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Delhi-based tech-enabled salon aggregating platform Be U Salons marked its first phase of nationwide expansion by moving into Bengaluru this weekend. It signed up five salons to operate under its brand name.
Vikas Johri, Chief Executive Officer, Be U Salons, told BusinessLine that, “We are excited at expanding into Bengaluru. We have signed up five salons in various parts of the city to operate under our brand name.”
“Be U aims to hand-pick only 100 salons in its first year of business in the city,” he added.
India’s $6.5-billion beauty, cosmetics and grooming market is estimated to grow to $20 billion by 2025. Between the organised and unorganised players, the latter makes up the larger chunk of the industry in India. Growth in the organised segment is estimated at 30 per cent, while in the unorganised segment, it is seen at 20 per cent. There are between 60 lakh and 70 lakh salons in India. Of these, only about 10 lakh salons use branded products.
On what sets apart Be U Salons from the other big, organised players in the industry, Johri said: “Standalone salons suffer from lack of backend support, small size, inadequate professional knowledge regarding running a salon business, and are constrained for capital. This is where we come in.
“We help reduce product consumption cost by 30-40 per cent, helping our partner-salons offer consumers prices that are on average 30 per cent below market prices. We automate the operations of all our partner-salons and put in place a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). We help reduce manpower attrition by training the staff, and implementing a mandatory incentives programme based on performance and skill improvement, which leads to trained, motivated, and performing employees. Thus, Be U Salons simplifies a complex business for the salon owners through use of tech and enhances their efficiency to achieve profitability.”
Besides Johri, the other two founders of Be U Salons, which is a part of Gingerpan Swapcart Pvt Ltd, are Chief Operating Officer Jigyasa Gupta, and IIT Roorkee alumnus and Chief Technology Officer Shailendra Kumar Nagvani. The company was founded in December 2016.
“We intend to disrupt the Bengaluru market by making quality services accessible to the people at affordable prices by redefining the salon ecosystem through technology,” said Johri on its modus operandi.
On the rationale for choosing Bengaluru for its first expansion move, Johri said: “Today, when everyone likes to live through their smartphones, we expect our user-friendly app-based business model to deliver exciting results in Bengaluru, the Silicon Valley of India.”
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