqueness Nykaa brought in the arena; they are not there to only sell products; they care for their consumers. The brand published a magazine that provides all sorts of information about a product and its usage. It usages influencers and beauty experts to connect with its consumers directly, offer them customised solutions for their problems, and help them understand products according to their needs. This process provides them with enormous customer loyalty and brand reputation.

"Unlike Kareena Kapoor, who is promoting kajal, or Aishwarya Rai, who is promoting shampoo, these are 23–25-year-old girls of Nykaa who dress and speak as if they are customers, rather than speaking from a pedestal."

Model of Competitive Advantage

E-Commerce businesses usually function on two types of business models, the Marketplace model, and the Inventory model.

In the Marketplace Model, Customers will be able to interact with a limited number of vendors through e-commerce platforms such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Amazon. For example - when a person purchases a good from Flipkart, he is acquiring them from a Flipkart-registered vendor. Flipkart does not sell the goods directly. Flipkart is merely an online platform where a buyer and a vendor meet.

The inventory model of e-commerce refers to an e-commerce activity in which the e-commerce firm owns the inventory of goods and services and sells them directly to customers. This is the model that set aside Nykaa from the crowd, and the model helps them hold the secure item and allows them to avoid counterfeit items on their platform. The brand has three warehouses in Bangalore, Mumbai, and New Delhi. The model also helps brands cut costs and receive economy of scale as they can order in bulk with various BPC product manufacturers and sell them over their platform. With the model, the brand able to build up trust among the consumers due to authentic products and on time and quick delivery.

Nykaa's management also played smart by choosing the inventory model. They received the benefit of government regulation which says, "In the eCommerce industry, 100% FDI in the marketplace model of e-commerce is allowed under the automatic route. Whereas in the inventory model, no FDI is permitted, with their awareness, the brand developed a competitive advantage over foreign players and foreign investment operated brands such as Amazon and Flipkart

Adaptable and Learner

Nykaa is a virtual store that sells everything from low-cost items to high-end brands. Nykaa has only lately begun cooperating with and presenting non-Indian brands such as HUDA Beauty, Kiko Milano, Wet and Wild, and others, which is a significant accomplishment in and of itself. This has turned Nykaa into a haven for cosmetic junkies who can now get their hands on goods previously unavailable in India. Nykaa also fostered the careers of several YouTube beauty gurus, showcasing their talent and pushing their chosen career path to the best extent possible. Nykaa's community network, which is an interactive platform of product users and experts, has around 1 million subscribers and Nykaa's YouTube channel has approximately 1 billion subscribers, which showcase the brand's mastery in content marketing, every week around 40000 users join their network community without any marketing push.

Nykaa Luxe and Nykaa On Trend are two offline store formats of Nykaa's offline store. The Luxe format includes Indian and worldwide luxury beauty brands and Nykaa Beauty, the company's line of cosmetics. Products are preferred by category based on their reputation in the latter format. The brand explores 92% of the BPC market consumer segment who are not in the online space.

Nykaa's fashion e-commerce store has expanded its worldwide delivery to 13 countries as part of the multi-brand company's distribution network expansion. International customers can now shop the retailer's comprehensive multi-brand collection of Indian fashion brands and its private labels. Nykaa's distribution network includes Zariin, The Jodi Life, The Pink Elephant, Global Desi, and FKSN.

Conclusion

The brand has grown remarkably in the last three years; income has doubled. Nykaa has returned to profitability in FY20-21. This year, they made a profit of 60 crores, which is unusual for a business in its early days. Apart from its financial recklessness Nykaa has established itself as one of the most successful businesses. Thanks to its calm and steady approach, it is positioned to become one of the top beauty and wellness companies in the industry. For all its consumers, it is the epitome of trust, wellness, and care. In the word of its founder, Nykaa's as a brand wants to become a demand-led retailer, not a push retailer and the BPC market leader is aptly dedicated to her vision. 

About The Writer


Piyush Ranjan Jha

Pursuing PGDM at IMT, Hyderabad

A constant learner expresses his opinion on Nykaa.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Top 5 Best Strategies to grow your StartUp

"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." - Zig Ziglar. What does it take for a business to b...