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Shipra Sharma, Co-founder of the on-demand beauty and salon service, also believes success that is attributed to luck cannot be replicated and is not really success

The on-demand beauty and salon services are slowly gaining traction in India over the past few months. A few startups cropped up, most of which follow a marketplace model. While some have already raised seed funding, no large funding has happened yet.

Gurgaon-based TooYoo is another player in this segment. Unlike existing marketplaces, TooYoo has its own trained people to provide services at the consumer’s home.

e27 caught up with its Co-founder Shipra Sharma to know more about the venture and the overall industry in India.

Excerpts:

Is India ready for on-demand beauty and salon services yet?

The beauty and wellness industry is growing at about 20 per cent year over year. The fundamentals of consumers leading a stressed lifestyle and the need to look and feel good, fuels the growth in this sunrise sector.

We have two focussed business segments – hotel and resort spas, under the brand name of Tattva and the on-demand beauty and spa segment under the brand name of TooYoo.

The wellness market a few years back was fragmented with unorganised aromatherapy day spas and ayurvedic therapy centres. A few large players were addressing ‘slimming’ as a way to wellness. Tattva was conceptualised on the fundamental belief that a good relaxing massage can help you do more – in work and personal life.

The India market has responded positively to the on-demand segment of services whereby beauty and wellness has been a leader (by value) in the on-demand segment. The fundamental need that drives the on-demand segment is that of “convenience”. Busy and stressful lifestyles are key triggers.

However, the consumer has not yet been able to establish ‘trust’ with a single brand in the beauty & wellness on-demand segment that will enable switch from ‘going-to’ a salon & spa to ‘calling-in” a salon & spa home.

What is TooYoo all about? How is it different from other players in the market?

TooYoo brings beauty and spa services to the comfort of the consumer’s home. With a strong focus on quality, we invest significant time on training our healers and beauticians popularly called as YooHoo’s on services and standard operating procedures on the customer service philosophy laid down by Tattva Spa. We have consciously stayed away from being a marketplace aggregator model, but have focussed on developing our own employees to higher levels of skill to deliver professional salon and spa experience at home.

At TooYoo, we have curated a menu of services which we have understood to be genuine ‘on-demand’ needs. “Getting-ready” segment of beauty services are still a retail salon play and therefore not a part of TooYoo’s curated list – high dependence on specific hair stylists and make-up artists makes this not so scalable in the TooYoo model.

TooYoo currently does about 400 transactions a month with a 60 per cent month-on-month returning customer. We are not in a hurry to acquire customers who are seeking freebies. TooYoo is looking to grow 10x by December 2016

What are the definite trends TooYoo is seeing in the beauty services?

According to a KPMG report, the beauty and wellness industry in India will be US$13 billion by 2017 (as per the global market intelligence firm Euromonitor International).

Several factors are contributing to this growth such as the penchant for convenience and affordability, the rapid penetration and adoption of technology and the dramatic shifts in the earning potential of India’s workforce and their enhanced spending prowess.

The increasing trend of spa parties of plugging in of pamper stations at events and celebrations is a strong indicator of the market readiness for on-demand wellness services. Beauty and wellness being a high-touch, ‘brand-trust’ based service, the consumer is extremely cautious in making her choices.

Recently, a few startups came up in this segment, some of which have already raised funding. How tough is the competition?

Most of these players operate on a marketplace model that leads to a fragmented customer and service experience, whereas we work on a model with the beauticians and healers (therapists) on our rolls. It is a niche segment with a strong brand play which will continue to win consumer trust in the brand. This allows us to better train our staff on the finer nuances of a timely and customer-centric service delivery which the pure marketplace models will find difficult to deliver.

To sum it up, a laser-sharp focus on stellar products and impeccable service delivery is what sets us apart given our tremendous experience in the field.

In addition, with Tattva is currently present In over 20 key cities in the country including Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Agra, and are are actively expanding our services and products in these cities to be able to offer a more quality oriented as well as consistent offerings. Hence, scaling for us will be easier than most players.

Have you raised funding yet?

At the outset, the co-founders pooled in INR 10 lakh (US$15,000) to start Tattva Spa. We were bootstrapped to test out the business models and get initial market traction. With a keen eye on steady growth and tight cost control, we were able to reach profitability very soon and that is when we raised an angel round of investment from Indian Angel Network and Healthstart in October 2014. A few close friends also joined in this angel round of investment.

What are the key challenges in the on-demand beauty segment?

The industry’s biggest challenge today is availability of skilled manpower. Since beauty and wellness as a service is high-touch, extremely personal in nature, hence, it is important to have well-trained people for this profession. Continuous training and focus on standard operating procedures (SOPs) is critical. Getting brands like Marriott and Hilton to trust their wellness facilities to us to manage was also not easy. The hospitality brands need very high standards of professional services.

What are your key learnings as an entrepreneur?

I have had many learnings throughout the journey of finding the first paying customers, testing business model, raising funds and scaling up.

Speak to your customer: A paying customer’s feedback is worth a 100,000 new customers. Your product/service is a solution to a real problem of a real consumer and she will know what she wants, how she wants it and where she wants it.

Always find time with an open mind to genuinely seek feedback for improving the product/service, delivery, after-sales, and any aspect that makes it more convenient for your consumer. Make it your personal mission to find out why a consumer will (or will not) have your product or service.

Hire fast, fire fast and promote fast: Recruiting is one of the most difficult, time-consuming and costly parts of running a startup. A startup idea, if it clicks well, grows fast and one needs a team of hustlers that can adapt, deliver and keep up with the growth momentum. You need people who are willing to keep learning as they keep delivering – It calls for a huge amount of drive.

Do not wait to find that perfect candidate at the perfect budget salary. Go ahead and hire quick. Be transparent about the expectations and ensure there is a short probation period for evaluation. Have the heart to fire if the job role is unable to excite the employee or if the employee is unable to deliver results quickly. Have a bigger heart to promote talent quickly as well.

Do not believe in ‘chance’: There will be a multitude of activities that you will undertake to promote your venture, engage with investors, improve your product etc. Be aware of what clicks and do more of that. Success that is attributed to ‘luck’ or ‘chance’ cannot be replicated and is not really success.

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