[Exclusive Interview] This Startup Brings Salon To Your Home | Aims Rs 500 Crore Revenues In Next 5 years

Recently, we interacted with Mr. Mayank Arya, Co-founder at Yes Madam– A Home Salon Startup, and asked him about the mission and vision of his startup, and what are their future expansion plans.

Here are the interview highlights:

1. Kindly brief us about the company, its specialization and the services that your company offers. 

Yes Madam is a home salon brand and has been serving customers for almost 7 years now. It has been. The brand is committed to providing top-notch Salon and Spa services at clients’ homes with its highly trained and top-notch service professionals and industry-leading products. One can view all the salon and spa services on the website and mobile app of Yes Madam and schedule appointments for the Home salon at their convenience using a user-friendly interface. The services involve waxing, threading, facial, cleanups, Manicure-Pedicure, Spa as well as advanced services like LED facials and all of this at the comfort of customers’ home.

2. With what mission and objectives, the company was set up? In short, tell us about your journey since the brand’s inception.

The mission and objectives when the company set up was to provide each and every customer brand caters with the spa and salon services at home that is best in the industry in order to establish a long-lasting relationship based on trust and satisfaction. The primary values of the brand are transparency and honesty. Not just this, one of the key missions was to empower women as well and generate employment for women so that they can earn on their own and improve their lifestyle.

3. Could you highlight some of the company’s recent innovations?

Some of the recent innovations of the company are:

• Nail and Makeup services at home that are launched recently and currently live in several locations. This involves Nail art, Nail extensions removal and makeup application at home with trained industry stylists and makeup experts.
• Launch of advanced services like LED facial and that too at home. The brand is also planning to launch some amazing advance services that are not currently available in the market as well.
• Not just this, to ensure that our Service Professionals feel empowered and get to earn something extra we have launched the innovative feature “Service Professional Saving Wallet” that acts as a recurring deposit in the service wallet. The service professionals just have to avail of the same free of cost and the amount gets credited after every booking. They can encash the same anytime. It is like a recurring deposit for service professionals.

4. What is your biggest USP that differentiates your company from its competitors?

• The per-pricing model is one of the primary differentiating factors. The per-minute pricing approach guarantees that the consumer receives the service marked with the appropriate service timing, regardless of the service they choose. This enables customers to comprehend how much time will be spent on a certain service by the professional against the service they choose and for which they are paying.
• Another USP is Mono dosage. Mono dose products come in small sizes for one-time use and due to this feature, we ensure that no single product is used by more than one customer. And if in case, any product has been left after the customer has been served, the amount will be handed over to the customer.
• Another key USP is Product and service transparency. A distinct feature that allows a customer to uncheck the product cost and just pay for the service. In this case, the customer can give her/his own product to the beauty professional for the application and will end up just paying the prices for the services.

5. How do you see your company and the industry growing in the future ahead?

The company is growing year on year with a growth rate of approx 20%, with the increase in demand for salon at-home services, the company is targeting to break the 500 CR revenue mark by 2028. The brand is also planning to trot the Global market and that is under the pipeline. 

6. What advice would you give to someone just starting their own business in the wellness industry?

The size and growth of the beauty & wellness industry is huge and for anyone who is planning to start their own venture in the same, I would suggest building a loyal customer base. This industry is something where the customer’s demands are so evolving, so it is necessary to always cater to them with innovations and build a strong word of mouth, and as I would like to say simply “You Refer, I Refer & they refer”, the circle continues.

7. What obstacles have you faced trying to reach your goals and what steps have you taken to overcome them?

The obstacles we faced while reaching our goals and especially when I talk about building Yes Madam were awareness. For an amazing customer experience, we were doing a lot of innovations, CRM implementations, brand awareness campaigns, but somehow we were not able to reach out to the target segment. To reach out the target segment, we changed the strategy completely and decided to not run after the bookings and rather build good customer relationships and building awareness. And that involves a proper usage of Ps of marketing- Product, Price, Place, Promotions and the new P that we involved was partners.

8. What has been the biggest strength of Yes Madam?

The biggest strength of the Yes Madam is its team. We would have been here, if our team wouldn’t be believed in us. Nowadays when people run after flashy corporate jobs, i feel utmost pride in saying that my core team is sticking with me since the business inception days.

9. Where do you see growth coming in for the sector?

People’s lives have changed dramatically in the years since India went into total national lockdown on March 25, 2020. Most of us stayed at home for a long time to avoid the Covid-19 outbreak. For a few months, we did everything from our homes and became acquainted with the concept. The pandemic has changed our attitude toward demand. We are now looking for more products and services that can be accessed from the comfort of our own homes. And here’s where the Home Salon industry has completely revolutionized the concept of the salon. The major growth that we can see coming from the sector can be from the Gen Ys and Gen Zs who spent more than 50% of their time with their phones and are quite comfortable with the technology. Additionally, they are aware of the fact that it’s necessary to look groomed and presentable as it adds to their personalities.