One Uses the Products One Like - Gender Does Not Enter the Equation Says Crazy Owl Co-founder Karishma Sahni

StartupTalky presents Recap'22. This is a series of interviews in which we conduct in-depth discussions with founders & industry leaders to understand their growth in 2022 and their predictions for the future.

Luxury products are high-end, premium goods that are perceived to have superior quality, design, and craftsmanship. People across the world use luxury products for a better experience, quality, and status.

Nowadays, Luxury products are facing challenges due to counterfeit products and changing consumer preferences. The luxury products market is full of competition and slight loose ends can play a big role in the hindrance of any brand's growth.

The luxury goods industry is dominated by a small number of large multinational corporations, with a few key players in each product category.

However, the global luxury goods market is expected to experience a CAGR of around 5-7% from 2021 to 2026. This growth is driven by factors such as the increasing wealth of consumers in emerging markets, the rise of e-commerce, and the continued popularity of luxury goods as status symbols and forms of personal expression.

For this Interview, we invited Karishma Sahni, Co-founder of, Crazy Owl, and we talked about the growth, challenges, insights, and future opportunities in the industry.

StartupTalky: Karishma, what products does Crazy Owl sell? What was the misison with which you started?

Karishma: Crazy Owl - Your Skin Co. is a luxurious, consciously crafted brand on a mission to deliver clean and sustainable products that work at the highest standards. “Our Philosophy Is That One Wears the Scent One Loves, and One Uses the Products One Like - Gender Does Not Enter the Equation.”

Today, men and women are not looking for products specifically for their gender, but simply efficient, cleaner formulas based on effectiveness with no difference in scent, packaging, or name, and this is simply because efficacy has no gender or age.

With Crazy Owl, we wanted to spread the message to shop for gender neutrality, diversity, inclusiveness, and the idea that we are all the same yet different in our ways.

StartupTalky: What other products/features have been added in the past year? What is/are the USP/s of your products?

Karishma: We are a personal care brand that is PETA and IFRA certified, and FDA approved. We launched our products in mid-April 2022 and currently provide the best possible sensorial experience in our Hair Care range with India’s First Date Seed Oil Shampoo, Conditioner, and Hair Oil. Our Body Wash range is 100% soap-free, pH balanced, and made with 99% Glycerine. Our Eau de Parfum range is strong, long-lasting, and accentuates your essence. Our unique Body Spray range uplifts your mood and senses.

With 15 years of experience in manufacturing for leading fragrance brands globally, we wanted to launch best-in-class products for Indian consumers where every scoop, spritz, and slather is a sensorial and sensational experience that can make a remarkable difference to your hair, body, and skin.

At Crazy Owl we believe in delivering quality and integrity that matches international standards. This quality is reflected in our handpicked packaging as well as the ingredients sourced. Our fragrances are IFRA certified and are formulated using skin-safe ingredients making you feel and look the best at all times.

Our vibrant, colorful, and flamboyant color palette is what sets us apart. Our products with their lively and vivacious spirit reflect in our packaging, creating positive connections with you every day thereby conferring high-spirited vibes all day long. Our product range has gone through vigorous R&D to ensure the highest quality and efficacy.

StartupTalky: How has the Beauty and personal care industry changed in recent years and how has your company adapted to these changes?

Karishma: As per Euromonitor, the Indian beauty and personal care market is INR 1136 Bn market expected to exhibit a CAGR of 8.7% during 2021-2026. The BPC market is currently 4th Largest in the world. In the last two-year, Indian consumers have started spending a lot on “Looking good” per capita consumption has gone up for beauty categories.

Does & Fragrance categories are the fastest growing with double-digit growth. Therefore, Crazy Owl would be focusing on these categories and launching more India-relevant fragrances that are strong and long-lasting to capture our ground in the Indian market.

StartupTalky: How do you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in your industry?

Karishma: Being a manufacturer of leading fragrance brands globally we understand what notes are in trend and what notes are preferred for which region, season, personality, etc. Using this experience, we tend to launch winning fragrances for India under our brand label. We are very focused on building a lineup that is answering our consumer needs and have taken a problem-solving approach for our portfolio.

StartupTalky: What key metrics do you track to check the company's growth and performance?

Karishma: Ever since our launch we are growing by double digits; however, we measure our performance from the stunning return rate of our existing customers which is much higher than the industry standard, and the ongoing appreciation posts, reviews, and WhatsApp that we receive from our customers when they love our products.

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StartupTalky: What were the most significant challenges your company faced in the past year and how did you overcome them?

Karishma: Given we launched only in April 2022 we are still learning our ground on how best we can reach out to a large Indian audience and serve them. Demand prediction is uncertain especially when you are launching a new brand and don’t know how the response to your brand will be.

Customer acquisition always takes a lot of time as the brand is new, we are continuously working on brand visibility through Influencer marketing, PR, and running differentiated marketing campaigns to get the brand noticed in the eyes of our consumers.

We have also started communicating the problem-solving benefits of our products to the consumers so that they are more willing to try the brand. Given a good return ratio of the consumers, we are certain that once the brand is experienced by more consumers it will grow multifold.

StartupTalky: Repeat purchase is one of the most important parameters on which most e-Commerce brands are betting. How do you keep your customer engaged to stop churn?

Karishma: We try to bring in new products every 60 days to keep the customers excited and engaged. We run exciting campaigns and offer to create an urgency to buy for our consumers.

StartupTalky: What are the different strategies you use for marketing? Tell us about any growth hack which you pulled off.

Karishma: “Our products don't discriminate. All ages. All gender. All humans. Skin is skin. Hair is hair. Scents are genderless”

We want to provide our consumers with a luxury, sensorial experience that’s effective and our products work for the entire family irrespective of age and gender.

With this mindset, we launched our #OwlForAll campaign where we asked men and women to feel free to choose what they want or like to use. Discover who you are with #OwlForAll, live your life authentically, love yourself, and spread that positivity with #CrazyOwl love toward other people. Reveal the real you with #OwlForAll and break free from the stereotypes. With the #OwlForAll motto, we want to be your daily dose to relax and unwind - so add a splash of freshness with Crazy Owl and uplift your mind, body, and soul!

The campaign was picked up and spoken about by Startup India and many other publications and TV celebrities who have supported the cause and brand philosophy.

StartupTalky: What are the important tools and software you use to run your business smoothly?

Karishma: Shopify for an e-commerce website is really good and we recommend it for all Startups. Helium for a Market place really helps get insights that are useful in driving sales.

StartupTalky: What opportunities do you see for future growth in your industry in India and the world? What kind of difference in market behavior have you seen within states in India?

Karishma: In our industry perfume is slowly and steadily moving from a special occasion product to an everyday usage product just like does. Therefore we acknowledge that trend and want to give a plethora of options to Indian consumers to choose from as there are not many gender-neutral fragrance brands in India.

As a behavior we see women buying into male fragrances as they prefer strong fragrances, however, there aren't many brands catering to the core needs of Indian consumers of different states, seasons, personalities, etc.

StartupTalky: With so much hype around d2c brands spending on ads, What will be your growth strategy organic or inorganic? How to plan to work around SEO and content marketing?

Karishma: Marketing is VERY expensive for a new brand. Return on Ad Spend is quite low in the beginning and customer acquisition is very expensive. In the early stages, ad spending is significantly higher. But it gets easier down the line as the brand starts getting recognized. The return rate of customers if it's good then also helps. Our strategy is to get focus on customer acquisition as we have a very impressive return rate we want consumers to try our products therefore our spending is focused on that.

Through content marketing, we are trying to create a community that stuns the stereotype. “Our products don't discriminate. All ages. All gender. All humans. Skin is skin. Hair is hair. Scents are genderless”

With this mindset, we launched our #OwlForAll campaign where we asked men and women to feel free to choose what they want or like to use. Discover who you are with #OwlForAll, live your life authentically, love yourself, and spread that positivity with #CrazyOwl love toward other people. Reveal the real you with #OwlForAll and break free from the stereotypes. With the #OwlForAll motto, we want to be your daily dose to relax and unwind - so add a splash of freshness with Crazy Owl and uplift your mind, body, and soul!

The campaign was picked up and spoken about by Startup India and many other publications and TV celebrities who have supported the cause and brand philosophy.

StartupTalky: One tip that you would like to share with another d2c founder?

Karishma: Invest in Tech! It is crucial for a B2C brand to offer customers a seamless and personalized digital shopping experience in this competitive market.

We thank Karishma for spending her valuable time and sharing her learnings with all of us.

You can read other Recap'22 Interviews here.