GROUP 10

2020235 SHYAMSUNDER SHARMA

2020201 VIKRAM GUNJAL
2020238 RAGHBENDRA SHUKLA
2020210 JITHU K
2020228 KRITIK RATHOD
2020189 SAURABH BHOSALE

SHAHNAZ HUSSAIN CASE STUDY

1. Describe the journey of Shahnaz Hussain

Shahnaz was born in a conservative Muslim household. She is the daughter of Sayeeda
Begum and Justice Nasir Ullah Beg, a former Chief Justice of Ahmedabad High Court. Her
grandfather, Justice Samiullah Beg, was a politician. She has done her education at St.
Mary’s, Allahabad. When she was 14, she got married to Nasir Husain; they became parents
of two children. She learned about Ayurveda in Iran, while Nasir Hussain was posted in
Tehran. She did not stop here, and further did training in cosmetic therapy and cosmetology.
When she came back to India, she decided to start a Women’s world in New Delhi. Now, her
daughter Nelofar is carrying her legacy forward. Nelofar is also the author of the biography
of Shahnaz Husain’s “Flame.” Ayurveda, it restores her faith in nature. Indian herbal healing
system helped her get the perfect solutions to protective, preventive, and even corrective
cosmetic-care.

2. Explain the business model use by Shahnaz Hussain and her group

The group believed that ayurvedic treatments which used natural formulations were better
for hair and skin as they were not toxic and had no side effects. They used natural
ingredients -fruits, flowers, herbs, vegetables, honey, - as the base for most of their
products. The competition at the time relied on chemical treatment and hence this was
beneficial to the group as they could provide an alternative. The group had various R&D
centers and a degree of quality control is exercised at every stage of the product
development, right from the raw material stage to the end product. Various methods of soil
culture and cultivation are followed to improve the quality of the final
product. The extraction of essential oils and decoctions, infusions, powders and tinctures, is
carried out using the latest technology. In spite of the huge size of her business and the wide
variety of products she deals in, Shahnaz Husain has never advertised. She has relied
 entirely on word-of-mouth publicity to make her products known to customers. She ensured
her brand had an international reach. She has a large network of over 600 franchises and
associate clinics around the world. All the franchisees are required to undergo training in
specialized treatments at Shahnaz Husain's school of beauty therapy. All franchisees obtain
the right to use the Shahnaz Husain name and her specialized treatments and are allowed a
30% profit margin on the sale of Shahnaz Husain products. It has also set up two Shahnaz
Husain Ayurvedic Health Resorts, these resorts which can accommodate about 200 people
at a time, aim at providing urbanites treatments and programs designed to counteract the
stress of modern life. Shahnaz Husain products normally cater to the premium end of the
market and are rather expensive.

3. Explain the marketing strategy used by Shahnaz and her group.

She has relied entirely on word-of-mouth publicity to make her products known to
customers. She believes that a satisfied customer is the best form of advertisement. Before
Shahnaz Husain entered the retail market, her clinics were the only outlets for her products.
By the 1990s, the range and popularity of Shahnaz products had increased so much that her
products were carried by most of the big retail stores in India and abroad. She participated
in international exhibitions to market her products and ensured the brand had an
international reach, being sold at Harrods and Selfridges in London, the
Galleries Lafayette in Paris, Bloomingdales in New York, the Seibu chain in Japan and Sultan
Stores in the Middle East. Her products are also carried by other exclusive outlets in the
Middle East, Asia and Africa.

4. What were the products offered by Shahnaz Hussain and how her group overcome the
products sold by the competitors?

She started Shahnaz Herbals Inc, and introduced the concept of herbal cosmetics in India.
The company is best known for its herbal cosmetics, particularly skin care products 'without
animal testing,' and has over 400 franchise clinics in 138 countries. Her potions are sold
through an estimated 1,50,000 stores in India. She began her career when the idea of
'working women' was not considered normal, and had to face several societal obstacles. But
Husain maintains it was not planned. While training in London, she came across instances of
damage caused by chemical treatments. Having seen the side effects of chemical treatments
so closely, she wanted to find a safer alternative. Her extensive study of Ayurveda convinced
her that it could be the perfect solution. In 1971, she came back to India, and started her
first herbal salon in her home in New Delhi. According to the her, ayurvedic products are
well suited to human skin and hair as they are non-toxic and have no harmful side effects.
The human body adapts well to the natural treatments of Ayurveda while it has an inbuilt
resistance toward chemical treatments. This makes the system all the more effective. From
the beginning, she rejected the existing concept of beauty and adopted her own. In India,
due to lack of awareness, women would get superficial beauty treatments and hair styling,
without considering the effect on their skin and hair. She used natural ingredients - fruits,
flowers, herbs, vegetables, honey, - as the base for most of her products. More complicated
and exclusive treatments using gold and pearls have also been developed. The West, by
then, had already started looking at herbal products as a solution to their problems. It was
then that Husain adopted the principle of ‘care and cure,’ and established herbal beauty
care in India. Over the years, by perfectly blending innovation with technology, she has
changed the face of beauty products in India and abroad.