We Are Targeting 300% Growth YoY For The Next 3 Years By Launching New Products: Yash Hisaria, Founder, St. D'vence
Who says luxury comes at a price? Yash Hisaria, 19, Founder of St. D'vence, has proved it wrong. He has created a skincare brand that gives you high-quality products at an affordable price. Alos, he says that the harsh environment, along with melanin in our skin, makes our skin extra sensitive with a predisposition to pigmentation and dust. So, his team has created vegan, safe and effective skin care essentials to address these issues.
As per the company, these products are free from any harsh chemicals or toxins, and use the combined power of natural extracts. Their collection includes several firsts for the Indian market, multani mitti lotion that has been designed exclusively for Indian skin; flavourful natural blends of face washes, that works multiple problems at once including acne, pigmentation, aging - and the light weight moisturizer with super quick absorption technology, which intensely re-hydrates the lost moisture in the skin instantly and finally, their interesting range of carrier oils that fights various skin disorders.
In an interview with BW Businessworld, Hisaria, spoke about the journey of the brand and more
How difficult was it to enter a beauty segment when many other brands are standing strong?
Entering the beauty segment was very difficult not just from the clutter point of view but also from the licensing and legal point of view. It is not easy to formulate and get approval for a product from the legal authorities in the first place forget about the competition per say. The second difficulty was of course the clutter but while many people are of the opinion that there is a lot of competition and a lot of players in the beauty category I feel there is a lot of white spaces which can be addressed, having big market sizes for each of them. I feel even when there is a lot of competition companies are still not catering to this market in a way they should ideally do.
How difficult is it to convince people for a new brand when they are already comfortable with the other beauty products?
I think if your brand, your product and your solution fits in the lives of people like a piece of puzzle then they will go from being your potential customer to be your consumer irrespective of him/her having tried your product even once. I think the market has opened up to people who are willing to try new brands with new fragrances, new textures, new ingredients and brands who have a good story to narrate. People are more willing to try out these brands and therefore consumer behaviour is actually changing. I also think that brand loyalty is becoming much harder and decreasing and it is only going to further decrease with time but that’s where the fun is, where we as a brand will get an opportunity to cater to a market which is now wide open.
How much investment you have made to date? Bootstrapped or Investors.
We are a bootstrapped company and proudly so. We have always had a fundamental business sense that said the business has to make money, pay for itself and whatever we have earned in the business therefore we have put back into the business. If I have to put up all of that capital together we have invested about a million dollar till now in the business.
There are a lot of beauty brands around, how is St. D’vencé doing things differently?
The brand strongly believes in the ideology of luxury for everybody. We truly want to deliver super high quality everyday skin care products that are both aspirational and accessible. We ensure that all ingredients are ethically sourced from their origin. We use naturally derived or plant derived ingredients in our formulations, ensuring all products are free from harmful chemicals like Parabens, SLS/SLES, Mineral Oils, Phthalates, PEG/PG, OMCs and are 100% safe for use and are hypoallergenic. Also, we are a cruelty free brand and do not test any of our products on animals and approved by PETA.
Our ingredients are ethically globally sourced from their origins. For example: We use 100% pure Moroccan Argan oil from women run fair trade cooperatives in Morocco. Lavender Oil used in Lavender Face Wash is sourced from Lyon, France. All our Carrier Oils are sourced from their origins: Avocado- Mexico, Wheat Germ Oil- USA, Olive Oil- Spain and so on. Also, we are actively developing products with Ingredients that are never heard of in India and are only available in the most unique places on earth solving very specific skin concerns.
What are your expansion plans in or out of the country?
We are targeting 300% growth year on year for the next 3 years by launching new products, increasing average order values, reducing customer acquisition costs and extensive marketing campaigns. We are also in talks with the biggest consumer focused venture capitalists in India and will raise funds at the right time for further growth of the business.
What's your take on the future for start-ups and entrepreneurship?
I think it’s a very bright future specially because of 2-3 different reasons. Firstly, the government’s push to programmes like Make in India, Standup India and Start-up India and also a huge push to women backed entrepreneurship enterprises. The government’s push to help start-ups grow is one of the biggest positives. The second biggest positive is the prevailing eco system from investors point of view, to colleges having entrepreneurship cells and incubation centres to infrastructure that has opened up for Indian start-up companies in terms of office spaces and coworking spaces. There is a huge push in terms of infrastructure that has been developed at the ground and the policies that have been made on paper and we are seeing them being executed as well. These two things make me believe that for future of start-ups in India the sky is the only limit.
From my personal experience I can say that in the US entrepreneurship and failure in entrepreneurship can be carried as bag on your shoulder and you can go in an interview and say that I started up and I failed, this was not in India for a long time until now but now people are realising that entrepreneurship is even harder or better journey than any corporate job or desk job and therefore people are now more than willing to take risks on the ideas they have and willing to go out and execute them. All these things add up to the start-up ecosystem in India and I believe this is only going to grow.
