Vanity Case on the Web

When IIM-A graduates Kaushik Mukherjee and Vineeta Singh launched Vellvette.com –— “a beauty subscription service to help consumers discover new brands and products that suited them” — in March 2012,it was after extensive research. The duo met similar companies in the US and China to get a sense of the challenges of the business and also conducted focus group discussions. “Based on our conversations with hundreds of women and a top-down analysis of the secondary data that was available on the beauty market,we believed that India would be ready for a vibrant beauty play in two years and this was the perfect time to establish a brand to be a frontrunner,” says Mukherjee.

This is a factor that former investment banker Falguni Nayar took into account when she launched Nykaa.com in December 2012. “A virtual mart addresses issues with beauty retailing that include the wide selection needs of the buyer and long tail inventory,that lead to challenges of stocking,” says Nayar,who believes e-commerce also provides a platform for educating customers and providing advice.

It’s this sharing of expertise that Little Red Tote is also hoping to capitalise on. “We’ve had the pleasure of working with some of the most talented people in the field. And bringing this knowledge to the world seemed like the perfect idea for our venture,” says Raghuraman,whose site offers celebrity beauty secrets,event round-ups and advice from the savvy supermodels.

Also bringing her own brand of know-how to the web is beauty writer Komal Basith,through Jossbox.com,launched in April,2013. The Bangalore-based portal’s mantra too is personalisation with a feature called The Finder,a detailed rating system that matches products to a customer’s specific needs.

While Vellvette.com is a subscription service,where in lieu of a fixed fee,customers receive a curated box of three beauty and cosmetic products from premium brands such as Lancome,Shiseido,L’Occitane,and Bath & Body Works,tailor-made to their needs every month,Nykaa.com is a straightforward e-portal selling over 150 mass beauty and wellness brands such as Lakme,Maybelline,Nivea and Ponds. Basith,on the other hand,is specifically targeting the luxury beauty space with brands such as Babor,Phytomer,Pangea Organics,Dermalogica and Thalgo. “Luxury beauty is still in its infancy in India,where shopping for high-end products is often a less-than-pleasurable experience. The onus is on us to do our research and then hope that we get correct advice from sales assistants,which is often not the case,” says Basith,who aims to add to the luxury experience by providing quality editorial content and adding more high-end brands to her arsenal.

Each of these sites also have a strong social media presence through a Twitter and Facebook,as well as carry out offline interactions with buyers,hoping that in the fast growing maze of bright beauty ideas their unique selling points will help their e-portals flourish.