Aditya Arya, a 31-year-old sailor, went to a salon for a facial and the inexperienced beautician burnt his skin. It was evident that treatment with duplicate products was the culprit. Despite the damage, Arya was slapped with a hefty bill of Rs 2,000. Not only was his face burnt; his pocket was also burning after the treatment he had at the salon.
Back home, Arya tried to understand the pricing mechanism of the beauty industry. He researched online and realised that the actual price of the product is much less and salons mostly overcharge customers for the services. Single doses of the products were available for just Rs 400 and he was asked to pay Rs 2,000 at the salon. He felt that there was a dire need of transparency in the system. These thoughts seeded the idea of creating a space where people could avail hassle-free services with affordable and transparent pricing.
It was then that Arya and his brother Mayank Arya co-founded Yes Madam—an app-based salon at home for women, in December 2016. The Noida-based startup’s mobile app allows people to register and get beauty services in the comfort of their home.
“Duplicate products in beauty salons and overcharging is the pain area, which Yes Madam sought to address,” says Mayank Arya, co-founder of Yes Madam. The accessibility of Yes Madam app/website allows customers to seamlessly book appointments for services such as make-up, beauty regimes, massage, slimming, etc., without having to call during working hours.
The startup provides affordable beauty services at home through its unique `6/8 per minute price model (`6/minute for a regular beautician and Rs 8/minute for a premium beautician). Pricing has been split into two parts, one is a service charge and another is product cost. In order to avoid refilling or tampering and maintain transparency, the company only uses sealed mono sachets (one-time use). And in case there is any material left in the packet, it is handed over to the customer. This also helps in calculating the price of the product, unlike in salons. For instance, cost of O3 plus facial costs `810 at Yes Madam, whereas the cost of the same facial amplifies to Rs 2,500 in a salon, he says.
The company has 250-plus trained beauticians with background checks and police verifications done for safety purpose. Every beautician earns Rs 35,000-70,000 monthly, attracting a large number of beauticians. Products from topnotch beauty brands like O3+, Sara, VLCC, Lotus, Vedic Line, Rica, L’Oreal, Inatur, Ozone, etc., are used in the beauty treatments.
Currently, Yes Madam is operating in Delhi and NCR including Noida, Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Faridabad. Considering the demand in the market, the startup plans to mark its pan-India footprint by the end of this year. Flying high on the wings of expansion, it is also offering franchises in other cities. The startup is looking forward to onboard around 1 million users and 10,000 beauticians in the next 24 months. It now has 1 lakh users, without offering any discount to customers.“The app garners 10,000-plus orders per month paired with annual revenue of `2.5 crore,” says Mayank Arya.
The bootstrapped firm is looking to raise Series A funding.

Source: financialexpress.com