As India’s Generation Z audience matured and became consumers in their own right in the past couple of years, Prolixr looked to bring international beauty solutions for this cohort.
The Origin Story
Jayesh Hans and Aditya Sharma were just 22 when they stumbled on to the idea of importing personal care solutions from other markets to India, which was something that audiences on Instagram particularly were keen on. Hans and cofounder Mayur Mahajan leveraged their online marketing experience, whereas Sharma brought his knowledge of the personal care industry thanks to his family-owned salon business. Unlike most D2C beauty startups that make products in India, Prolixr is all about bringing products that are trending internationally to the Indian shores.
The Growth
Prolixr’s revenue in FY21 was INR 8.14 Cr and last year, the company joined the stable of brands under FirstCry’s GlobalBees umbrella. At present, its products are listed on over 25 marketplaces such as Nykaa, Amazon, Purplle and others. To improve customer retention, Prolixr has opted for a loyalty program fashioned as an influencer initiative, where customers get points for social media posts about the brand, which can be redeemed for discounts.
The Differentiator
International skincare offerings are rarely available in India and importing them for individual use can be prohibitively expensive. Even those companies that imported products ended up not paying attention to the formulations that suit the Indian consumer. This is the problem that Prolixr is looking to solve. All its products are said to be paraben-free, made of natural ingredients, with no animal testing involved. Many Prolixr products started off as social media trends that gripped Indians, and allowed the company to understand what consumers want.
The Journey
The brand launched its first product in 2018, namely the sea algae detoxifying mask, which it claims has been the most viral product on Instagram in India. Post this, it added new beauty products such as a vitamin C serum, aqua marine foaming cleanser, natural moisturisers, face scrubs, retinol & multipeptide serum and anti-acne solutions.
What’s Next
With the backing of GlobalBees, Prolixr is looking at a big sales boost in 2022 and will diversify its product line for haircare and body, based on the social media and other market trends in India. The long-term goal is to take Prolixr overseas and compete with international majors in the personal care market.
