Vyomo,
an aggregator of beauty salon doorstep services funded by cricketer Yuvraj
Singh, will become a part of Naturals with the nation's largest salon chain
investing Rs 100 crore for a controlling stake.
This deal, the first where a brickand-mortar salon chain is collaborating with an app-based beauty services aggregator, will give Naturals an entry into the on-demand beauty services space. Vyomo, which will be renamed Naturals@ Home, will get access to a large pool of stylists and wider reach.
This deal, the first where a brickand-mortar salon chain is collaborating with an app-based beauty services aggregator, will give Naturals an entry into the on-demand beauty services space. Vyomo, which will be renamed Naturals@ Home, will get access to a large pool of stylists and wider reach.
Naturals,
with close to 550 salons in 80 cities, has twice the number of outlets compared
with its closest rival, Hindustan Unilever's Lakme. The exact stake that
Naturals got under the deal wasn't disclosed.
"We get access to 7,500 Naturals stylists at almost no incremental cost with this deal. We were lacking in the salon experience but post this deal, we will have the capacity be able to service 25,000 customers a day," Vyomo founder Abhinav Khare said.
Almost 30% of the beauty business is now moving to home services, said CK Kumaravel, chief executive of Naturals.
"We get access to 7,500 Naturals stylists at almost no incremental cost with this deal. We were lacking in the salon experience but post this deal, we will have the capacity be able to service 25,000 customers a day," Vyomo founder Abhinav Khare said.
Almost 30% of the beauty business is now moving to home services, said CK Kumaravel, chief executive of Naturals.
"We
have been salon specialists but we realised that on demand services are playing
a very important role in the beauty space now. Since we ourselves don't
understand the back end and how the tech space works, the deal with Vyomo opens
up a completely new opportunity for us," he said.
The
Rs 100 crore that comes from the deal will be used to develop technology and
expand aggressively to meet customer demand, Khare said. The management at
Vyomo won't change, and the board will have representation from both entities,
he said.
Vyomo, the Bengaluru-based tech-enabled hyperlocal startup, has a presence in five cities. Post the deal, it plans to extend its reach to 80 cities over six months, capitalising on the operational strength of Naturals.
Vyomo, the Bengaluru-based tech-enabled hyperlocal startup, has a presence in five cities. Post the deal, it plans to extend its reach to 80 cities over six months, capitalising on the operational strength of Naturals.
Naturals,
which set up operations in 2000 in Chennai, has a target to have 3,000 salons
by 2018 and more than 10,000 by 2025.
A high-margin business and with the maximum repeats
among home services, tech-enabled doorstep beauty services have been gaining
traction among home service providers. Arecent report by consulting firm KPMG estimates that the beauty and wellness industry in India will be $13 billion by 2017.
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