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Listen the Story
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This inspiring story is of a rising “Beauty & Personal Care” retail startup called The Skin Story, started by Ravina Jain, based out of Mumbai, India. The Skin Story’s primary objective to create this brand was to provide good quality and effective beauty & grooming products. As of May’21, the startup is looking for investors. Here is the story of The Skin Story in Ravina’s own words.
Introduce us to the idea of The Skin Story
We have all kinds of skincare, haircare, and men grooming products like face washes, hair creams, shampoos, creams, beard oil, and hairstyling serums. We believe in exceptional formulations that help in solving the concerns of customers. We are a vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free, safe, scientific & soothing brand.
Beauty is not defined by complexion, class, or gender. Raw and natural beauty is inclusive of all. With this idea of ‘inclusivity,’ we wanted to launch products that people can resonate with and get more confident and comfortable with their skin. We have done multiple such campaigns of natural beauty where we have broken stereotypes with transgender people, brown skin, or scarred skin. We are not driven by fads or trends that are uprising. Instead, we believe in science and will only launch products that have proven scientific studies.
This we could achieve only because of our parent company that has solid expertise in ingredients, research, manufacturing, and formulations. With their support, we launched 40 SKUs with a very high percentage of repeat buying. Even though we are a beauty startup in a sea of established beauty brands, we launched in 1400 stores across six states in the first six months of operation.
Packaging and influencer marketing are integral parts of this industry to have a strong influence on consumers. In such a market, customer retention becomes all the more important, and I am proud to say that we have successfully achieved this objective as our first-time users love our brand, and they come again for a repeat purchase.
What’s your strategy story? What led you to start The Skin Story?
“Yeh kaam Karega kya’- this is the line because of which we started the brand. We are conscious of our skin. Hence we all face this dilemma every time we go and buy a beauty product for ourselves.
We just wanted to solve this dilemma, and I must emphasize that we have successfully achieved our objective so far. We satisfy our customers and have substantial 60% repeat purchases.
We know the what, why, and how of our products. What ingredients go into the products? How to procure the best ingredients? Why that ingredient? We have concrete answers, and those answers made me decide that we are at a perfect place to launch such a beauty product brand.
We are research-oriented, clean, proven to work, backed by science, and recommended by experts’ brand to make Indians Fall for their skin! again!
What marketing, operation strategies are you adopting at The Skin Story?
Our marketing strategy is to have a strong presence and visibility on whatever social media platforms we are on. We do not believe in availability without awareness. However, we are only available in six states, but we have made sure to have a strong brand presence in those six states.
We want to be known as a brand that breaks stereotypes. The #ZarooriHaiKya campaign by The Skin Story & The Beard Story is an initiative to create social awareness by tackling various issues such as wastage of electricity and water, littering, breaking traffic rules, sexism, etc. through advertisements (video/static posts) along with the usage of the hashtag. We have created advertisements on each of these topics.
We’ve also created two jingles for the campaign. The first jingle is designed for The Skin Story, which specifically tackles the issue of women being made to chase unrealistic beauty standards causing them to use multiple filters and tons of makeup just to fit in. In contrast, the second jingle is created for The Beard Story, which talks about men using various products to look flawless instead of embracing themselves the way they are.
With the kind of brand and products we have, it makes sense for us to build our brand in departmental stores, large format retail stores, beauty stores, salons, and A+ pharmacies. We have started to understand that the future of such skincare products lies in pharmacies, and now we have been leveraging them the most.
We are right now available at 300+ pharmacies. We do not launch our products anywhere and everywhere. We study the market and then decide where to launch the products. The strategy has helped us save a lot of time and resources.
What is your competitive advantage at The Skin Story?
Since a strong R&D and manufacturing expertise back us, we can deliver exceptional skincare and haircare products. Our products speak for themselves. Our products show results that make our customers happy. And that’s what differentiates us.
With just one year of operation, we are able to launch at 1800 retail stores and top market places and modern trade outlets. We are available at all those platforms where consumers are looking out for a solution for their skincare concerns.
Share a story when you have been customer-obsessed
One of our promising customers was trying to order our ginger and cinnamon facewash and witch hazel toner during the last lockdown. But due to strict lockdown, all the deliveries were hampered. Customer means a lot to us. I sent my personal driver to make that delivery. She was so happy that she ordered more quantities of our product and is one of our many loyal customers now.
The skin story sulphate free keratin shampoo is just the right product you need for you hair.After trying many shampoo from different brands , I can say with full certainty , this shampoo will not disappoint you. I have used it for only 2 months , but believe me the result is amazing. My hair has become voluminous frizz free and healthier. Would definitely recommend it
Priyanka Agarwal (Mumbai)
Any strategy mistakes you have made and what did you learn?
Initially, I did not launch many SKUs due to which we couldn’t cater to much of the customer’s needs. So to rectify it we have planned to launch at least 1-2 products every month. Also now we are looking forward to launching products that are dermatologically tested safe.
All these learnings have taught me that nothing comes easy, but nothing is complicated either if you give your 100%. Don’t let go of your passion because that’s the only thing that will keep you moving and achieving great heights.
Disclaimer: The information in the above story is provided by the startup and The Strategy Story takes no responsibility for the authenticity of the product and services offered by the startup. Reader’s discretion is advised.
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