The Silver Lining Beyond Metros Silverine has tied up with banks and retailers in Jaipur for introducing spa offers for their chosen customers at a discount.

The quest for physical, emotional and spiritual wellness has moved beyond from being a thing for just metro city dwellers. And the opportunity seems bigger in tier one cities, ripe for disruption in the local wellness market. Silverine Spa & Salon, a young unisex beauty and wellness brand launched in Jaipur by noted beauty expert Purnima Goyal, is taking a shot at the makeover of city's salon and spa market.

Goyal has Shishir Goyal, her husband and partner in crime, whose family deals in silver jewellery business. So not just the name – Silverine comes from her husband's lineage in silver jewellery but it also adds up to their business of salon and spa.

"The idea is to promote the silver jewellery among its customers who are mostly women. Also the salon's theme is silver and white color even as there aren't many silver-only jewellery showrooms here," says Goyal.

The duo launched Silverine in 2015 as a franchisee partner for Cleopatra - Chandigarh-based salon and spa chain and it is the biggest salon in Jaipur in terms of size. "Ours is a 4,000 sq. ft centre. We are technically collaborated with Cleopatra which has around 13 centres, primarily in Punjab," she opines.

But there was a catch for Goyal and her husband. They acquired space for launching Silverine on the second floor of a mall in Jaipur which already had low footfall. And to attract customers to a salon and spa centre two floors up wasn't quite a good idea.

So Goyal had to direct her investments for the first year into marketing and advertisement that did drive a good chunk of people to walk up to second floor. "Gradually the word of mouth started working for us and from last year we have now scaled up to 50 new customers every day," she adds with a differentiated price offering which is around 50 per cent cheaper than brick and mortar chains. For e.g., Silverine's haircut costs Rs 200 against around Rs 400 charged by local centres with average bill value of Rs 1,000-1,500 and around 70-80 per cent customers returning for the service.

Despite being a non-metro salon and spa brand, Silverine has managed to come with its own uniqueness. "Our semi-precious stone basin for pedicure which has lights inside it is unique across India," smiles Goyal.

BRANCHING OUT B2B

Silverine has also expanded to business-to-business model in a short time span. The brand has tied up with banks and retailers in Jaipur for introducing spa offers for their chosen customers at a discount.

The brand is now looking at expanding to Ajmer and Udaipur which are rich in tourism apart from Jaipur also via franchising route. Goyal is also aiming at collaborating with budget or three star hotels where guests looking for such services don't want to burn hole their pockets.

"Bigger hotels have their own spas and salons. We are focusing on three star and affordable hotels to partner with and offer our service at a reasonable cost for their guests," explains Goyal.

For her husband, Shishir is launching a lifestyle magazine called High on Persona in May this year focusing on the richness of the city and Rajasthani culture apart from weddings that remains highlight for other print platforms. In the fray, is also a women's club in the city to drive more customers to the salon business through memberships.

THE WELLNESS WIZARD

Year Of Launch: 2015, Jaipur

Total Centre: One CENTRE SIZE: 4,000 sq. ft

Daily Walk-ins: 50

Headcount: 25

Corporate Tie-ups: HDFC Bank, Shoppers Stop AVERAGE

Bill Value: Rs 1,000-1,500

(This article was first published in the May issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, click here)