IIT KGP alumni on-demand marketplace for beauty needs plans to grab major pie of $5 B worth beauty service space

On-demand seems to have become a rage in the startup world of consumers, entrepreneurs and VCs. Over the past 12 months, the space has been providing fodder for all startup stakeholders, including the media.

While groceries, veggies, bakery products, essential electronics accessories (like chargers, cords, switches, etc.), and handyman services (technicians, plumber, drivers, etc.) have been available on tap for quite some time, the on-demand beauty and wellness space is gradually catching up with the burgeoning working class in India.

To tap this opportunity a slew of startups like Belita, Vyomo, Stayglad, VanityCube, and Bulbul made their debuts in various cities; and are gradually spreading their wings in the direction of the major Tier 1 cities of India. One such startup is GetLook.

GetLook is a marketplace for salon and beauty professionals. It aims to solve the problem for both sides of the beauty business: beauty and salon professionals, and the consumers. It caters to the beauty needs of women with the best services possible while also managing time and appointments for freelance stylists in an optimized manner.

Team behind GetLook and traction

GetLook is the brainchild of IIT-KGP graduates Gaurav Maheshwari and Ronak Sharda; and RTU alumni Vatsala Kothari. Gaurav had a stint with startup directory and research firm Tracxn while Ronak worked with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in the past. Prior to starting up, Vatsala had a short stint at Three Routes Media.

Women are, understandably, very concerned about their skin and hair; and therefore, they are very particular about getting to know the beautician who attends to them. “GetLook understands this very well and provides the customers an option to select their own stylist - based on their expertise, quality of portfolio, and reviews,” adds Gaurav.

The company claims to offer the services of a beautician at the customer’s doorstep within two hours. Currently, GetLook claims to have 6000 plus users; and they have been making 800-900 appointments on a monthly basis, with an average ticket size of Rs. 1750.

Differentiators and road ahead

With GetLook, a customer can book an appointment either through the Android app or the website. All the professionals listed on GetLook are certified, and the company also verifies their IDs and addresses for security reasons. “All the beauty professionals have to first pass a test before getting listed on the platform,” adds Gaurav.

At present, GetLook is operational in two cities - Bengaluru and Mumbai. With 70 members in their team, the company will also launch in Pune, Jaipur, and Ahmadabad in the next four weeks.

The startup plans to include celebrities, and also launch real-time location-based booking of preferred stylists within 30 minutes. They soon plan to cater to men’s services, too.

Size of opportunity

According to some industry estimates, the market size for beauty services in India is around $4.8 billion, and is growing. On an average, a woman spends anywhere between Rs. 2000 and Rs. 3000 (on a monthly basis) on basic beauty rituals. Seeing the trend of the current traction, GetLook should be able to do about 100 bookings per day in Bengaluru and around 50 per day in Mumbai very soon.

YourStory’s take

The on-demand beauty and wellness space has just started gaining traction and is undoubtedly one of the biggest opportunities in the overall hyperlocal services segment. The company competes with Vyomo, Belita, Stayglad, VanityCube and Bulbul.

GetLook appears to be a potent player in the on-demand beauty space and has an experienced founding team. The company should be able to compete well with the stalwart startups in this space. With the adoption of the on-demand phenomenon, the beauty and wellness segment is also catching on gradually. The busy and hectic professional lives of young women today are making them adopt these on-demand services.

The size of the on-demand beauty space is big enough to accommodate more startups, and we do anticipate a few more. It would be interesting to watch how these startups scale up as well as track how the overall segment evolves in the future.

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