For each big day, a visit to a close-by Archies retail retailer was a should. On the times previous Raksha Bandhan, Christmas, or different festive events in India, Archies shops have been often stuffed with excited consumers shopping for greeting playing cards and presents for his or her close to and expensive ones.But within the final yr, the cheer has disappeared from the retail shops with their iconic red-and-white banners. They have remained largely empty, or shut.Like it did for many companies, the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdowns hit Archies laborious. In FY21, the New Delhi-headquartered model’s web gross sales turnover dropped to Rs 55.29 crore from Rs 139.32 crore within the earlier yr – a 60.31 p.c decline.Confident the tough instances will go, the NSE and BSE-listed agency not too long ago forayed into the beauty phase by launching a brand new web site – the place it sells gift packs by 45+ skincare, haircare, beauty and perfume manufacturers comparable to Skinn by Titan, Mamaearth, Beardo, The Man Company and Ajmal Perfumes.Hanisha Kapoor, COO, Archies Beauty, says: “During the pandemic, the online beauty, personal care, and skincare industries boomed. Since Archies already has a robust presence within the gifting business, we determined so as to add these merchandise to our online portfolio. We collaborate intently with nationwide and worldwide manufacturers to craft unique gift sets and hampers for our clients.”The new web site for beauty merchandise is separate from Archies’ bigger ecommerce web site for its common gifting merchandise, she says, including that the Android and iOS app are anticipated by the tip of the yr. An Archies retailer in VR Chennai. Photo credit score: VR ChennaiOnline is the way in which to goIn latest instances, as with the beauty merchandise vertical, Archies has been specializing in retailing presents with a utility worth. Personal care merchandise, sweets and goodies, synthetic jewelry etc are an important a part of its portfolio.“A photograph body or a mug that individuals could not use doesn’t create a lot of an impression anymore. Beauty merchandise, nonetheless, are helpful for everybody. We are additionally selling Indian manufacturers and startups, and leveraging our current logistics infrastructure to ship these merchandise to clients,” Hanisha says.The success of Myntra and Nykaa (apart from Amazon and Flipkart), which retail related merchandise, has proven Archies that online gifting of beauty merchandise is certainly the way in which to go.But one key distinction that sets Archies aside, in accordance with Hanisha, is its sturdy mechanism for personalisation. Not solely can clients buy gift sets curated solely for Archies, however they will additionally select to gift wrap the presents and ship greeting playing cards alongside with them.“The retail expertise is essentially much like the opposite ecommerce gamers, and whereas Archies Beauty remains to be new and not competing with them instantly in the intervening time, we nonetheless recognise that competitors is in all places. It’s not simply the online gamers – any client model in any phase has merchandise that may be gifted,” she says.A aggressive marketThe street forward is way from simple for the long-lasting gifting retailer. Started in 1979 in New Delhi by Anil Moolchandani, the model remained synonymous with greeting playing cards and gifting for over 30 years. It is now making ready to deep dive into a extremely aggressive marketplace for online personal care and beauty merchandise.Hanisha believes to reach this market, Archies has to play with low margins and reductions to draw extra online clients. Simultaneously, it has to spend on innovation to set itself aside from the pack. “Other online gamers are already giants, and to compete, we have to develop into trendsetters,” she says.To this finish, Hanisha is trying to onboard and curate gift sets from over 250 personal care manufacturers by the tip of subsequent yr, and get unique distribution rights for worldwide entrants within the Indian market.“We’re working with varied companies to advertise our merchandise on social media, and additionally participating in influencer advertising and marketing to achieve virtually 12 million individuals within the subsequent few months,” she provides. Anil Moolchandani, Founder, Chairman and MD, ArchiesMarket state of affairs and significance of offline retailArchies is now taking part in in an Indian beauty and personal care market that shall be value $28 billion in 2025, out of which the online phase will develop at a CAGR of 29 p.c to achieve $4.4 billion by 2025, in accordance with a report by Avendus.While Archies is optimistic about its online beauty enterprise, it’s equally assured its bodily shops will proceed to play an essential position in its future. With the proliferation of the web and adoption of online retail, Archies added digital greeting playing cards and an ecommerce buying expertise to its choices, however didn’t scale down its offline retail presence earlier than the pandemic.It marginally diminished its bodily presence from 250+ shops to 225 on account of the COVID-19 impression, however nonetheless maintains a sturdy community of gift shops in over 120 cities throughout India and different nations.“Our shops usually are not going anyplace. Wishing individuals on social media is extra frequent, so sending a personalised greeting card is all of the extra particular. Our bodily shops remained in style even after we began our bigger ecommerce play. Now, the pandemic has accelerated our online gross sales, however we all the time keep that ecommerce is an add-on to our brick-and-mortar retail mannequin,” Hanisha says.She believes getting Archies again to its pre-COVID income numbers is now a ready recreation. “Our manufacturing unit for greeting playing cards, paper luggage etc in Manesar is again to full capability now. But we’re nonetheless ready to see if we face a 3rd wave of COVID-19, by which case we will nonetheless serve our clients via our ecommerce mannequin and preserve Archies operating,” she says.Edited by Teja Lele Desai
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