Nykaa - statistics & facts
Falguni Nayar founded Nykaa E- Retail Private Limited as an online-only retailer of cosmetics and beauty products in 2012. In her late 40s, she decided to switch from her position as a Managing Director at Kotak Mahindra Capital, to becoming an entrepreneur of her own. After its initial success, the Mumbai-based company expanded into omni-channel retail with the opening of its first offline shop in Delhi in 2020. The women-centered online marketplace records over 1.5 million orders a month and over 15 million registered users as of June 2021.
While top dogs Amazon and Flipkart had established themselves in India’s e-commerce landscape, cosmetics sales remained largely neglected. This left the niche open for focused online retail of beauty and cosmetic products by Nykaa. In terms of direct competition, beauty retailer Purplle continued to record massive losses just as Nykaa turned profitable in 2020. On the other hand, Flipkart-owned marketplace Myntra, redefined its beauty product portfolio and continued to be a major competitor. Apart from its own website, Nykaa managed to place its products on horizontally organized marketplace platforms including Amazon India.
The online cosmetics and beauty product niche
India was leading cosmetic, fragrance and personal care markets worldwide with a revenue of more than 14 billion U.S. dollars. The unorganized retail sector significantly dominated the beauty and personal care products, much like other segments across the country and accounted for nearly three quarters of the market. Another quarter was mostly handled by offline retailers such as chemists, saloons, and supermarkets. Modern trade in general showed a low penetration of online retailers.While top dogs Amazon and Flipkart had established themselves in India’s e-commerce landscape, cosmetics sales remained largely neglected. This left the niche open for focused online retail of beauty and cosmetic products by Nykaa. In terms of direct competition, beauty retailer Purplle continued to record massive losses just as Nykaa turned profitable in 2020. On the other hand, Flipkart-owned marketplace Myntra, redefined its beauty product portfolio and continued to be a major competitor. Apart from its own website, Nykaa managed to place its products on horizontally organized marketplace platforms including Amazon India.
