Grooming growth: India’s Singh Styled aims for West, ME expansion to serve 30m Sikh men

Recently, the brand established its headquarters in Singapore to cater to customers in the republic and its neighbours like Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. The firm also set up an e-commerce platform to cater to said market.

After APAC, the brand hopes to enter the UK, US, Canada and UAE markets, all of which have sizeable Sikh communities, said its founder Charanjeev Singh.

“There’s a lack of products for Sikh men. We have to travel 24km, 30km just to buy quality turbans. Mumbai might be a huge city, but it has only two stores selling Sikh needs. Our vision in five to six years is that every Sikh child should know the Singh Styled product range. We want to be like the next Gucci or Prada.​

“Beyond India, we have seen repeat customers from Singapore and Malaysia; hence, they were our natural first choice. Also, considering the global connectivity, we chose Singapore as our regional hub. We are in a good spot now. Borders have opened up, and it’s easier to venture into Malaysia and Thailand.​

“The idea was to complement the modern lifestyle and keep the Singh close to what he cherishes the most – his unique Sikh identity. However, it is possible for anyone, non-Sikhs, to use our products,”​ he said.

Looking good​

Launched in 2015, Singh Styled is believed to be the world’s first grooming and styling platform for Sikh men. It focuses on three categories – personal care, style advisory and cotton turbans – with 115 SKUs.

Headquartered in Mumbai, its products are sold through its e-commerce portal SinghStyled.com and ship to 133 countries. Personal care items, including cleansers, fresheners, shampoos, soaps and setters, start from US$3 each and go up to around US$11.30 for a mix of different products with brushes. The products could last around 45 to 70 days.

The ingredients and materials are locally-sourced from areas such as Mumbai, Himachal Pradesh, Surat and Hyderabad, and produced in six OEM plants across the country. For personal care items, Singh and his core team of six have experimented and created at least four iterations in different climates, temperatures and bases.

Today, each product will be tested in numerous cities with varying weather and humidity before reaching the consumer. The results are water-based, non-alcoholic products fortified with Indian-origin herbs that promote healing and nourishment.

For instance, the beard nourisher contains a variety of oils like sesame, almond, jojoba, argan, macadamia, basil and tea tree, as well as ‘amla’ (ground leaves of the Indian gooseberry) and ‘jaswand’ (hibiscus flower) powders that are revered in Ayurvedic medicine. Its hair and beard cleansers feature a combination of neem and tea tree oil with menthol.

“We have started work on specific beard oils for the South East Asian region that are milder because men there typically already have softer beards due to the climate,”​ he added.

Growth potential​

According to Singh, his firm currently enjoys a 50% to 60% growth month on month, with each customer spending a minimum of 1,200 rupees (USD$15.30) in each transaction.

Based on his research, the next biggest market would be the UK, with each transaction amounting to 15,000 to 20,000 rupees (USD$190 to USD$250). By end-2023, the firm aims to manage 1,000 orders daily and attain a 100% growth year-on-year.

Singh also shared his plans to open more brick-and-mortar stores in locations like Singapore, India’s capital New Delhi (northern India) and Gurgaon (southwest New Delhi), besides the current one in 15 Gandhi Market, Mumbai.

“Brands must understand the lifespan of customers. They might only spend 12,000 to 15,000 rupees a year, but this could amount to 3 to 4 lakhs (USD$3,800 to USD$5,000) in their lifetime. Imagine if you were to serve 30 million customers?”​ he said.