With a wide variety of fragrances, innovative branding and easy-to-carry packaging, India’s perfume and fragrance market segment has grown significantly over the years. According to a report by Techsci Research, the market stood at more than $ 970 million in 2019, which is going to cross $ 2 billion by 2025 due to the rapid urbanization. During this period it is projected to grow at more than 13 percent CAGR.The deodorant sector is also progressing in the baby care segment. Although there is hardly any option for teenagers, they have to depend on baby care products or products made for adults.
Dipali Mathur was looking for a deodorant for her teenage daughter and only then did she realize the lack of teen-age appropriate and toxin-free personal care products.
She says
“Adolescence is the early years of life and teenagers have needs and demands that we cannot ignore. Realizing the needs of my own daughter, I found that there is no brand for this age group. I was already running a business and then I decided to research this segment. “
In 2018, along with his friend Milan Sharma, Dipali launched Super Smelly, a brand of 100 percent toxin-free products in New Delhi under Natural and Cool Private Limited.
Sight on untouched market
Super Smelly was launched to offer healthy and toxin-free options to teens in personal care products. While there is no brand specifically for this age group, Super Smelly aims to advance the Toxin-Free Movement, creating a healthy future for the next generation.
But why the super smelly? Deepali says on this,
“We wanted a name that had a higher recall value.” Our shelves have many smelling brands with fancy names written on them. We do not want to be one of them, we wanted teenagers to be paired with our top class fragrances. “
Thus the duo handed over a list of names to the 20 teenagers who chose ‘Super Smelly’.
Currently, Super Smelly has around 18 SKUs, including face masks, face washes, hand rubs, moisturizers, lip balms and more. The company achieved its first round of funding within a year of its launch under the leadership of Lyte Investment Bank, based in Singapore.
Product range of Super Smelly
Manufacturing toxin-free products
As the brand is still too small for its own manufacturing setup, its products are manufactured at third-party facilities located at Baddi, Manesar, Ahmedabad and other parts of India. However, its R&D is done in-house.
Dipali says,
“We all start with a list of negative ingredients, which we do not accept in our products. Then temporary and safe formulations are made and safe cosmetics are sent to Australia, which provides approval based on certain criteria such as Med-Safe, 100 percent Toxin Free, Vigen and Allergen-free etc. “
Once the brand acquires these four certifications, it sends the formulation to a French laboratory to test for suitability for its target customers and other tests such as pH balance are performed, which would ensure Is that the products are not only safe but also effective.
After these tests, manufacturing is started. When it comes to adding to the scent, the brand uses IFRA-compliant fragrances. The International Fragrance Association (IFRA) is an international body, which examines every fragrance for toxicity.
According to Deepali,
“We only use fragrances that are completely free of any toxins and allergens. The result is that the product is not only effective but also 100 percent toxic-free. “
Super Smelly is available across all major eCommerce channels, including Purplle, Nykaa, Smitten, Bigbasket, Amazon and others. It is also available in modern trade stores in Delhi, including Modern Bazaar, Krishna Mart and WHSmith. The brand is also serving US and UK customers through Amazon and growing 70 percent month-on-month.
Challenges and future
According to Deepali, the target size of Super Smelly Lay is Rs 1,200 crore.
Regarding the challenges in the business, DiPali says that the target group (teenagers) of the brand has never been spoken to directly and there was never a formal platform for the brands they use to give their opinion. Thus they (reassuring parents) have been a sales challenge for Super Smelly.
COVID-19 has also brought new challenges to its offline sales, but the brand’s D2C strategy and online presence helped offset this.
Super Smelly aims to become a D2C brand and building an online presence will be a priority for the next four years. However, the company understands the advantages of being ubiquitous to achieve scale. It now plans to focus on online and offline expansion across the country.
Super Smelly also wants to expand its vertical in Canada and Dubai this year through Amazon and is launching a range of hair care products.
