How a Homegrown Beauty Brand Went From 0 to 35,000 Customers in 5 years

Magic Dust Cosmetics is a brand that specializes in luxurious organic skin care and hair care products. The product range includes the best natural skin care products, organic hair care products and body washes. They offer you 100% natural, non-toxic and paraben-free organic hand-crafted products that are environment-friendly. Magic Dust Cosmetics was launched in 2014. Ms. Ranjan Dedhia is the Founder of it. Ranjan comes from a family of successful entrepreneurs. She always wanted to start a business of her own. However, she was married at a young age and was soon raising a family. This led to her dreams and aspirations taking a back seat for a while. But, as the saying goes, even if your dreams and aspirations are interrupted by certain events in your life, if you truly want to do something, you’ll find a way. This stands true for Ranjan.

Growing up, she used a variety of luxurious body and bath products. When choosing products, she would always opt for products that were natural. But, over the course of time, she did notice that the skincare products she has been using were not as natural as they claimed to be. They contained toxic ingredients, which is one of the reasons why they were less effective.

So, being a housewife with ample time on hand, she decided to experiment with creating her own beauty and skincare products. The result of using these home-made products was, surprisingly, very effective. Not only was she able to get a clean, clear and blemish-free complexion, but her radiant skin glow also caught the attention of family & friends who wanted to know what the ‘secret’ was.

This was like a ‘Eureka’ moment and soon, she was giving out a lot of trial packs to friends, family members and neighbours. This trial was met with success and it was from here, that the idea to start an organic and natural skincare brand developed and thus, was created ‘Magic Dust.’ We are publishing an interview with Ms. Ranjan Dedhia:

Q.: What is the problem you are trying to solve? Can you share with us any insights that led you to believe that this is a big enough problem?
Ans: Being a woman who had tried a lot of beauty, skincare and hair care products in the past, I found that there was a need to create healthy skincare and hair care product line that didn’t compromise on quality. Be it food and beverages or daily skincare and hair care products, customers are looking for healthy and organic options. However, while the choices are limitless, not all live up to the claim they make or are as effective. Magic Dust was born out of a personal need and having seen the positive impact it had on me, I decided to share my ‘beauty secrets’ with others, hoping that they would benefit from it too.

Q.: Tell us about the Product / Solution. Explain how you went about the Product-Market Fit Process.
Ans: We offer a wide range of skincare, hair care, beauty products and other accessories. These have helped countless customers get flawless skin and smooth hair. It has also helped them get rid of many skin and hair issues. When it comes to the product-market fit process, it has been a trial and error situation and much of it has come from clients feedback.

For example, initially, we had launched just one shade of BB Cream. However, based on clients feedback we launched two more. This was to ensure that customers could find the ideal products based on their skin type. Our aim is to create products that cater to the growing needs and demands of our customers. This has been our market process throughout the journey and the results have been excellent.

Q.: What is your USP?
Ans: We are a brand that specializes in luxurious organic skincare and hair care products. We have extensively researched to create these potent formulations that deliver exceptional results. The products we offer are not only non-toxic & paraben-free, but they are also environment-friendly. This is our USP, which differentiates us from our competitors.

Q.: What were your assumptions when you entered the market, learnings that you have? Who in your mind is your ideal customer? Do you have atleast one of them signed up?
Ans: As a novice, I frankly didn’t have any assumptions of the market. It has been a learning process from day one and still continues to be so. As for the ideal customer, all women who want to have a healthy looking beautiful skin are the perfect customer for Magic Dust. With a growing 35,000+ customer base, Magic Dust products are not only used by individuals but also business setups (like beauty parlours) for their clients.

Q.: What has been your biggest failure as an entrepreneur and what did you learn from it??
Ans: When Magic Dust products were first introduced not all took off straight away. Some products had exceedingly good sales, while some had to been removed from the catalogue, worked upon & re-introduced. There have been some major ups and downs as well as self-doubt. But, throughout all these struggles, I persisted.

I learned that ‘doubt kills dream faster than failure ever would.’ Being a woman entrepreneur has not always been easy. But, I always knew that I wanted to be more than just a housewife. Once I found a path that I was passionate about, I worked hard to ensure my dream would see the light of the day. So, if I have to pick one thing that I’ve learned it is, ‘No matter your failures or what people tell you, don’t ever be discouraged. Always believe that your dreams will come true.’

Q.: How are you pricing the Product? What is the logic behind it? What is the model you are following – Free / Freemium / Premium etc. ? Explain your thought process.
Ans: Since Magic Dust products are home-made formulations, our pricing structure for them is quite flexible. To ensure that prices are not deemed steep, we have a wide range of products in different sizes (small and large). This gives customers the option of choosing a product based on their budget.

Q.: How did you get your first customer?
Ans: Like mentioned above, once I realized how effective these home-made products were, I started giving out a lot of trial packs to friends, family members and neighbours. Once they used it, they were impressed by its effectiveness. Thus, in essence, Magic Dust’s first customers were my near and dear ones. They have remained loyal to the brand to date.

Q.: Please tell us about the investors (if any)
Ans: Magic Dust is fully self-funded.

Q.: Is there any interesting success story? If yes, please write about it. ?
Ans: As a homegrown brand, in the initial stage, all contacts with clients used to be one-on-one. This gave me a fair idea of how each product was received as they would offer words of praise and appreciation in person. People would come up to me and tell their story of how Magic Dust products helped them. I have received a lot of positive feedback on the products via social media and other channels. There have also been instances, where people have asked us to add a product to our catalogue, case in point the different shades of BB cream mentioned above. So, as a benchmark to measure how successful a product was, this really helped.

Q.: What is the big picture of your startup? Is this Product leading to something bigger? If so, how?
Ans: When it comes to selecting a skincare brand for daily use, consumers have to always make a difficult choice between quality or price. This needs to be changed. So, the big picture for Magic Dust is to create luxurious organic skincare and hair care products that are accessible to all. We want to create a skincare product line sans any toxic ingredients that are effective and offer greater value to consumers.

Q.: Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture? What is the current turnover? (From Launching till date total no. of visitors on website/persons registered/enquiries and enrollment). Please explain in details:
Ans: While disclosing the exact turnover is not possible, it suffices to say that Magic Dust has a strong customer base of national and International clients. Our products have been shipped to the international market and not only individuals, but also business setups have been using our products for their clients.

Q.: What is the insight that you have about this market, which no one else has? Uniqueness about your Startup.
Ans: As a woman, the insight about this market comes from my own experience. Having purchased one skincare product after another and finding them ineffective, I knew there had to be an alternate solution. My inspiration to start this venture stems from my passion to be and stay “Beautiful.” The uniqueness about this startup would be the products. These products are home-made, environment-friendly and made with natural ingredients, herbal extracts and essential oils. This gives us an edge over our competitors.

Q.: List all the names of the core Team Members, along with their Designated Roles – How you see them evolving over time. What would be each of their Skillsets? – Elaborate also if any of the team members has a specific domain expertise.
Ans: We are a full-fledged online business. However, I do collaborate with an external team for website content/product description and professional photography. There is also a full-time social media manager that handles Magic Dust’s profile across all social platforms. We also have a customer support team in place to handle customer queries.

Q.: Who do You Perceive as Your Competition? How do you differentiate yourself with them?
Ans: I would say that all major natural skincare brands are my competition. However, for Magic Dust, it has always been about offering customers innovative & potent organic formulations that are effective and consistent, then outwitting the competition.

Being a startup, I have experienced that making a customer switch brand is quite a challenge. However, our products, which are developed using natural ingredients, essential oils and herbal extracts, have enabled us to stand out from the crowd. This and word-of-mouth recommendations by people have helped us differentiate ourselves from others.

Q.: What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months?
Ans: Launching more products for our existing categories and adding new categories to our catalogue is our primary target goal for the next six month. Our focus is to keep the momentum going and increase our customer database from 35k to 50k through social media, online ads etc.

Q.: What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs?
Ans: To all who want to be a successful entrepreneur, I have just one advice. Always be receptive to new ideas and viewpoints other than your own. These little gems of wisdom can help you propel your business to newer heights. Also, never be afraid to ask for help when needed; because if you don’t ask, you won’t receive.

Q.: Any other information you would like to share?
Ans: Magic Dust has a PAN India presence. Our products have been shipped Internationally too. At present, apart from our website, Magic Dust products are also available on Amazon.in and Flipkart.

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Thanks Ranjan. Best wishes.