Clean beauty platform Vanity Wagon recently celebrated its sixth year of existence. The beauty environment in India is very competitive, with big players such as Nykaa, Purple, Tira and Myntra. Some players have called it a day. However, Vanity Wagon has managed to build itself up to being the only exclusively clean beauty online marketplace in India. An achievement indeed.
For Naina Ruhail, beauty was something that had always interested her. After completing her Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Sinhagad University, Pune and an MBA from Apeejay School of Management, Delhi, Ruhail spent two years working in the corporate world in the IT sector with WSS Mumbai as Digital Marketing Manager and at WFX Delhi as Marketing Executive. Yet, she felt that beauty was her calling, and took that leap of faith as she wanted to do something on her own.
Having decided to start something on her own in the beauty space, Ruhail studied make-up and skin care at the London School of Makeup in the UK. It was during her yearlong stay in the UK that Ruhail started her journey with clean beauty. She became a user of clean beauty products and got the opportunity to use the phenomenal products available there and explore the global clean beauty market. On her return to India, she was unable to find anything that was even close to the term clean beauty. “Nykaa, Purple, and a few other platforms were there, but they were focused on the mainstream beauty brands and did not give enough importance to the smaller brands that were coming up; which were powerful and effective but were not getting the importance that they deserved,” says Naina Ruhail, Co-CEO and creative head, Vanity Wagon. “We wanted to establish an enterprise that would build this category. It would be a niche category that would give users easy access to the majority of clean beauty brands that existed, all under one roof. That was the idea behind Vanity Wagon,” she adds. Vanity Wagon was started in 2018 by Naina and her partner, Prateek Ruhail.
Vanity Wagon (VW) is an online marketplace for organic beauty products. When the company was started in 2018, nobody was talking about clean beauty in India. So building awareness of clean beauty was the most integral part of the company’s journey. According to Ruhail, the awareness building was started organically through the company’s blogs and social media, and then it moved on to their pay channels such as Google ads, search, shopping and influencer marketing. Gradually, the beauty brands themselves started talking about clean beauty and spreading awareness which helped boost VW’s consumer base. Today the company has a presence at 50+ retail locations and is serving consumers through its online website where they are informed about what is clean beauty and what is happening in that space.
Initially, growth was very slow for the clean beauty segment. However, in 2020, at the time of the pandemic, as people started talking about conscious eating and a healthy lifestyle, clean beauty and health related brands got a push to the direct to consumer channels. Business to consumer was the way to go. Many brands raised funds at this time, including VW. “Although the pandemic was there, we did see growth during those months. It was a peak time for D2C and I feel that gave us a bump too,” says Ruhail.
When Ruhail and her co-founder Prateek started VW, the company was bootstrapped for the initial two years. “We invested our own capital so that we were invested not just with our time, but with our money as well. And we gave our 200 per cent,” says Ruhail. According to data available on Traxcn, in 2020, VW raised their first round of funding through angel investors Sanjay Nagi and Ashok Tyagi, amongst others. In all, the company has had three rounds of funding, with the most recent one in 2022 when the company raised $2 million in a pre-series A funding round led by Agility Venture Partners and Lotus Herbals Pvt. Ltd. The Ruhails are working on raising another round soon.
According to Ruhail, the company has a turnover of Rs8 crore for the financial year ending March 2024. Today the company has over 400 brands online, and over 40 brands at its off-line locations. Of these, 70 per cent of the brands are Indian homegrown ones, and 30 per cent Korean and other international brands. Some of the brands that are doing well both online and offline include COSRX and Dear Klairs amongst the Korean brands. Amongst the Indian homegrown brands, in the hair care category Manetain and Fix My Curls are the more popular brands. In skincare, it is Beauty by BiE, Plix, and Juicy Chemistry. “These are some of the brands which have built themselves, and are very effective and powerful with their products. They have performed really well on all our channels,” says Ruhail.
The beauty landscape has evolved a lot over the last six years. While many market places have come up in this time – Tira, Myntra Beauty to mention a few – some have faded out as it’s not been easy to sustain oneself in this competitive space. So how has VW managed to stay afloat in this competitive space? According to Ruhail, the company didn’t depend on its online platform focus, and instead decided to expand offline and build an Omni channel presence. “We decided not to stick to just one medium, and to explore the other side. It was evident as the audiences too were moving offline post the pandemic,” she says. In January 2023, VW opened its first kiosk at New Delhi’s Select City Walk. It then went on to set up kiosks at Pacific Mall in Subhash Nagar in New Delhi, and in Elante Mall in Chandigarh.
Last year, VW moved on to partner with bigger retailers. In 2023, the company tied up with Shoppers Stop to help build the latter’s clean beauty category. This association helped give VW an edge. So when VW tied up with Shoppers Stop, it took a step back and decided that this was better and more economical for it and slowly moved away from the kiosk model. Today VW is at 45+ locations with Shoppers Stop and at seven of Lulu’s stores. “We are at a stage where we don’t look at the bigger retailers as competition; rather as partners,” (having collaborated with some of the major retailers in India), says Ruhail.
Vanity Wagon is now transacting online and off-line. The company is trying to increase its market share by building its private labels and distributing brands. Private label is not new territory for VW. In 2022, the company had tied up with actor-entrepreneur Anita Hassanandani and launched the private label ‘Better Beauty.’ The company is working on new launches for Better Beauty and giving the brand a little makeover. Plans are to launch the company’s own private label in 2025. Another announcement to look forward to is that of an international expansion.
There is clearly a boom in the Indian beauty space. With big players such as Tira and Myntra Beauty also in the beauty market, and the increasing number of international brands coming to India, the doors are open for all players. With VW operating in a very niche space, the company has tried to build and create value for itself in the beauty landscape. Having already partnered with retailers like Shoppers Stop and Lulu to help them establish their clean beauty categories, the company has already proven itself. Ruhail is looking forward to collaborating with more retailers. Clearly, the competition has become a partnership.