How Nykaa became synonymous with new age beauty brand

The growing obsession of millennials with affordable beauty products is driving the sales of new-age beauty brand Nykaa. After becoming a popular brand name in the women's category, the online beauty portal is now planning to launch a separate beauty line for men.

Nykaa, which has around 25 stores, mostly in metro cities, also plans to set up shop in tier I and II cities. The company, however, will keep its media strategy intact and would continue to focus on digital.

On the back of affordability and high quality products, the company has seen a significant increase in the frequency of products brought.

Reena Chhabra

“There was a time when we used to say that one lipstick lasts for seven years, that’s no longer relevant. Younger consumers will buy a lipstick every week as long as it is affordable. That’s what you invest in an Uber everyday so, it is not such a big amount. They also don’t have hang-ups about buying very involved products like say foundation, highlighter. So, beauty is intrinsic to them,” said Reena Chhabra, CEO, Nykaa Beauty.

And millennials now, according to Chhabra, are looking at better quality and not the big brand names.

“Consumer behaviour surprises me every day. When I grew up, we had a lot of hangs-up about make-up, but the younger consumers are very open. They don’t mind spending as long as there’s good quality. They are socially savvy so, they are looking at good products and not very big brand name. They test, they check and they say that I will decide what brand is good quality. I am surprised that they do understand quality,” Chhabra said.

“They know what is internationally trending and that’s the product that they are looking for. They are constantly trying. They like travelling, food and make-up; they are fitness freaks. These things allow them to have a social interaction. These things form a key and Nykaa fits in with that,” she added.

Speaking about the expansion plans, Chhabra said, “We are expanding every day, every month. We are a young brand and we do aim to get into more distribution. We started from metro cities and now we are moving to tier II and III.”

Talking about the digital media strategy, she said the job becomes easier when the brand starts listening to consumers. “Marketing is easier as long as you are listening to consumers.”

New product line, festive season to boost sales

The festive season has always played a major role for the beauty brands, and cashing on this opportunity, Nykaa is launching a product a week to cater to the ever-increasing demand. For this week, Nykaa announced its biggest launch, Nykaa Ultra Matte lipstick collection.

“With this launch, we expect we would become a significant player in this market. Right now, Nykaa label contributes to 10% of the business. We have been launching a product every week. This is a big launch for us and lipstick is an important category for a woman. It describes make-up. 60% of the category is lipstick. So, we do want to be very strong in it.”

Sharing more about Nykaa Beauty’s plan for this festive season, Chhabra said, “During Puja, we talked about how women should start loving and stop trolling. For Karvachauth, we are doing offline activations across Delhi, North and across Mumbai. We also have online activations. We are launching products. Last week, we launched a lip liner, just in time before Navratri. This is one of the reasons why we launched the range of lipstick shades.”

Even though Nykaa has received some complaints online for its slow service, Chhabra welcomes the reviews with open arms.

“It is a joy because they want to engage, they want to talk, and tell us. I think an over-engaged audience is always better than a non-engaged audience,” she said.

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