Samir Srivastav, Chief Executive Officer, Jean-Claude Biguine Salon and Spa, India, who has to his credit leadership roles at VLCC Health Care and Marico’s Kaya Skin Clinic across different geographies, is intent on ramping up business post the pandemic with launch of three new business models even as he goes about delivering the ‘French experience’ to Indian customers.
What has been your experience at Jean-Claude Biguine India so far? What did you set out to do when you joined the company eight years back?
My aim was to initially make an international range of premium salons more accessible to the aspirational crowd of Mumbai and Bangalore. We were positioned as ‘luxury’ when I took over, which I then had to dilute a little to bring it to the ‘prestige’ segment, because luxury as a business model is not sustainable in the long term. As a concept, it is still far-fetched in India. We required the brand to be restaged. That was the first thing we did.
The other two things were based on the need gap of creating two business models of hair cure, by which we were getting consumers a scientific treatment of hair services so that she/he could come back to the salon far more times and every week, instead of coming for monthly or bi-monthly services. Our joint venture with a Korean company, a very efficacious line of treatments and products called Trica, is positioned under the hair cure segment.
The third segment that we initiated was convenience. This was actually born pre-pandemic. We used some data metrics and realised that the consumer is not visiting our salons at the desired frequency. They were going to round-the-corner salons or calling freelancers at home. We found a new opportunity here and created a home service model for beauty, which now includes hair too. Our success rates helped us achieve the pilot standards we were aiming for and now we hope to roll this out on a larger scale in the coming months. We also found the perfect click – an e-commerce business model, Shop at JCB (www.shopatjcb.com). That was the one element missing, and today it has a curated line of products and caters to 37 cities and almost 10K consumers in a short span of about six months. The best part is that the shopping experience comes with a live consultation with our experts, unlike other platforms that resort to AI or a bot. Depending on the concern, our hair-dresser or beautician or trichologist can converse with the customer in a regional language too and guide them to get the right products.
The game for Jean-Claude Biguine in India is to set up a count of 50 salons in Tier 1 metros over the next three years.
How does Jean-Claude Biguine, a global chain of salons and spas from the French beauty house, differentiate itself in the Indian market and how do you market the brand?
The key differentiation with others is expertise and a wide range of international products in hair and skin. Unlike the industry which is wedded to one or two brands, we offer the entire multi-brand strategy. The consumer is king/queen and he/she can avail a variety of products catering to different price points and need gaps. Of course, we pay just as much attention to other components like excellent hygiene, great interiors and very welcoming and quality service from our staff.
To what extent is JCB India aligned with the global brand in delivering the ‘French experience’ to customers?
Training is extremely important and we have enhanced French standards by introducing JCB Academy. It is an internal academy where everybody from the shop floor of the salons goes to school every month for a minimum of two to three days. This is not only at the hair-dresser level or the beautician level, but also at the operations level. We invite a lot of international trainers who come in through our various brand partners and spend at least 2-3 days with the JCB team. Besides this, we also take 12 hair-dressers to our headquarters in Paris every year so that they get to see the world of fashion, work on the shop floor of JCB Paris and be trained by the best in the business. However, we ensure that we customize too, like the spring-summer collection or the fall-winter collection of hair colour/services launched by Biguine Paris, which may not be precisely relevant for the Indian consumer. It would be difficult to ask a client to chop off hair just because it is trending in summer. Instead, we tweak the fashion around these international collections and create a look that is more acceptable to an Indian consumer - something not too European or out of reach.
Salons were one of the ‘close contact’ services badly affected by the pandemic. What are you doing to turn around the business and what kind of footfalls do you see post pandemic?
Post the last Omicron wave, we definitely witnessed a drop in customers as they are still hesitant to come out. So naturally, their visits to the salon have also reduced. However, with the Cure and Convenience businesses that we have established along with our e-commerce business, we have been able to reach 90-95% business volume as far as high street salons are concerned. At the malls, the movement is still around 70%. We hope that in the coming months, consumers get back to their beauty schedules in large numbers and that’s the reason why we launched a new salon at the Jio World Drive, Mumbai’s newest luxury shopping destination.
Tell us about your work with the National Skill Development Agency and some of the outcomes you saw there for the beauty industry.
During my association with the National Skill Development Agency, we’ve worked on a model to find employment in the beauty industry, no matter which State a candidate comes from. We have generated employment after training for a lot of youth who have come into the mainland from remote parts of India. They are now experienced, well-paid salon and beauty professionals. The Government of India is embarking on this mission on a very large scale and vocational training is the buzzword. The beauty sector has a lot of scope.
Going ahead, what will be your three main focus areas as you spearhead India operations for Jean-Claude Biguine? What kind of growth numbers do you expect?
The main focus area is to create innovations in the industry and this I want to lead by bringing in quality international services and international products to the Indian consumer. I also want to bring in a lot of beauty accessories which I believe is a great opportunity for consumers to buy from the salons. That’s my second focus. The third is obviously to run a very profitable and economic model, especially post-pandemic, but without dilution of any of the three core focuses of JCB. As for numbers, I am expecting at least 25% growth as far as existing salons are concerned. Of course, new salons will open too.
What is your life like outside the worksphere?
I’m a very passionate and persevering individual, and I absolutely enjoy working in the beauty segment and space. I’ve been part of this sector for the last two decades and it's paid off very well for me. Even if I am out in a shopping mall or away on a holiday, I will always keep my eyes and ears open to see what the consumer is wearing, what kind of hair fashion is relevant, what nails people are sporting.
I am also into fitness. I am very conscious about my personality because I run a beauty business and I am committed to a very strict fitness regime. Besides this, I love watching cinema as it is an outcome of emotions and lifestyle and I identify with it very strongly. Lastly, I try to spend time with my family and my pet dog.
