Entrepreneur cum content creator Raj Shamani launched House of X last year. House of X is a platform that helps content creators build brands. The platform has plans to onboard many more creators after the positive response and performance of its two creator led brands – Blanko with creator and rapper King, and YFL (Your Food Lab) Home with celebrity chef Sanjyot Keer.
Blanko is a notable perfumes brand and YFL Home offers recipes, kitchen appliances and other related solutions for home-based cooking.
On House of X’s growth since inception Shamani told Moneycontrol in an interview, “We have started with two creators and we have spoken to 100. There are 20 in the pipeline which are going to be launching soon. But right now, the idea is to be focused with two (brands) for another year to understand the nitty-gritty of the business better before we launch more brands.”
With Blanko and YFL Home, Shamani said that they were testing the market, gauging how the response would be. “When we launched, we sold Rs 1,50,000 worth of inventory in the first 45 days. And with YFL Home, we are out of stock. We were sold out very quickly. We are still testing the market. It takes 18 months for you to test products among customers. Early signs are good. The retention rate in the fragrance industry is 15 percent. For Blanco, the retention rate is above 30 percent. Customers returning products is one challenge. But our product returns are under 10 percent for Blanko,” Shamani added.
E-commerce and the creator economy are the two biggest industries that have disrupted the Indian economy share Shamani. “Combining the two will surely disrupt the market as discovery is happening online and there are more online purchases,” he added.
The main criteria when approaching an influencer is to know whether they understand the needs and wants of their audience. Shamani said, “While creators understand the community they have built, we understand business. We give them the infrastructure to create a brand. We do sourcing, marketing, ideation and operations, whereas, creators focus on storytelling.”
House of X is a product first platform, not creator first, shared Shamani. They source data from Amazon and MSME platforms and study it to identify the product. Then the focus shifts to differentiating the product. Once that is done, they scout for the best creator who would be able to aptly communicate with their audience about the identified product.
Giving the example of YFM Home and Sanjyot Keer, Shamani said, “Sanjyot has a YouTube channel and we wanted to build a product for home chefs. Now, home chefs are home celebrities. We went on to understand the depth of what they want. One is that they want compliments from their family that their food tastes like that of a restaurant. Then we found out who is the right creator for this. Sanjyot, 7 years back, had started his YouTube channel saying that he would help his audience to make food at home that tastes like that of a restaurant. The emotion and branding matched.”
“Before we talk to a creator, it takes us 5-6 months to decide on a product. After that, it takes us a month to finalise a creator and once that is done, it takes us 7 days to launch the brand. The website (subsequently) goes live, and people can start pre-ordering,” he added. The total turnaround time from ideation to the launch of a brand is around 7 months.
The earnings depend on how well the creator serves their audience. “If the influence is deep then they can build big businesses. There is a yoga creator, who is an Indian, serving the US market and sits out of Chennai. She has 50,000 followers and teaches post pregnancy yoga. She is earning over Rs 8 crore a year,” Shamani said.