Introduction
We have always heard a lot about the top men in the business industry, but only a few females are talked about. As of April 2021, out of the world’s 2825 billionaires, only 11.9% were women. But today, let us talk about Falguni Nayar, a woman who revolutionized the beauty industry in India, bridging the gap between Indian markets and Western markets. Falguni Nayar is the Founder & CEO of Nykaa, an online retail store for beauty and body care products. It is because of her that the fashion & beauty industries are booming in India.
She was born on 19th February 1963 in Mumbai, India. Falguni completed her schooling at The New Era School in Mumbai and then went to Mumbai University. She completed her B.Com degree from Mumbai University and has also done Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM Allahabad. She began her career as a management consultant and worked at Kotak Mahindra Capital Co.for 18 years. While she was working there, she saw a lot of her colleagues were leaving their jobs to start their own companies.
This incident inspired her and, she went on to start her own company when she noticed the gap between western markets offering high-end, better products and the Indian market. Just like every wise entrepreneur, she saw an opportunity there and grabbed it. Falguni Nayar says that she believed in online businesses and was convinced that this would be the preferred method of shopping in the future. With this belief, she launched Nykaa in 2012 as an e-commerce website that offered a wide range of beauty and grooming products.
Nykaa has its warehouse in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. They launched their line of beauty products for the first time in 2015 and, then in 2016 they launched another line of Body care products, followed by their line of comfortable lingerie in 2020.
She faced some roadblocks in the business, with the employees, at the time she was trying to expand her company. Due to the immense work pressure, the employee’s strength and teamwork crumbled. That was the time when her daughter had just completed her graduation and she came back to India. She joined the business to help her mother which had a positive impact on the company’s growth. Nykaa gained popularity because of the wide range of brands they have brought to the Indian markets like Huda Beauty, Charlotte Tilbury, Bobbi Brown, Elie Saab, Farsáli, etc., which were very hard to find before. Thanks to the unique collection and clever marketing techniques, Nykaa has never experienced a downfall. They use both online and offline marketing strategies, as well as Influencer marketing as the customers. Relate to other people talking about Nykaa’s products and praising them than seeing an advertisement on television. They focus on customer satisfaction just like a good brand should do and keep expanding their inventory.
"There's Always A Scope Of Improvement"
Nykaa made INR 214 crores in revenue in 2019 and which has risen to INR 570 Crores. They even donated INR 1 Crore to the PM Care fund in 2020. Nykaa raised INR 100 Crores worth of funding from Steadview Capital, followed by another INR 67 Crores from the Steadview Capital itself. Falguni’s net worth is approximately INR 280 Crores as of 2017, and she is set to become a Billionaire and Second-richest self-made woman in India.
They followed 5 major steps to reach where they are now and, this is the secret to their success. Inception, Omni-channel, Expansion, Pandemic, and Unicorn.
- Inception – The niche Falguni chose helped Nykaa get very popular very soon.
- Omni-channel – Falguni realized the need for offline stores to make the online business model profitable to its fullest capacity and opened a few Nykaa stores across India.
- Expansion – Nykaa’s team has always been consistent with expanding their inventory and launching their line of products.
- Pandemic – Seeing the effects of pandemic and lockdowns last year, Nykaa immediately took action to bring a change in their plan and pivoted to selling only essential items under their private label.
- Unicorn – They raised INR 166 Crores last year, taking their valuation to $1.2 billion, making them a Unicorn company.
Falguni Nayar likes to tell young women that they need to make themselves the center of their lives. She wants every girl and every woman to pursue their dreams and not overthink societal norms. She wants women to take their dreams seriously. Make success their priorities and work hard towards achieving their goals.
: By- Ria Prasad
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