Sushant Panda talks about his journey and success formula for 3003BC

No matter where we are going, we always look for that one product that makes us feel—and smell—good. We are, of course, referring to that most essential of items in our daily routine, the perfume we put on, the one whose aromatic fragrance gives us a feeling of wellness. In India, there are many brands that sell perfumes but only a few that can leave a long-lasting impression on our senses. Because of this, many Indians prefer to indulge in international perfume brands, despite the high custom duties they end up paying. To save them from all this trouble, 3003BC, a luxurious yet affordable perfume brand, is offering the finest quality fragrance that also provides a great sensory experience. Sushant Panda, Co-founder of 3003BC, shares insights into how the company came to be, and its vision for the future.

1.Please tell us about 3003BC and the inspiration behind coming up with the brand?

Launched in 2017, 3003BC is about celebrating fine fragrances and we want to help people in India experience the luxurious world of fragrances. That was the whole idea behind the brand.

According to the International Fragrance Association, the luxury perfume market size was valued at $11.7 Bn in 2018 and is expected to reach $16.8 Bn by 2026. With a growth forecast of 16% CAGR, fragrances make up 3% of the fashion market. However, in India, the perfume market penetration is only 0.25Bn and that's where we want to change that by introducing Indians to luxury fragrances.

2.How do you claim to be different from other perfume brands in the market?

Deodorant brands dominate the fragrances market in India. The problem here is that these fragrances don’t provide a superior sensory experience — which is the USP of fine fragrances. Since our fragrances aim to celebrate the true joy of fine fragrances. These are created by global perfumers and are at par with international quality, but customers get them at Indian prices.

We are unlike any other fragrance company in India because we have fully integrated processes for creation, manufacturing, and distribution. Our focus is on quality and giving a product that is sensorial, luxurious, and affordable all at the same time.

3.Where do you see the perfume Industry graphing in the coming years and how do you envision placing 3003BC in the industry? Kindly explain your association with Celebrated Perfumer John Stephen.

The Indian perfume market is growing at around 15% each year and we aim to be India’s finest fine fragrances-led lifestyle company. Perfumes are considered aspirational and so far, most Indians who invest in fragrances prefer global brands.

We are very confident that we can change that and position 3003BC perfumes as the preferred brand for home-grown perfumes. In fact, we’ve created one fragrance taking inspiration from the Great Indian Wedding. It’s the first time such an attempt has been made here. Earlier people used to prefer only international brands when it came to perfumes because these global fragrances were created with inspiration from local culture and connections. We believe we can change that, starting with ‘SAA’, an Indian wedding-inspired range of fragrances.

Additionally, Anil and I have trained under John Stephen, one of the top five independent perfumers in the UK. With over 50 years of experience in the industry he has created fragrances for the Queen of England. The brand has collaborated with John Stephen to create our unique Machine learning-based personalization platform. In John’s words, “haven’t seen anything quite like this in the world.”

4. What are your top-selling perfumes? If you can tell us about your product range?

We operate in all segments of the market.

●      Our top-end product is a machine-learning-based bespoke fragrance, which is unlike any service anywhere in the world. ONE is India’s and perhaps the World’s first bespoke fragrance creation service developed through machine learning and fortified with AI

●      SAA is our culturally inspired range of fragrances aimed at expanding the fine fragrance market in India. The SAA range of his and her fragrances captures 3 moods i.e. pre-wedding, wedding, and honeymoon/post-wedding, and is recognized as the first-ever range of fragrances inspired by the emotions associated with Indian weddings

●      Artisan perfumes were created by John Stephen for the Indian audience. A range of seven fragrances. Three male, three female, and one unisex fragrance

●      HVNLY is our brand launched in partnership with Amazon aimed at making fragrance an everyday luxury for all.

We are in the early stages of launch. Hvnly was launched last year and is doing very well on Amazon. While the SAA and John’s fragrances have been on the market for hardly a couple of months and we are looking into a full-fledged launch. The preferences for our perfumes are still evolving

5. How has the brand grown since its inception? Share your expansion plans?

 Within a very short span, we have introduced to Indian consumers with daily wear perfumes (brand Hvnly), an exclusive wedding line fragrance (brand SAA), and luxury fine fragrances, i.e. John Stephen’s range of fragrances for men & women.

Now we’re looking to expand and introduce more products such as body and hair mists, skincare products and expanding to other culture-inspired fragrances besides the wedding-inspired ones. We may enter physical retail channels in India, however, there is time for that, as we focus more on D2C and making our products more robust. Eventually, of course, we are grooming our product lines like Hvnly and SAA to launch in the US & the UK.

(Brand Desk Content)