How a Former Cycle Manufacturer Built A Beauty Brand, Meet Recode Studio’s Dheeraj Bansal

India’s beauty and personal care (BPC) industry is experiencing unprecedented growth, driven by a rising middle class, digitally savvy consumers, and an increasing demand for high-quality yet affordable products. 

According to market research firm Statista, India now ranks fourth globally in generating the highest revenue from the BPC sector. As the market continues to expand, new trends and consumer behaviours are creating fresh opportunities for homegrown brands to innovate, disrupt, and leave a lasting mark on the industry. 

Amid this growth, Recode Studios is one such brand seizing this momentum by offering high-quality products at accessible price points, positioning itself uniquely in the market as an “affordable luxury” brand that combines Indian accessibility with international standards.

In a conversation with BrandWagon Online, Dheeraj Bansal, Co-founder, Recode Studios, talks about his journey so far with the company, marketing strategies, distribution channels, pricing strategy, revenue and future vision of Recode, among others. 

 

It is quite unusual to see a man who was formerly a bicycle manufacturer enter the largely female-dominated makeup industry. What motivated you to take this step, and how did you tackle the doubts that might have come up in the early stages?

It began with our friend, Rahul Sachdeva, who had been part of the makeup industry since 2014. In 2018, he came to us with an idea — “Let’s start our brand.” That conversation sparked the journey of building Recode.

I brought in my business experience, which dates back to 1995, while Rahul contributed his deep expertise in cosmetics. With industry knowledge and management experience coming together, it created the perfect foundation for what we were about to build.

 

What are your distribution channels? Which channel has given you the most return, and how have you expanded your operations in the FY 24 and FY 25? 

When we started this business, we had the support and expertise of Rahul Sachdeva, who initially focused on the office market. But then, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, shutters went down, and the entire market came to a halt. That’s when we made a conscious decision to build our business online. We launched our website and began by offering 21 products at just ₹1 each. This strategy brought us significant traction. People tried our products, loved them, and kept coming back.

In terms of distribution, we didn’t follow the conventional route; instead, we decided to build our own. We started opening franchise-operated focus stores, where the shopkeepers also function as our local distributors. For example, in Ahmedabad, our franchisee operates a store and caters to around 125 shops in the area. Similarly, our Kolkata franchise serves nearly 200 shops.

We’re also seeing good traction online. If we break down our digital sales, out of every ₹100 worth of products sold online, ₹50 comes from our website, ₹25 from Nykaa, and the remaining ₹25 from platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, and Myntra. Currently, the overall sales split is roughly 70% online and 30% offline. We directly supply around 200 stores from our warehouse, and another 1,000 stores are served through our franchisee network.

Last year, we closed at approximately ₹48 crore in revenue, with a bottom line (PAT) of ₹3.15 crore. In the first quarter of this financial year, we’ve already touched ₹22 crore. At this pace, we’re confidently projecting ₹100 crore in revenue by the end of this fiscal year.

 

Who are your competitors, and what has been your competitive strategy to build your customer base in this saturated industry? How have your products given you an edge among the consumers? 

We’ve even featured on Shark Tank, and today, our products are promoted by thousands of influencers. We don’t see ourselves competing with Indian brands—we're competing with international brands.

Our product quality is on par with top global names. Some of our manufacturers are the very same ones that produce for well-known international brands. For example, there's a foundation in the market that retails for ₹4,500, and we offer an equivalent product for around ₹1,000, manufactured by the same company. The major difference? You're paying them for the brand name.

When our products are promoted by influencers or through Meta ads, and people try them, they realise the quality truly matches that of international standards. 

 

How did the feedback from the Shark Tank judges, especially about packaging, influence your future strategies for Recode Studios? What was the result? 

After our appearance on Shark Tank, Rahul and my corporate life changed for good. Before that, hardly anyone knew who we were or what we had built. Shark Tank gave us visibility and credibility in the business world, which helped us personally and professionally.

 At that time, we had just started, and our Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs) were low. We didn’t have the flexibility to customise packaging as we do now. We were working with limited options—ordering 2,000 to 3,000 units—so we had to go with whatever was available.

Even then, our packaging wasn’t bad, but yes, we’ve come a long way since. Today, we order in bulk—50,000 to 100,000 units—and that gives us full creative control. We’ve done a lot of work on improving our packaging. Now, every product comes in a uniform design, with consistent fonts and branding.

After Shark Tank, we took that packaging feedback seriously. The moment we got that national-level exposure, we knew we had to step it up. We reworked everything within 15 to 30 days and rolled out a completely uniform packaging line.

 

Could you walk us through your marketing strategy and the marketing channels? Do you prefer more influencer marketing, celebrity endorsements, or UGC?

When it comes to marketing, we follow a multi-pronged approach, but our core strategy revolves around influencer marketing for strong visibility.

Another key pillar of our strategy is conducting masterclasses at makeup academies. These sessions allow customers to try our products firsthand. When they like what they use, they often go on to purchase them—either from the academy itself or from our nearby stores. Currently, we hold masterclasses across nearly 25 stores, and this offline engagement helps drive both offline and online sales.

We also put a strong focus on UGC (user-generated content), which we amplify through Meta ads. We invest heavily in Meta advertising. I personally don’t believe in Google Ads for our category, which is primarily beauty and personal care (BPC). 

As for brand ambassadors, we brought on board Swara Bhaskar and Anshul Kumar Mittal. While their association didn’t lead to a direct spike in revenue, the intention was never immediate sales. Their presence helped us build a strong, authentic foundation for the brand.

 

How do you price your products? Has the strategy remained constant since the beginning, or has it taken a new turn with time? 

In the beginning, we launched the ₹1 campaign to clear out inventory that was about to expand over the next 8–10 months. That campaign was only at the very start. Since then, our price point has remained strong. For example, we sell a foundation for ₹1,000, which is not common among Indian brands. Most Indian brands in the market offer similar products at ₹350 to ₹600. So yes, selling at ₹1,000 in the Indian market isn’t easy—but we’re doing it successfully. And the only reason is our quality.

We are not competing with any Indian brand—we’re creating our own space. That’s also why we’re profitable.

If you look at how most startups operate, they may grow, but profitability often takes a back seat. We’ve built our growth and profits simultaneously. Our revenue is increasing, and our profits are too. And we believe that’s happening because of our product quality, our pricing integrity, and our focused marketing approach.

 

What is your revenue target in the next 5 years? Also, how do you wish to position yourself in the market in the upcoming years? 

We wish to position our brand as an affordable luxury, Indian international. This is because our quality is on par with the international brands. So, it is an affordable luxury. So, it is an affordable luxury. In terms of revenue, we are hoping for 500 crore in the next 5 years.

 

He even stated that they are planning to go for an SME IPO. It isn’t final; it remains a topic of discussion. As far as products are concerned, he said that people can find new product launches every fortnight on their website. They range from highlighters and blushes to eyeshadow palettes.