Nykaa will get most of its analysis concepts on new manufacturers that it needs to carry on board and segments it must enter from its prospects, Falguni Nayar, founder and chief government officer (CEO) of the sweetness, wellness and trend firm mentioned, including that the agency benefited from its early adoption of social media.
“Our secret sauce comes from our prospects. They write to us and we’re very open; we take heed to our prospects. And truthfully, all our concepts come from them,” Nayar mentioned on the twentieth Hindustan Instances Management Summit
Nykaa, which has at all times been lively on social media, interacts with its prospects on-line, making a be aware of what they anticipate from the sweetness retailer. When it initially introduced that it was launching a retailer in Bareilly, the corporate was shocked by the variety of options its prospects supplied on social media, on the varied cities that it may enter, or later, on the varied manufacturers that it ought to obtain, she mentioned. That set the tone for the way the corporate utilised shopper suggestions for decision-making.
At present, about 60% of Nykaa’s demand comes from non-metro cities. “They (girls) really feel empowered and assured with what Nykaa provides them. That has been my huge motivation,” Nayar mentioned in a dialog with Mint’s editor-in-chief Sruthijith KK.
Nayar began Nykaa in 2012. The corporate right now provides over 5,500 manufacturers throughout magnificence and trend, with a few billion web site visits each month. When the startup debuted on the inventory market final yr, it was valued at over $13 billion. Its present market capitalisation is somewhat over $6.6 billion.
Nayar mentioned not having a background in retail helped her as she didn’t observe the conventions of the trade, equivalent to retailing luxurious manufacturers solely in a luxurious atmosphere.
“Many (individuals) inform me that since you weren’t from the sweetness trade, you broke all the principles, and also you didn’t take any constraints as a right,” she mentioned. “We didn’t carry the bags of how magnificence needed to be completed.”
Nayar, who was beforehand managing director of Kotak Funding Banking, began Nykaa in a small, scrappy workplace area of lower than 1,000 sq ft in an industrial space in Mumbai. “Regardless of having a really snug residence and former places of work, I wished the startup workplace to be actually ‘startup-like’, as a result of that’s when the startup tradition is available in,” she mentioned. “That’s when the tradition of frugality is available in.”
Right here, Nayar – a finance skilled – confronted a brand new set of challenges, from getting the expertise proper to the proof of idea. “I used to be very naive to suppose that I can do tech alone. I used to be not even within the tech ecosystem,” she mentioned.
She met with individuals within the trade, studying from them about magnificence, retail and expertise. “I’ve to confess that entrepreneurial journeys usually are not straightforward, particularly early days are characterised by lots of ache factors,” Nayar mentioned.
Throughout her time as an funding banker at Kotak, she helped entrepreneurs equivalent to Harsh Mariwala, co-founder of shopper items firm Marico, Adi Godrej, chairperson of Godrej Group, and Ronnie Screwvala, founding father of media firm UTV, in roadshows earlier than their preliminary public choices.
“I had seen these entrepreneurs, as they portrayed their visions. There have been so many individuals who didn’t imagine in (them), however they finally created that,” mentioned Nayar.
These experiences impressed her too. “I had seen lots of entrepreneurs pursue their imaginative and prescient and desires, and create an enterprise that was extraordinarily profitable and created a price proposition for purchasers within the nation. And I notably wished to provide you with the same such journey,” she mentioned.
Going ahead, Nykaa will give attention to wellness merchandise and athleisure trend by content-led commerce. “We already retail these on our web site. However we imagine in content-led commerce and we have to do extra with training and shopper recommendation,” she mentioned.
Whereas her close to time period objective is to develop the corporate in India, within the subsequent decade, she needs Nykaa and its manufacturers to be globally recognisable. “We wish to construct a shopper firm out of India that’s recognised globally,” Nayar mentioned.