INSIGHTS #70: Future of Beauty and Personal Care: Tracking the evolution of the category in India

From lipsticks to hair care to bath and body -- there’s little to nothing that the average shopper cannot find that covers all beauty and personal care needs. And what’s more, the shopper can browse through multiple brands within the same unified platform.

It is to talk about this vision that I am joined today by Prashanth Prakash, senior partner at Accel and the man behind the glam himself -- Darpan Sanghvi, CEO and co-founder of MyGlamm, India’s fastest growing direct-to-consumer beauty brand. 

MyGlamm is one of our more recent investments in the beauty and personal care (BPC) segments that has seen tremendous success with its house of brands model and direct-to-consumer (D2C) business approach. 

It was enervating to hear Darpan’s unique take on the growing BPC market from an entrepreneurial perspective, along with Prashanth's keen and experienced insights into the burgeoning business. 

In this episode we discussed everything from MyGlamm’s journey, building a scalable beauty company using technology, the challenges and opportunities of the Indian market, tackling the COVID-19 crisis, leveraging social media, creating a data engine, and more -- all while keeping an eye on the offline sales game as well. 

• 0:00 to  - 6:25: Introductions and beginnings! Darpan isn’t your average CEO, and MyGlamm wasn’t born without some serious on-ground work that began with a keen interest in brands, and a never-say-never attitude. 
• 6:30 to 10:51: Prashanth’s thoughts on the brand space with specific insight into BPC, and what is unique about the sector. 
• 10:53 to 20:45: How Darpan navigated this space from an entrepreneur point of view. How did Darpan decide what product to launch with?
• 20:50 to 24:00: Prashanth gives us the investor perspective. 
• 24:03 to 27:51: What are the challenges and advantages that startups face in this segment, when they come up against the goliath brands that have been around for longer. 
• 27:52 to 30:40: Darpan tells us how he learnt from the foundations of the business, and in the BPC space the challenges that exist, are actually opportunities in disguise. 
• 30:35 to 31:45: Prashanth on how brands and businesses have to look to survive. How they must leverage the offline muscle that they built, to stay relevant in digital times. 
• 31:5o to 34:47: Does Darpan believe in the offline sales concept as well? How does it apply to his D2C brand and platform? 
• 34:50 to 39:20: The impact that COVID-19 has had on this industry and the surprises that came along with it! 
• 39:22 to 46:55 : Internet penetration in India has been far more successful and higher than the BPC penetration. What does this mean for aspiring companies in this space? 
• 47:00 to 55:34 - What does the future hold for BPC brands as well as the broader D2C segment. Our experts have predictions, aspirations, and hope for the future. 

Check out other episodes from the Insights Podcast series at https://www.seedtoscale.com

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