Always in the research of artisan, high quality brands for our The Creative Minds Series, we run into Zaaina, a heaven of handmade, 100% natural skincare products and we had to find out more about the company and the amazing woman behind it.
Zaaina means ‘beautiful’ explains Purvi Desai, the manager and creative force behind the company. She is a mother of two and living in Phoenix, Arizona, but she grew up in India, where she spend time observing her mother and grandmother preparing homemade remedies using ingredients from the kitchen. When she was a teen, not able to find any solution to her skincare problems through drugstore products, she went back to her roots and started making her own natural recipes, using ingredients like honey, turmeric, lemon and yogurt. That’s where her passion for experimenting with natural ingredients begun and it’s still on. Later, Purvi got a degree in Finance and worked for 10 years in big Fortune 500 companies. However, in 2010, her love for creating pure and natural beauty products prevailed and in 2010 she quit her well- paid manager position to start Zaaina. ‘It was the most difficult part. Having a job that has a nice office view and a good salary was a luxury. From that to be a one-woman show to handle and learn everything from scratch about starting and running a business and not making any money was extremely difficult and challenging. The best part about stating Zaaina was that I was looking forward to each day with millions of ideas that I can try to make Zaaina successful‘, says Purvi.
Nowadays, Zaaina has hundreds of 5-star reviews and thousands of admirers on Etsy , offering more than 40 different products to its customers that don’t contain any chemicals, artificial preservatives, fragrances and parabens. I asked Purvi, is she thinks that people are starting to be more interested in natural products than they used to in the past. ‘Absolutely‘, she says, ‘the awareness is definitely out there. People are becoming more cautious about, not only what they eat, but also what they use for their bath and body products. People do prefer small batch handmade products than mass production chemical based products. People also see the huge difference in their skin complexion and also some of the skin issues they have like acne, dry skin, eczema, etc etc are healing much faster using all natural products.’ Zaaina keeps its products truly natural, relying on effective ingredients used for centuries from around the world, like organic herbs, fruit powders, various kind of clay, coconut butter and pure essential oils.
Not long ago, Etsy launched its new platform, Etsy Wholesale , to help their customers discover designers who live in their neighborhood and around the world, and designers to get to see their creations sold in stores from small town boutiques to large, national retailers. Zaaina was approved for Etsy Wholesale, although she says she hasn’t got any single wholesale order from Etsy yet, but people find her on Etsy and contact her to do wholesale with them. ‘Wholesale was a whole new world, which I was not at all prepared for it or knew anything about it. But when the opportunity knocks on the door, you can’t say come back later :-) I worked so hard to make my Etsy shop such way in a hope that one day I will get featured on Etsy Blog or on their Admin Pick list. My dream came true when one of my listings made it to the Etsy’s wedding list. After that I got many inquires about working with companies who were looking for wholesale pricing. Up until then, I knew nothing, but I took that as a learning opportunity. I managed to fulfill 600-unit wholesale order, which was the biggest for me. Since then I have done so many wholesale and private labeling accounts and with each account I learned what I was capable of and what I could do.’
Apart from keeping the product quality high and the company’s look fresh and polished, when selling wholesale Purvi tries to work and fulfill every requirement the client has from her. ‘Many of the wholesale clients I work with want to start out with small orders, since they also want to test their own market. I try to be as flexible as I can to help the client. I believe that if my client is successful, l I will be successful. If they sell more, I will sell more. I also try to help the client in order for them to sell better by providing good tips, help them market better, work with packaging, etc.’ Most of Zaaina’s wholesale clients are from the USA, but Purvi recently started working more with clients from Hong Kong, Singapore and China. She thinks Etsy Wholesale can definitely work in other places as well. ‘If Etsy Wholesale opens to other parts of the world, there will be lot of opportunities for artisans since people all over the world love and admire the Etsy products. Etsy Wholesale could test other markets, one at a time and then expand. I personally ship to Europe and Asia more, so those two continents might be good to test if Etsy Wholesale will work in other parts of the world.’ If you are interested in opening an Etsy Wholesale account Purvi has some advice for you: ‘Work on the pricing and be more flexible with each inquiry. Also, as a small business or one woman/man show, it’s very hard to fulfill large wholesale orders on time and for that reason some people can’t handle wholesale. Try to get help and sometimes just take a chance. You will never know what you are capable of doing if you don’t take that chance.’
And what are the ”ingredients” of a successful and loved brand according to Purvi? ‘Care, Love and Passion for each product. When small businesses like mine, are making their products they should make them with pure love, care and passion to ensure that the product will do exactly what it says it does. I believe if my customers are ready to spend their hard earned money on my products, it is my responsibility to make the best quality for them. Customer service is another key ingredient of a successful and loved brand. I treat every single customer of mine, as if that customer is the only one I have. I have gone over and above to make my customers happy and that is the reason I have more than 60% repeat buyers. Those repeat buyers are also the reason I get new customers every day.‘
