When you hear makeup or cosmetics, what pops up in your mind first? Nykaa! The super popular Indian e-commerce platform for wellness, beauty and makeup essentials provides genuine products at one single spot. That’s what people here love the most! But how did it become favorite brand of everyone in the tough competition by Amazon and Flipkart? What made Nykaa become a brand symbolic to beauty? What’s hidden in the name Nykaa? Too many questions, right? Don’t worry we have all the answers. Read below and let this article provide you breathtaking information about this popular Indian brand. You never know if this brand’s name infuses inspiration within you and you turn out to be another entrepreneur from this nation! You never know, others also become curious to know ‘What’s in the name’ of your brand?
Let The Journey Begin!
Startups are ‘started’ often, run often, and are closed often! But Nykaa’s road to success was taken with a clear vision that had no turning back. It was initiated by Falguni Nayar in the year 2012 and since then, with each passing year, it started becoming a renowned brand of the nation. The name Nykaa is derived from the Sanskrit Word ‘ Nayaka’ which means actress. The story behind the name of this brand is crystal clear. Falguni Nayar wanted every woman to feel like a Nayaka and witness beauty from inside out!
Know About Falguni Nayar
The founder and CEO of Nykaa, Falguni Nayar is now in the list of top 20 richest people of India. Born and brought up in a Gujrati family in Mumbai, business runs in her veins! Her MBA finance gave her brownie points in this journey. She associated herself with Kotak Mahindra Group for around 19 years by joining in 1993. But she took an exit in 2012 from the office when she was sitting on the chair of Managing Director. Her journey as MD from 2005-2012 was dynamic. But she had dreamt of another dynamic path ahead. As a result, she chose to go ahead with Nykaa, at the age of fifty. Today, this brand stands at $13 billion on November 10, 2021. Imagine the focus of the lady who until 2017 was looking at the customer orders by herself, on her own, working till late nights! This is enough to explain the dedication that makes this brand one of the best of all.
How Was Nykaa Started By Falguni Nayar?
In her own words, directed to the women, Falguni speaks, “Please learn to dream for yourselves. Once you have a dream for yourself, life will be good for you.” This clearly indicates she chose to weave her ‘good life’ by dreaming even at the age of fifty. For some it being a midlife crisis, it turned out to be her second innings. Surely, these innings have been best so far! The focus, the desire, and the will to do something meaningful and valuable for the women helped Nykaa to begin with power.
While being an investment banker, she came across so many people wanting to pursue their dream of entrepreneurship and hence, she was attracted towards it. But it wasn’t a hit and trial. She very wisely chose beauty out of electronics, fashion, and other arenas in order to stand out. Her vision of beauty and cosmetics being the area of the future worked well. Time was right, the chosen field was apt, the team was superb, research was brilliant, and the plan was perfect. This platter having all the important dishes in the balanced quantity let Nykaa taste success.
Falguni Nayar has mentioned it a number of times how she was lucky enough to have a dream team to kick start with. She got the ideal combination of IIT and IIM to begin and it worked well. She came in the front along with her three key employees in May, 2012 who were Chief Technology Officer, Chief Business Officer, and Chief Content Officer.
Business Strategies Of Nykaa
As mentioned earlier, it wasn’t launched just like that. A successful business is the one that involves fair research, great team, a clear vision, and success- not in the monetary terms but in the recognition terms initially. Falguni Nayar has said earlier in her interviews how she intended to have a sustainable and recognizable brand. From hundred visitors a day in the initial days to ten thousand visitors a day in 2014, the phenomenal growth cleared certain doubts. It pumped up the Nykaa team for its right follow up of marketing strategies. But what was the plan? What did Nykaa do to gain surplus sales? What were the strategies? Read below to know about it.
Business Model Of Nykaa
Nykaa has an Inventory Based Business Model. They source the products directly from the manufacturers or original distributors and sell those to the customers directly. This multi-brand store has its warehouses in big cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, or Bangalore. Their inventory model is the highlight. For beginners to understand, they have the bulk material stored in their warehouses and post ordering, you get your product delivered through a fast delivery process. Another highlight- super fast delivery! Above all, Nykaa is known for good discounts. But the advantage that lies here is- the discounts offered are by the brands producing the products. Nykaa isn’t offering any offs much from their end.
Nykaa is now having their own product line too that was launched around 2014. Their owned brands include Nykaa Cosmetics, Kay Beauty, Nykaa Fashions, Twenty Dresses, Nykd, Pipa Bella, Too Faced, Sigma, Charlotte Tilbury, and others. It already had a great marketplace and with its own range, it gained a new set of audience too. After almost five years of beginning, Nykaa witnessed break even which means no profit, no loss situation. Post this phase, doors to the profits opened for them.
Successful Strategic Planning Of Nykaa
Nykaa can be considered successful because of –
- Provisioning of quality products
- Fast Delivery
- Impactful Digital Marketing (Attractive Content Creation)
- Wide range to choose with a click of mouse.
Since Nykaa deals directly with the manufacturers, no involvement of a third party makes it better. This indicates no compromise with the quality. Also, the inventory model helps in fast delivery. Plus, tons of brands under one digital roof/ physical roof works wonders! But out of all, Nykaa’s creative team needs to be applauded for the digital marketing it does. These creative people have managed to gain 2.2 million followers on Instagram while the YouTube channel has 1.21 Million subscribers. Their attractive content and notifications popping up on the phone make the customers get hitched to Nykaa! You might have noticed television doesn’t show Nykaa’s presence much in the form of advertisements. Their ultimate goal is to target the audience from the digital paths. Roping in influencers, actresses, and celebs make it easy for people to connect. It has been able to make its presence so successful that almost every girl or woman knows Nykaa and even if you are a boy and your mom or wife loves makeup, or you have a girlfriend, then you must be aware of it for sure!
Present Status Of Nykaa
Nykaa witnessed growth in the revenue of its store of around 300% in previous years. 104 crores from the investors in 2016 also became the highlight back then. Getting around fifteen to sixteen thousand orders per day is no less! Having around eighty physical stores in around forty cities as of October, Nykaa is enhancing the numbers. At present, it has fashion, accessories, stuff for men, and international shipment in its plate too.
Let’s Know Numbers
As per a report of a popular business news channel, their Gross Merchandise Value went from 16,50 crores in FY19 to 2,685 crores in FY20. The revenue of the company went from 1,111 crores in FY19 to 24,40 in FY21. The profit loss charts showed -24.5 in FY19, then -16.3 in FY20 but profit of 61.9 in FY21. In spite of the competition from other brands like, Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm Mall, MyGlamm, Myntra, it continues to rock and roll.
Nykaa IPO Being The Breaking News
News channels gathered all the eyes when news of ‘Nykaa IPO’ broke. Its stock nearly doubled from the IPO price. On the day of its debut, its shares rallied 96.15 percent to close at Rs 2,206.70 against its price of the issue that was Rs 1,125 on BSE.
Conclusion
Nykaa is the story of a ‘Nayaka’ who wanted to achieve what she dreamt of. She wanted to let all women feel beautiful. Cheers to this vision that turned the field of cosmetics upside down!
Hope we were able to excite you with this brand story. Now that you know about ‘Nykaa: Brand Symbolic To Beauty’, how about receiving motivation from it? If you’ve got those entrepreneurship skills and you have that business keeda within you, then just don’t let it go away. Think out of the box, look for pros and cons, and then act. If it’s about motivation, we have enough for you! We will be getting tons of other brand stories for information and inspiration. Keep reading ‘What’s in the name’?
Author: Nitin mittal
CA by qualification
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