SME Times News Bureau | 11 Mar, 2019
Profitability can nullify the effects of
non-availability of funds to a great extent in case of small and medium
enterprises, viewed Mr. Mayank
Arya and Mr. Aditya Arya, Co-Founders, YES MADAM - an affordable Home Salon Start-up.
Excerpts of the interview …
Please
tell us about Yes Madam and its entrepreneurial journey.
The
Start-up YES MADAM, the most affordable and transparent Salon at Home App is
the highest rated beauty Application (Android & iPhone) with 4.6* ratings
and 1,00,000+ Downloads on Google Play store. The accessibility of Yes Madam
App/website allows customers to seamlessly book appointments for services like
beauty, massage, slimming etc. without making an effort to call during working
hours.
Yes madam
aspires to disrupt the beauty services by splitting the prices into two->
(Service Charge + Product Cost.) So, if the customer intends to use their own
products, they only charge for the services at Rs 6 per minute and if the
customer uses Yes Madam’s products, material cost is added.
For
Instance, A Sara Gold facial with Yes Madam, Sara Gold Facial takes
about 60 minutes. So, 60 mins x 6 = Rs 360(Service charge) + Rs 275 (material
cost) = Rs 635.
Similarly,
Oxy Bleach/ Raaga De-Tan Costs Rs 150 (Service charge for 25 Min) + Rs
40(Product Cost) = Rs 190.
The
start-up provides affordable beauty services at home through its unique Rs. 6-8
per minute price model (Rs. 6 Rs. /minute for normal beautician and Rs.8/minute
for a premium beautician). So, if the customer intends to use their own
products, they only charge for the services at Rs 6 per minute and if the
customer uses Yes Madam’s products, material cost is added. Unlike salons, In
order to avoid refilling or tampering and maintain transparency, the company
only uses sealed mono sachets (One- time use). And in case the product is left
over, it is handed over to the customer.
The
company has 250 + trained beauticians with checked background and police
verifications for safety purpose. Topnotch beauty brands like O3+, Sara, VLCC,
Lotus, Vedic Line, Rica, L’Oréal, Inatur, Ozone etc. are used in the beauty
treatments.
Within a
short span of time, the company has managed to break even and is eyeing
profitability in the coming years on the back of massive pan India expansion.
The company has been acquiring customers mainly through word of mouth and
positive reviews which help it generate revenue of Rs 2 crore annually with a GMV
of 10 crore at the moment.
What is
the idea behind Yes Madam; what opportunities you see in this sector?
Aditya
Arya, 31-Year-old, India’s youngest DPO (Merchant Navy Seaman), went to a salon
for a facial and the inexperienced beautician burnt his skin. It was evident
that treatment through duplicate products was the culprit. Despite the damage,
Aditya was slapped with a hefty bill of Rs 2,000. Not only did his face was
burnt; his pocket was also burning after the treatment he had at the salon.
Aditya
was scuffling to understand the pricing mechanism of the beauty industry. He
researched online on various websites and learned that the actual price of the
product is lesser and the salons are overpricing customers for the services.
Mono doses of the products were available for just Rs. 400 and he was asked to
pay Rs.2500 for the same facial material at the salon. He felt that there was a
dire need of transparency in the system. These thoughts seeded the idea of
creating a space where people could avail hassle free services at an affordable
& transparent price. Realizing the vacuum in this space, Aditya Arya and
his brother Mayank Arya, co-founded YES Madam, Salon at Home app for India’s
beauty conscious women. The mobile app allows people to register and have the
leverage of getting beauty services in the comfort of their home.
The
duplicity of products in beauty salons and then paying higher to get the
services is the pain area, which YES Madam sought to address. In December 2016,
after rigorous market research startup ‘Yes Madam’, was launched.
Of late,
several online service aggregators in different fields have entered the market.
Your views?
With the
advent of mobile application-based services like Cab booking, Grocery ordering,
Home Salon services, Indian cities have witnessed a silent revolution in the
monopolistic markets. With population swelling up in major cities, the demand
for hassle-free mobile services has increased multifold. Aggregators with their
innovative solutions have managed to capture a huge customer base by making the
process of availing services a simple one. As the services of aggregators are
highly accepted by consumers, there is high growth potential for the
businesses. However, having a brilliant idea is different from making that idea
a business success. Doing a startup is tough and every country sees more
failures than success. More often than not an entrepreneur needs to be prepared
to face failures and unprecedented hardship.
As a
start-up what challenges you have faced? Did you find any government schemes,
facilities, etc beneficial in this regard?
Hiring
trained beauticians are the biggest challenge of this industry. But, we at Yes
Madam provide world-class training to our beauticians and they are experts at handling
at-home services. Our team of experts and trainers has created detailed
standard operating procedures that ensure that customers receive salon like
service at home. We have a menu that offers mono sachet service kits to avoid
duplicity and spillage from large bottles. Transparency in pricing and quality
service is the key to success.
Finance
is difficult for India SMEs and startups. What is your view?
Since
beginning, we aimed at making the business profitable, that’s why our customers
are genuine and not those who try the app because of discounts. If we are
profitable then we can can still grow when the funding gets dry. Investors
follow the sentiments of markets but as startups we follow our dream and
vision. If we talk about reasoning and sentiments, we would still be
riding horse carts instead of electric car.
Please
share your future plans with our readers.
Currently,
the company is operating in Delhi and NCR including Noida, Greater Noida,
Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, and Faridabad. Considering the fueling demand in the
industry, the company is on the path of explosive growth and is now looking at
5x the number of hubs in the next six to twelve months. Further, by the end of
2020, the company are looking for expansion in Tier 1 and Tier 2 towns by
ensuring the presence in 20 to 30 cities. Along with services, the company is
also trying to tie up with other high brand products for mono doses.
The
start-up is looking forward to on-board around 1 million users & 10,000
beauticians in the next 24 months. Launched in December 2016 in beta version,
the app was exposed to only a few people initially. Since then, it has
organically grown to 1 lakh users, without offering any discount to customers.
Evident that App garners 10,000+ orders per month paired with Annual revenue of
Rs. 2.5 crores,” says the co-founder, adding that about 98% of YES Madam users
are women.
The
bootstrapped start up is already doing far better than its pears like house joy
(Amazon funded), At Home Diva (Quikr funded) & VLCC Vanity Cube (VLCC
Funded) coz of 70 percent monthly repeat users without giving any cash backs.
On the supply side, every beautician is earning Rs 35,000-Rs 70,000 monthly,
attracting a large number of beauticians.