Simon Yu has always hated the smell of nail polish. So much so that in 2009, he asked his uncle Dr Weiping Wang, who was an organic paint manufacturer, if there was an alternative. The result was an odour-free polish that is water-based and non-corrosive. Little Ondine launched in the UK in April 2015.
The three co-founders – Simon, Niko Antonogiannis and Coy Chen – have been inundated with praise, despite the youth of the company. It was named one of Women’s Health’s best natural beauty products of 2015 and won QVC’s find a beauty brand competition in the same year.
Antonogiannis says: “Nail polish is a multi-million pound business growing year on year, and reached £280m in the UK alone in 2014. There are many brands available on the market, yet there is a limited amount of innovation focusing on the end consumer.”
This product is certainly unique in that regard, with reviewers raving about the ease of application, range of available colours and easy peel-off removal, without damaging the nails underneath. Beauty Shortlist Awards’ founder, Fiona Klonarides, has called it “a nail polish revolution”.
Little Ondine’s managing director Helene Panzarino says digital technology has been key to the business’s success and exposure so far: “Our e-commerce site continues to grow, with a very high rate of customer repeat purchase, and is supplemented by our social media campaigns, TV shopping appearances, digital partnerships, as well as offline collaborations.”
Antonogiannis agrees that the founders’ background in technology has made this a key priority for the business from day one. “All three of us are digital designers who live and breathe digital technology. As the company and its needs grow, we constantly rely on technology to fast track our growth and expansion.
“E-commerce was our starting point (business to consumer) and generated more than 50% of our initial revenue. Our business to business strategy now runs in parallel.”
The difficulty, they explain, has been to find the right technology and data to handle the firm’s rapid growth. They hope that SAP Anywhere will be the right solution to facilitate this: to manage their multiple distribution channels, particularly as they expand into new European markets; to enable them to interact in a more personalised and real-time way with retailers, distributors and customers; and to make the website more intelligent and interactive.
Toby Davidson, vice president of product strategy for SAP Anywhere and one of the competition judges says: “Little Ondine founders understand the power of digital and have created a business that reflects this. This knowledge coupled with a dynamic product has resulted in a steep growth curve for the company that is increasingly relying on technology to support this. The SAP Anywhere team is looking forward to helping the team continue its journey through a reliable and always-available technology platform that will allow them to effectively manage and interact with their multiple channels.”
This advertisement feature is paid for and produced to a brief agreed with SAP Anywhere, sponsor of The Disruptors hub on the Guardian Small Business Network.
