India’s skincare market is one that everyone – from housewives to well-funded startups and global brands with little initial investment – wants a piece of.
According to MarketResearch, India’s skincare market was worth Rs 129.76 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach Rs 191.09 billion by 2025, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.22 per cent between 2021 and 2025. So what would be the best way to enter the crowded market?
Raveena Jain, Founder and CEO, The Skin Story with product range
Entrepreneur Raveena Jain saw a difference to carve her own niche in the skincare sector.
“Most products are not very effective and some clinically-researched products that help address specific problems like pigmentation or acne are usually very expensive,” she explains. Her Story,
In 2019, Raveena decided to launch The Skin Story with a range of vegan, affordable, FDA-approved skincare products.
Travel
The Skin Story isn’t Raveena’s first brush with entrepreneurship. After completing his undergraduate course in commerce from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, he did his MBA in Marketing from Management Development Institute (MDIS), Singapore.
In 2015, he co-founded Streethopper, a fashion accessories brand that turned profitable in its third month of operation. After her marriage, she started a wellness and nutrition brand Bodyfirst in 2018 with her husband Pranay Jain. Raveena has left the venture, and both brands are now run by her co-founders.
With a keen interest in the skincare space, Raveena decided to start her own D2C brand The Skin Story and an associate brand, The Beard Story for men’s beauty products.
“Men are becoming more and more aware of buying personal grooming products and the demand is on the rise. The Beard Story gives us an upper edge as a brand that makes products exclusively for men,” says Raveena says.
With about 45 SKUs for The Skin Story at the moment, Raveena says her company offers a range of cleansing products like shampoo and face wash for daily use. These are made by the in-house R&D team and are priced between Rs.149 to Rs.225.
The Skin Story offers an expert care range of result-oriented products like Pimple and Acne Corrector Gel, Under Eye Gel for Dark Circles and Puffy Eyes, Anti-Aging Serum, Blue Light Protection Face Mist, among others, at an affordable price starting from Rs. Is. 649 Rs.
The products are now available both offline and online, in addition to their website, on their website and marketplaces such as Amazon, Nykaa, Cred, Pharmeasy, and NedMeds. The Skin Story was initially launched offline and has a presence in around 2,000 stores in Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Goa, Delhi, Noida and Uttarakhand (the offline market accounts for 75 per cent of its sales).
The brand is also available in Dubai and Nepal, and is now looking to be listed on Amazon US.
COVID-19 and other challenges
COVID-19 posed a major challenge for a skincare brand that relied heavily on traditional retail strategy for growth, and Raveena made sure to tap the ecommerce space quickly.
The skincare startup claims to have fulfilled over five lakh orders so far.
During the peak pandemic year (2020-21), it earned a revenue of Rs 1.2 crore, which rose to Rs 4 crore in 2021-22. The entrepreneur says that the revenue is growing at a good pace. The Skin Story totaled Rs 55 lakh and Rs 70 lakh in April and May respectively.
Raveena says that brand building – whether it is through the retail market or through an online D2C strategy – comes with a specific set of challenges. While the last two years have been full of learning and the entrepreneur hopes to continue growing his brand’s online presence, he says offline retail has a place to be.
The founder is now focusing on coping with rising raw material costs due to the Russo-Ukraine War. Raveena says importing raw materials like butter, cream, essential oils and other ingredients from France, Italy, USA, Indonesia, Switzerland, Japan and getting packaging solutions from China is a challenge.
