More than skin deep

02 May 2009

By Shailesh Shah

India’s leading chain of skin care clinics Kaya Skin Care is all set to hit a century this year. Flexing its muscle, the wellness major will take its store count to 100 by the end of 2009, Rakesh Pandey, CEO, Kaya Skin Care told IndiaRetailing. The company currently operates 74 clinics across 23 cities in India besides 11 more in the Middle East.

Quite recently, Kaya launched its new service ‘Designer Skin’ to address specific skin care needs for the season along with a wide range of products armed with the concept of ‘Beauty Through Technology’. Meanwhile, the company has also signed Riddhima Kapoor Sahni as its new brand ambassador.

The Kaya concept
In the words of Pandey, Kaya is the first brand based on sustainable and effective skin care solutions provided through cosmetic dermatology delivered in a spa like ambience."Every element of the Kaya experience has been chosen with great care, from the intensive training of our skin practitioners, to the high degree of hygiene and safety to the best of medical care and supervision," he further elaborates.

"An over 200 doctors-strong Kaya Skin Care Advisory conducts the highly advanced skin treatments and safe cosmetic dermatology treatments. Our differentiating factor is that we have the largest pool of dermatologists across India and Middle East," he adds.

Product and services
Kaya offers customised solutions to enhance natural skin to make it look healthier, fresher, younger and glowing. A visit to Kaya typically begins with a skinscription, which is a private consultation with the in-clinic dermatologist. The dermatologist analyses the skin and designs a customised skincare program to deliver maximum benefits.

“This includes services that are ideally suited to the skin type of a customer and offer him or her visible results. We have a range of problem solutions, enhancement and anti-ageing services. We have a range of SRS peels for glowing skin and a hair reduction package through laser. All our services are non-invasive,” Pandey informs.

As part of the solution basket, Kaya also offers a range of skincare products, a result of skin-care research in dermo-cosmetic laboratories based in France, the UK and USA.“These are not only used during the skin care services, but are also available for post service usage as a follow up to the service undertaken at the clinic. The combination of our services and products provide the ideal platform for all skin care needs,” Pandey says.

Price range
Kaya’s value-for-money products and services start from Rs 250 and Rs 990 onwards, respectively.

Target customers
"Our target customers include primarily women, though we address men as well. Though we have more customers above the age of 25 coming in, we also have younger customers in the age group of 18 to 25 years for hair-free and acne solutions," says Pandey.

Expansion plans
In keeping with its expansion ambitions, Kaya is all set to open 15 new clinics by the end of this year. The estimated size of the new clinics would be 1000 – 1500 square feet each.

Out of the proposed 15 new clinics, seven will be launched in the next two months including two each in Delhi and Mumbai and one each in Hyderabad, Pune and Bengaluru. The average investment per clinic would range between Rs 1.2 to Rs 1.5 crore.

“As per our expansion plan we are focusing on almost all key locations within the major cities across the country. This would include both the high streets as well as the malls, including luxury malls,” Pandey reveals.

The company has so far stayed away from the franchise model of expansion. “So far, we own each of our clinics because we believe in providing consistent services across the country whereby there is no dilution of the quality,” adds Pandey.

The kiosk format
Kaya currently has five 'skin zones', which are in the kiosk format, and 20 shop-in-shops within various lifestyle stores across the country. Further, the company also plans to open 8-10 new kiosks this year. Pandey believes that the kiosk format has worked well for Kaya's poposition. “Kaya is a new concept and looking at the high footfalls in shopping centres, we have chosen to be seen in them through skin zone kiosks. These give prospective customers a feel of the Kaya experience and thus generate greater awareness,” he says.

HR practices
Kaya has an in-house training program for its human resource pool. The program gives the staff exposure to scientific skin care and equips them with customer service skills through various exams and certifications.

“Besides imparting the discipline required to maintain exceptionally high service standards, we also ensure strong communication skills, a pleasant personality and impeccable grooming that is essential for the job. All the services offered at Kaya Skin Clinic are designed and supervised by a team of over 200 dermatologists and executed by certified skin practitioners who have undergone more than 300 hours of training,”Pandey informs.

The wellness market in India
According to a recent study by FICCI and Ernst & Young (E&Y), the Indian wellness services market is expected to remain buoyant and has the potential to sustain a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 30-35 per cent for the next five years. The study pegs the Indian wellness services market at Rs 110 billion.

Titled Wellness - Exploring the Untapped Potential, the FICCI-E&Y report highlights that the growth is expected to ride on the back of favourable market demographics, consumerism, globalisation, changing lifestyles, increasing availability across categories and regions, and rising awareness among consumers.

When it comes to regions, south India is much ahead in terms of indicative concentration for the organised wellness-based centres per household (34.4 centres per lakh households), as compared to 13.6 for north India, 12 for west India and 10.1 in east India. The report attributes the south’s lead to the presence of more alternative therapy-based centres.

There are also clear customer preferences in each region with regard to each segment. While alternate therapies are the most popular choice of people in southern India, customers in north India are inclined towards beauty, while the maximum number of fitness/ slimming centres are in the west.

Meanwhile the report also reveals that across segments, on an average, more than 50 per cent of the market is unorganised and highly segmented with several small and regional players. While Ayurveda and alternative treatments are predominantly unorganised, health foods and drinks and dietary supplements are more organised. The larger service providers face significant challenges in the form of unorganised players, as it puts tremendous pressure on pricing and therefore, margins.