E-commerce

Wow Skin Science resorts to cost-cutting, layoffs as sales fall

Pranav Balakrishnan

July 31, 2023 | 9 Min Read

Wow Skin Science has fired around 50 employees across various functions in recent months after seeing sales decline. Once the poster child of India’s D2C beauty and personal care (BPC) boom, its plight indicates that the glory days of the online BPC space are over.

Key Takeaways

Wow Skin Science has let go of about 50 employees across various roles, including marketing, supply chain, and customer care
The layoffs are a result of Wow’s investors asking the company's senior leadership to cut costs
Following an exponential rise in revenue during the pandemic, the company is seeing falling sales despite frequent discounting
Wow’s predicament highlights the growing challenges that D2C beauty and personal care brands now face

March 2023 marked a seismic change for Wow Skin Science. According to multiple executives at the beauty and personal care (BPC) brand, their targets changed on a dime. “We started March aiming for 50% revenue growth. Just two weeks later, the strategy changed to maintaining revenue but improving profitability by 50%,” said a former employee who recently left the company.

The layoffs began shortly after. According to half a dozen industry executives, including multiple former Wow employees who left the company recently, the company laid off over 50 people across its marketing, supply chain, and customer care functions in the following months. “Restructuring began in April and went on well into May. It started with performance reviews,” said another former executive.

Manish Chowdhary, the company’s cofounder, told The CapTable that nothing is amiss at the company. “It has been a business-as-usual year for us. Attrition is part and parcel of that. We are actively hiring for critical roles to support our business goals,” he said over WhatsApp.

Former Wow employees say otherwise.

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