SUGAR Cosmetics: A Startup Journey You Need To Know

SUGAR cosmetics, a premium beauty brand, is a brand choice for the women of today. The creators of SUGAR are IIM Ahmedabad alumni Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee. The Co-Founder and CEO of SUGAR, Vineeta Singh turned down a 1 Crore job offer to start her own cosmetic venture. When asked about how she decided to take such a risky decision, she said-

“I don’t come from a business background, so the thought of starting one on my own was scary. I wasn’t ready for all the hard work it was going to take. However, I gritted my teeth and for the next few years, after I graduated from IIM Ahmedabad, I learned more about scaling businesses and other necessary information. I was 23 and believed anything is possible. The first few years were really hard and I must admit, I even had second thoughts about taking the right decision. Creating a large business has its share of humungous struggles but I persevered for many, many years before the breakthrough of SUGAR Cosmetics took place and now, it has actually turned out to be a brand that consumers love!”

The Origin of SUGAR

SUGAR was introduced in 2012, when the market was controlled and dominated by major brands such as L’Oreal and Lakme. Thus, thriving at such a time and competing with the already established brands was not a piece of cake especially after she decided to build her own empire and turning down a life settling job offer. But people who are meant to work for themselves don’t go working for other people. SUGAR’s aim was to provide a wide range of cosmetic products at an affordable price that suited best for the target audience. Compatible products and at affordable prices. What else does a customer want?

SUGAR has achieved tremendous growth as it has now more than 770 retail outlets in more than 100 cities in the country. In the fiscal year 2019, it accounted for around 200 crores sales. A product in it’s early stages tries it’s best to reach to their audience through promotions, ads etc. SUGAR too collaborated with Instagram and YouTube influencers so as to enter the market with a hype for it’s products for the Indian women.

The cosmetic startup was making a monthly sale of around 5–10 crores and their target revenue was 200 crores. But the financial killer, COVID-19, hit their plans and Vineeta and Kaushik knew it was time to buckle up.

Pandemic, Potential and Power

It was a victory for most businesses to survive the pandemic and it was a challenge for SUGAR too. They were strong-headed to turn this pandemic to potential opportunity. The company came up with different initiatives to maintain the relationship with their customers during that time. From cutting their costs to pushing for the social media marketing, the SUGAR cosmetics did exactly what they had to do and were successful in surviving and thriving in post pandemic. While some businesses were waiting for pandemic to be over and start restoring the venture, SUGAR did their own way!

Social media marketing in today’s world is an ultimate weapon to flourish in any business. For an Instagram influencer, for food delivery startups such as Zomato and Swiggy, and for beauty markets, is a cost cutter for the businesses as they don’t have to spend a lot of money in other forms of advertisements and promotions. Vineeta said-

“Content, which has been our big spinner from day one, was our core focus. We wanted to ensure that atleast by the end of the May we would have some revenues to ensure working capital”.

It wasn’t easy in the early months of Covid for the venture. There was a total halt of sales in April and May but she came back swinging by beating her own estimates and now she has her eyes on growing to a INR 500 crore net worth brand.

Summarized steps that led to SUGAR Cosmetics surviving the Pandemic

• Gave eCommerce a push and encouraged Social Media marketing for the company.
• Building an application to continue the engagement with the customers. The application now has more than 100,000 downloads.
• Focused on Content even when company was facing bloodbath.
• Changed her plans according to the situations and went on to achieving more than the targeted.

Lessons from the Journey of The Startup

1. Sometimes, the best answer is “no”. Vineeta Singh turned down a 1 crore job offer and went on to building a INR 200 crores cosmetic empire.
2. Know your worth, know what you’re build for.
3. Your Decisions can either make you or break you. Decide wisely.
4. Have the courage to convert your problems into opportunities. Practical Thinking is the need of the hour.
5. Focus on what you are, what you are known for. Content matters!

Always focus on expanding yourself. SUGAR cosmetics kept their goals straight, used social media to drive more followers to their venture and went on to opening more than 2500 retail outlets and increasing their sales to manifold times.