How Babychakra, Sugar Cosmetics, Nykaa & others built their brands through communities

“I am a bride to be and looking for a moisturiser which helps for glowing skin. Kindly recommend.”

“I am 18 years old, so can I use a chemical exfoliant?”

Hundreds of such questions are posted on Nykaa’s community by its members on a daily basis. And this is the new norm of how new-age brands especially direct-to consumer (D2C) brands are engaging with their consumers.

For years, consumers would ask their family, friends or colleagues to understand which is a better brand or product, before making a purchase. This later changed to reading customer reviews on the internet. But, Direct-to-consumer brands and other new-age brands have taken it a notch higher and solved this issue while building customer loyalty through communities.

While building communities is not new, and quite a few global brands like OnePlus, Harley Davidson among others have built global communities, domestic D2C brands like Beardo, Babychakra, Nykaa, SUGAR Cosmetics among others have changed the landscape of customer experience in India.

These brands with millions of consumers today interacting with them on a daily basis. For instance Nykaa’s community which regularly updates customers about an array of relevant topics, has thousands of viewers reading them while MyGlamm acquired BabyChakra has over 2 million parents on their community platform. 

“This builds a strong moat around the brand. Second, it helps to build trust with the consumer. For instance while mothers are being influenced by celebrities and others, peer approval is very important for many of them. Hence building trust in the care-segment becomes crucial. Communities play a key role here in achieving this,” says Naiyya Saggi, founder of BabyChakra, a part of the Good Glam Group. 

She further adds that expert communities like the Doctors on BabyChakra further strengthens the trust on the brand and the product.

“Communities give the consumer an identity of where you belong , what principles or values you hold and what do you stand for. It is an expression of your identity and that is also a reason why communities really come through. Brands that can share that value system, that’s where communities are born at the heart of it,” adds Saggi.

As per a report released by LikeMinds, a platform for community-based entrepreneurs, which surveyed 180 community builders from India, communities measure success primarily through active member count on a weekly or a monthly basis. Further, the report anticipates that Hybrid communities which is a blend of offline and online activities will be the preferred mode for communities.

“An overall challenge is building an offline community as it is much harder as compared to an online community. However, for a brand having an overall 360-degree approach is very beneficial hence we strive to continue in doing so,” says Vineeta Singh, CEO of SUGAR Cosmetics which has a community of 5 million beauty enthusiasts across all platforms.

“Churning rich, genuine, and engaging content, to an audience who holds great interest in makeup – SUGAR’s social influencers till date helps create a stir about our new launches and products. The priority has always remained about the quality of content creation (clear, strong & educative content) over the number of followers when choosing influencers to collaborate with,” says Singh.

She added that SUGAR consumers resonate with the brand’s core values of being bold & confident and not shying away from experimenting or breaking the age-old stereotypes.

“A SUGAR customer that converts into a brand ambassador gives tremendous word of mouth publicity, which has helped in building the brand.”

Experts say that various brands use communities differently. While it helps in marketing new products, and generates leads, it also engages with customers and personalizes the experience.

Nipun Goel, founder and CEO of LikeMinds says that they are seeing a mix of startups using communities like micro-schools to teach something specific, Thrasio-styled startups along with other D2C brands, NFT focused startups and other niche brands.