NYKAA REPORT

SUBJECT:
FASHION MATERIAL AND
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT FOR
MERCHANDISERS

SHIVANI LAVANNIS
MFM/18/63
MFM (2018-20)
ABOUT
Nykaa with its tag line ‘Your Beauty is Our Passion’ is an entrepreneurial
dream of Falguni Nayar, the former managing Director of Kotak Mahindra
Capital Company, India’s leading investment bank and now is changing the
face of beauty today. Her attention to detail, involvement in every aspect of the
firm and passion for the business are qualities that make her a great leader. A
mantra she lives by is “retail is all about detail” and is often heard propagating
the same. In just three years Nykaa emerged as the largest beauty destination
in India with half a million happy customers depending on them for their
favourites brands, advice, updates and expert tips. They wish to go to every
nook and corner to reach their customers. With the success of Nykaa, they
expanded to the Nykaa design studio- A one stop shop designer wear curated
to carter the needs of modern Indian women. They hold labels such as Abu
Jani Sandeep Khosla, Masaba Gupta, Anita Dongre, Ritu Kumar, Payal Singhal
and many more. It also holds sustainable brands like Doodlage, Tribe.

With Nykaa Fashion X Vintage Gardens, they bought the online store offline.
It was held from 18th January,19 to 20th January,19 at Patkar Bungalow in
Bandra West, Mumbai. It was Nykaa fashion’s first pop up shopping
experience. It promoted design, creativity to revamp the wardrobe to stay
ahead on the fashion curve in 2019. We as NIFT students got a chance to
volunteer at the Nykaa pop up for the brand Alaya by Stage 3. It was not only
fun interacting with the customers but also an upward learning curve. Alaya
by stage3 makes runway ready styles available at affordable prices. Alaya is an
in-house brand of stage3. Stage3 is into renting latest designer wear at
affordable prices. They offer free shipping, easy returns and inhouse free
styling. While stage3 is into renting of garments, their brand Alaya is fast
fashion ready to wear.

THE ENTRANCE
PARTICIPATING BRANDS

REASONS TO DROP BY THE POPUP

1. CONVENIENT SHOPPING
They had curated styles from a selection of established and emerging
designers like Abraham & Thakore, Curio Cottage, Umbar to Alaya by
Stage3 and many more.

2. TREND-SETTER
Labels like Turn Black, Ezra, Knotty Tales, Aruni etc have out of the
box designs and patterns that catches your eye. They are also worn by
actors like Alia Bhat, Katrina Kaif, Anushka Sharma etc.
3. SUSTAINABLE DRIVE
Eco-conscious brands like Pause, Doodlage, Door of Maai, Mati, The
Plavate and more had presented their latest collection. They were the
top selling brands as well.

4. MAKEOVERS
Nykaa beauty was offering free makeover sessions and nail arts with
their products. The customers can also shop for their products at the
event.

THE NYKAA
KIOSK

5. ACCESSORIES
From vibrant boho pieces by Deepa Gurnani to ultra-edgy pieces by
Anomaly by Anam were offered. Label Malaga offered lacy bags and
Maneesha Ruia had ruffled scarves.

6. FOR THE FOODY

Handmade jams and bread tasted yummy from Ri’s Jam. Spinach
Shawarma, smoothie bowls were delicious. The event also offered
deserts, coffees and much more.
7. SUMMER-SPRING
Many brands like Khara Khapas. Mati, The Summer house, Cord offered
trendy but comfy summer ready styles. Most brands offered cotton
fabric as it suits the Mumbai weather.

8. VINTAGE VIBE
The event was held in the backyard space of vintage Patkar bungalow.
Some of the old furniture was used to display the merchandise.
 OLD FURNITURE USED TO
DISPLAY MERCHANDISE

OBSERVATION
Every customer at the entrance had to register with their name, mobile
number and email id. Two members of the Nykaa team were constantly
present at the desk to assist the customers. The walk ins were comparatively
less than 500 on the first two days. It reached 500 on the third day. According
to the Nykaa team the clientele that came was exclusive and so less in number.
Some of them were actors and designers. We spotted Masaba Gupta with her
friends, Lara Dutta, Shruti Seth, Gauri Pradhan, Shikha Talsania and many
more visited the popup. Most of them didn’t buy and were there to look at the
brand’s collection to source garments from. On the third day actor Karishma
Tanna’s stylist team member came in to source garments from Alaya by
Stage3 for the airport look as she was travelling to Surat.
KARISHMA TANNA WEARING SOURCED GARMENTS FROM ALAYA

There is a Nicobar store and diamond store located in the Patkar bungalow.
Nicobar had offered a upto 50% discount from 16th of January,19 to 20th of
January,19 which lead to more walk-ins. The customers had already purchased
from the Nicobar store and were time killers for the Nykaa exhibition as told
to us by the Nykaa team. The exhibition was more about creating a buzz for
the brands than making huge sales.

THE NICOBAR AND DIAMOND

STORE
The top selling brands of the exhibition were Doodlage, Khara Khapas, Mati,
Turn Black and Aruni. I think that was due to the customization offered by
them. Our brand Alaya by stage3 sold very few garments on the first and the
second day with 7 and 13 garments respectively. The sale picked up on the
third day afternoon and we ended up selling 30 garments. Brands like
Doodlage and Aruni made sales of more than Rs. 1 lakh well Alaya just
reached Rs. 75000. The brands had to make a down payment to Nykaa of Rs.
10000 for the space. Later about 35% of the sales amount will be taken as
commission by Nykaa. Some of the brands where not able to cover their entire
cost because of the low walk-ins.

The Nykaa team was present throughout the day guiding and advising the
brands if necessary changes have to be made. They bought in their friends and
encouraged them to buy the merchandise. A special discount was given to
Nykaa team for the purchases made by them. They would also wear borrowed
jewelry and apparel for sometime during the exhibition to create the buzz by
advertising the brand’s products. This tactic did worked and increased sales.
Alaya by Stage3 gave us an Asymmetrical hemline one shoulder top to pair it
with the bottom. This led to a huge sell of the same pieces.

CUSTOMERS AND NYKAA TEAM SHOPPING WITH US

 CUSTOMERS AND NYKAA
TEAM SHOPPING WITH US

Some of the brands had done a Visual Merchandising of the own in the space
provided.
PROBLEMS SPOTTED:

 LOCATION:
The event was organized in the backyard of Patkar bungalow. It was
difficult for the customers to spot the place because of inadequate
signage. The Nykaa hoarding was present in the bungalow itself and
there was no mention about the exhibition anywhere else expect a few
on social media. So, half of the walk ins were due to the Nicobar sale.

 LAST MINUTE FINALIZATION:

The Brand Alaya by stage3 was finalized at the last moment. This led
to inadequate time for preparation. Alaya was new to Mumbai clientele
and the last-minute decisions affected the sales. It is one of the popular
brands in Delhi where they sell about 60 items on the first day at a pop
up, they just sold 7 in Mumbai.

 MISUNDERSTANDINGS:
Alaya was told by the Nykaa team that their sales will reach 100 items
per day. This was the sole reason they decided to pop up in Mumbai.
Later, on the days of exhibition the brand manager for Alaya under
Nykaa said they had never made such promises. This led to confusion
and sore feelings among both the brands.

 WRONG MERCHANDISE:
Due to the last-minute discussion, Alaya sent the merchandise that was
already available with them which included body clinging and more of
synthetic fabrics. The clientele at the exhibition preferred more of lose
cotton garments as we have hot and humid weather all year long. The
garments that the brand carried were not in right quantities. The
merchandise which was selling had only 5-6 items with 2 in each size
scale (S, M, L). They sent what was more preferred in Delhi.

 MERCHANDISE PLACEMENT:
The desk was initially placed at a position which caused inconvenience
to the customers to go about the all the garments. We then asked the
sales representive of Alaya to make some necessary changes. Some on
the garments had damaged fabrics, but she placed them on the rack
anyway. One pattern was liked by many of the customers and needed a
XL size in it, which the sales person said was not available. She then
remembered it on the third day that we had the XL size. If the sizes
were not available she could have taken orders for them, which did not
happen.
 BEFORE AND AFTER CHANGES

 CUSTOMER INCONVENIENCE:
There were two trial rooms available across brands and one billing
desk. The brands gave the invoices to the customers after they selected
the garments, the customers had to go the billing counter for the
payment. The customers then had to bring the copies of the bill to the
brands and then collect the garments. Many customers asked to pay at
the brand desk which was not possible.

TRIAL ROOMS AND BILLING DESK

LEARNINGS

I thank NIFT Mumbai and the faculty for giving me this opportunity. It was a
fun experience with an upward learning curve. We were able to get a lot of
insight and practical knowledge about interacting with customers,
merchandise placement, assortment planning and how important it is to plan
the designs and patterns as per the area of sale. I had volunteered at Pernia’s
Pop-up Show last September. I realized that I had learned a lot of things there
while volunteering which I could use this time. The more we learn, it gives us
an ease to interact with customers. It helped us in networking. It gives us fast
track knowledge before entering in the industry.

While Pernia’s pop up show was more of glamour and high-end clients, Nykaa
proved to be more of learning outcome. For myself personally, volunteering is
all about building up skills set and improving communications and customer
handling skills. With a 3-year work experience in finance, I feel volunteering
or interning gives us hands on work experience than what classroom lectures
can offer. It makes you think on the feet and teach you professionalism and
team work.

WE VOLUNTEERING AT THE ALAYA KIOSK

 GARMENTS OFFERED BY
ALAYA

OLD PIECES TO GIVE IT A VINTAGE

FEEL