Nykaa's Inventory Model Drives the Margins That Fund Its Expansion

Nykaa is a big shop that mostly sells makeup, skincare and other beauty products.

Instead of letting other shops put their products on its shelves, Nykaa buys the products itself and sells them to you.

That means when something sells, Nykaa keeps more of the money.

But it also means that if a product doesn't sell, Nykaa has to deal with it, sometimes by giving big discounts.

Nykaa uses the money it earns from beauty products to build other parts of its business, like real stores, its own brands, a fashion website and very fast delivery.

It has 237 stores in 79 cities and can deliver some products within ten minutes in 13 cities.

Nykaa even makes its own makeup brands and also earns money when other brands pay to advertise in its app.

Owning everything is costly because products sit in warehouses and money is tied up until they sell.

By 2030, Nykaa hopes to sell five billion dollars worth of goods.