Who is Vineeta Singh?
Vineeta Singh the founder of Sugar Cosmetics, is one of perseverance and strategic thinking. Vineeta completed her graduation from IIM-Ahmedabad. After graduating, Vineeta was offered a package of 1 crore from an investment banking fund at the age of 23. However, she declined the offer and instead decided to pursue her own business venture. Her first priority was to start a lingerie brand through e-commerce, but she found that investors were hesitant to fund her due to her lack of experience.
Vineeta decided to bootstrap her business and started a small service company that did background checks on employees of other companies. The business was growing, but it was not scalable and it was not her passion. She found himself in a job that didn’t interest him.
With empty pockets and no experience, but with determination, Vineeta Singh starts a small service company. This company used to provide service to other companies to check the background of their employees. They used to do background checks and took money for it. At one time she was getting 1 crore, now she used to get only 10,000 rupees per month. Business was doing well but there was a problem of scalability. Many low-service businesses are massively scalable.
How was Sugar Cosmetics Founded?
Sugar Cosmetics founded when Vineeta Singh identified a gap in the Indian cosmetics market – the missing mid-range segment. In 2015, consumers could find Maybelline and Lakme products at prices below 300 Rs, and MAC and Estee products at prices above 1000 Rs, but there were no options available in the range of 300 to 1000 Rs. No brand had thought to launch products in this range, and Vineeta saw an opportunity to fill this gap.
She talked to consumers and found out that many of them had trouble finding products that suited their skin. The international products didn’t suit their skin type because Indian skin is different, and pollution levels are higher in India compared to other western countries. The makeup applied would get removed in just half a day, so there was no durability and the products didn’t suit their skin type.
To fill this gap, Sugar Cosmetics launched their Matte Range products. These products were suitable for Indian skin, were durable and less expensive. The products were available everywhere so girls could use them anywhere. This helped skyrocket Sugar Cosmetics’ sales.
In just five years, Sugar Cosmetics has grown to become a 3000 Cr company, with over 3000 stores and creating a splash in the Indian Cosmetics Market. The company has been able to compete with established brands like Maybelline and Lakme. The powerful business lessons that we can learn from this story include the importance of identifying and filling market gaps, understanding and catering to your target customer’s needs, and being willing to pivot and adapt your business strategy when necessary.
Conclusion
Sugar Cosmetics’ success is a result of identifying and filling a gap in the Indian cosmetics market, understanding and catering to the target customer’s needs, and being willing to pivot and adapt their business strategy when necessary. Through this story, we can learn powerful business lessons such as the importance of understanding the market, identifying and filling gaps, and staying true to our passion.
