The Silicon Review - Best Business Review Magazine 10 Best Startups of the Year 2019 Asia | Page 24

How Nykaa Emerged as the Largest and the
Destination in India: A Success Story
N
ykaa, a Mumbai based
company has radically
transformed cosmetic
shopping in India and that too in
less than ten years! Nykaa.com
is an entrepreneurial dream of
Falguni Nayar, who also served
Kotak Mahindra Capital Company
as its Managing Director. Falguni
has spent 19 years as an investment
banker and a successful stockbroker.
Nayar, an IIM Graduate is well
versed with how business works.
Her vast experience in the business
domain gave her an edge when
she started with Nykaa, her dream
entrepreneurial business.
What enticed her to start her
own venture was the drive and
passion she saw in many successful
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JANUARY 2019
entrepreneurs when she interacted
with them in the past. She thought
of different business plans before
but what appealed her most was
an e-store for beauty and wellness
products. She had seen how the
cosmetic industries flourish in the
west and she wanted this sector to
boom in India as well. “I was aware
of how big the beauty space was
in the US and other countries like
Japan, and I knew that it would have
a positive future in India,” quotes
Nayar. Hence, she introduced Nykaa!
Nykaa, derived from the Sanskrit
word “Nayaka” meaning “the one
in the spotlight”. Being true to the
meaning, Nykaa envisions making
everyone feel confident and well
groomed providing affordable
prices for the products. It has
achieved remarkable success in
gaining the trust and loyalty of
its customers by providing a
one-stop store for all their
beauty and wellness needs.
However, none of this came easy
for her as there were challenges
she had to face to prove the worth
of the idea. Flipkart, one of India’s
biggest e-retail markets had its
sole dominance back then. Hence,
entering the competitive arena
with an idea to introduce an online
platform for beauty and wellness
products was a challenging task.
People have always been skeptical
of buying beauty products online
because of the obvious fear of the
product not being genuine. The
myth that e-commerce and beauty