How Vyomo acquired 17K customers and amassed 53K downloads in 45 days
The on-demand phenomenon has caught up unprecedentedly in India over the past six to eight months. Lack of time, convenience and efficient supply and delivery channels are driving consumers to go for on-demand services like drivers, tailors, technicians, plumbers, among others.
Besides these services, demand for beauty and wellness services is also growing significantly, a slew of startups have mushroomed to grab this USD 4.8 billion opportunity. After VanityCube and Bulbul, Bengaluru-based Vyomo has now ventured into the on-demand salon and beauty service segment.
The brainchild of London Business School classmates Abhinav Khare and Poonam Marwah, Vyomo is creating a complete solution for beauty professionals and consumers. Talking about the launch, founder and CEO Abhinav Khare says,
We allow you to either book a salon appointment or we bring the entire salon to your doorstep. We have a mobile app for all beauty service requirements.
Yuvraj Singh backed company has launched its first mobile app in May 2015 and amassed 53,000 customers within the first 45 days. Based on the current location, Vyomo helps its customers discover salons and spas, compare prices, read customer reviews and instantly book the service they want within a few taps.
From zero to 17,000 in 45 days
On the merchant front, the startup has registered more than 3000 salons and spas and 1,500 stylists across Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. It claims 30 per cent of app downloaders (around 17,000) are actual users of Vyomo’s services. When asked how Vyomo achieved such scale in less than two months, Abhinav adds,
Basically, we worked with freelancing stylists on a revenue sharing model, rather than their existing monthly salary of Rs 10,000. This is a paradigm shift for them, potentially increasing their monthly income to upwards of Rs 50,000. This model helped us attract a lot of stylists.
Word-of-mouth reference has worked very strongly for Vyomo. “On various occasions, we have had family members and a big group of friends of regulars in one go,” says Abhinav
Customer is the king
Abhinav explains that customer feedback was crucial for their business. He points out,
We regularly collect customer feedback during every call centre interaction and conduct extensive surveys to gain insight on our target audience. Our focus towards data-driven customer centricity helped us in designing Vyomo 3.0. We want to make a huge impact on the entire customer experience life-cycle and so started door-step services as well.
YourStory’s take
Besides food and health, beauty service segment is the biggest area where people spend their monthly income. On an average, a woman spends anywhere between Rs 2000 and Rs 3000 on a monthly basis on basic beauty rituals.
According to some industry estimates, in a large economy like India, the market size for beauty services pegs around USD 4.8 billion and it’s growing.
Vyomo competes with VanityCube, Bulbul and BigStylist in on-demand beauty and wellness space. With this on-demand beauty and spa service integration Vyomo seems to be a single app for all beauty needs (from booking to availing doorstep service).
Tech-enabled startups in beauty and wellness space are going through an exciting time this year and the space seems to be a very promising niche to watch in the overall hyperlocal space.