eChai Showcase - Dermatocare.com
Today on #eChaiShowcase we are introducing healthcare startup from Panchkula - Dermatocare.com, which provides personalized skin care solutions.
Here is the insightful and candid conversation with Dr. Surbhi Mahajan, Founder Dermatologist of Dermatocare.com. After earning various accolades during academic years including the university topper award to her credit, Dr, Surbhi soon started blogging about skin care to help her patients take informed decisions when it come to skin care; and finally converted blog to her venture Dermatocare.com. Now, she is researching on authentic home-based solutions for skin and hair care.
How did you come up with the idea of 'Dermatocare'?
As a dermatologist, I was always bombarded with questions like“Which anti-aging cream is best? Does under-eye cream really work? Howto use aloe vera?” not only in clinic; but in parties, while travelling or even at home.
Despite being a dermatologist and a university topper, these questions were alien, because we don’t study about them during medical training. Henceforth, I started researching about skin care, products, ingredients, natural alternatives etc. and realized the whole skin care industry is driven by false claims. Can a cream make you 5 years younger that too instantly? Don’t you think celebrities spend lot more time and tons of dollars to get that flawless look, not to forget their talented make-up artist and tricky video editors?
I felt there was a need to pass on the knowledge in unbiased way through blogs. Furthermore, online skin care information is either biased, or cluttered at present. Thus, we launched Dermatocare.com with the aim of providing personalized, researched and unbiased skin care solutions.
What problem are you solving?
Instead let me ask you, what persuades you to buy skin care product- a flashy advertisement, persuasion of parlor girl or suggestion of friend? But, don’t you forget what your skin really needs? Here comes the role of Dermatocare.
Secondly, we help user to choose their skin care regimes, not only based on skin needs; but also time and money a user is willing to put into skin care. We understand a guy who barely manages to wash his face will not use 5 products; so we conceptualized one step Basic, 3 steps Advanced and 5 stepsExpert skin care regime.
Thirdly, we have observed many patients of skin don’t step into dermatologist clinic, but might try remedies at home or saloons. Dermatocare strives to guide them, with researched and easy to follow tips and natural skin care solutions. Once, these home solutions are exhausted, we encourage them to see a dermatologist.
Fourthly, in India there is still lack of awareness of skin care ingredients that not only harm skin and body, but also environment. We strive to raise awareness among users and guide them to buy safe skin care product.
How does it work?
It is just a click away! You just need to answer 10 simple questions about your skin and we will determine your skin type and email you a link of your own personal skin care page.
What is your target market?
Our target market is both male and female in age group of 20 to 35 years in tier 1 and tier 2 cities, who are intelligent buyers and information seekers.
What is your competitive advantage?
Skin care sector is exhausted with information, Dermatocare strive to be different through its USP:
Dermatologist recommended: Unlike beauty bloggers, the content published on website either has experience or research to back up. Even the natural skin care solutions are published after research and trial. We strive to bring Dermatologist across the country to publish articles, recommend products, natural solutions and procedures. We have already showcased few top dermatologists on Dermatocare.
Personalized: Unlike, most skin care information portal, we add an element of customization through “your skin page”
Call to action: We are researching and trying the natural skin care solution that really work, along with instruction on how to tailor the use according to users skin type. So instead of providing 10 solutions for pimples, we would recommend just one natural solution for pimples.
Safe: Like EWG, we are working on guide to buy safe skin care product for the first time in India. We also understand not all the skin care remedies are safe, hence each article on natural remedy has a secretion of side effects.
How much time did it take you from conceptualization of 'Dermatocare' to actually launching it in the market?
We took almost 6 months to launch Dermatocare.com, which was officially made live in Dec 2013, after alpha and beta testing. The idea of converting blog to website, conceptualized during testing of skin typing questionnaire with my patients and online on my blog. I used to email patients and users the presentation on details of their skin type and skin care regime. Encouraged by the feedback, we decided to launch website, www.dermatocare.com
Tell us more about your team?
The team comprises of:
1. Founder- I am responsible for content generation, answering to users queries, conceptualizing the UI/UE of website; in one word I am brain of Dermatocare.com
2. Web designer- Mansi, founder of another start-up called Creative Khichdi is the heart of website, giving life to the website by here creativity.
3. Web developer- BhaktaBarik is web developer, who flawlessly implements the design and works constantly on little ifs and buts that come up on website now and then.
4. Marketing Leader- Hemant handles social media networking, PR, contacting dermatologist, product companies, networking and no wonder, he is the reason that you reading this article.
5. SEO- We hire Neeraj form time to time to work on SEO of website.
6. Interns- We also hire interns on as needed basis for content editing, data entry etc.
Besides this, we have a group of friends from top B schools and IITs working in leading companies across the globe, who provide regular feedbacks on key strategies and new projects.
What is your technology stack?
We are using Dotnet framework, Javascript, Jquery, CSS and HTML for front end and MS SQL Server for Backend or database.
How do you plan to market your product? What are your customer acquisition strategies?
Here are few approaches that we have either implemented or are in pipelines:
1. We are using all the social media networks to increase our user base.
2. We send weekly or fortnightly email newsletters to engage existing users.
3. We write guest blogs and invite guest bloggers to write on topics beyond dermatologist; and yet concern beauty like make-up and fashion.
4. We are approaching various media channels and newspaper for writing on skin care.
5. We are approaching already popular website that are either fashion based or rotate around marriage, to provide them with regular content on skin care to engage their users.
6. We are connecting with various start-ups hubs to learn and grow together in this tedious yet enjoyable journey.
7. We are lean start-up and would invest money on marketing only when we have perfected our model, believe me the present website is just a tip of iceberg.
What do you want to achieve from this? What is your larger goal or vision?
We are working on trip advisor model for skin care industry, so that people trust Dermatocare when looking for anything that concerns skin.We plan to showcase dermatologist across the globe, endorsing and researching safe skin care products, and provide platform for leaders in aesthetic equipment to showcase their products not only to dermatologist but also to users. Besides, we are researching one of kind preservative free natural skin care line.
What sort of support and feedback are you looking from the community?
Dermatocare at present has just taken few baby steps into ever so growing and competitive market of start-ups, we would like to have following feedbacks from all of you have tried this path little further than us:
• Viability of idea- Online skin care sector is kind of saturated, what are your views on viability of idea?
• Technical suggestions: The venture so far has been driven in dermatologist way, any advice on improving the technology or design of website would be helpful.
• Community building and engagement:Looking forward to some suggestions on how to engage and grow the community.
• Co-founder: I am big time looking for a co-founder who can complement my filed expertise with his/her technical experience of building, engaging and growing online community.
