Nadia Stamp is the CEO and founder of DIPD Nails, and the at home manicure innovator was interviewed by Josie's Juice, chatting all things manis, and how the humble at-home nails system got its time in the sun during the Australian lockdown.
Then, not only did this light bulb moment idea (see how it all started, below) survived and absolutely thrived when we couldn't go to a nail salon, it went the next level and kept selling out kits, adding to the range, and today DIPD Nails is doing better than ever.
Nadia tells us about the whole journey right here.
DIPD Nails is not only a fantastic manicure system that actually works, it's a brilliant business success story, and it's wonderfully inspiring story on how pressing ahead with an idea which fulfils your own beauty quandary can lead to extraordinary success.
Josie's Juice: How did you become the pioneer you are in Australia with your unique product?
Nadia Stamp:
Okay, so in April last year we we went into lockdown. I had already moved to Geelong with my long term partner, however was freelancing as a marketing consultant to a range of beauty, fashion and dentistry brands in Melbourne. As we know they were the hardest hit in the pandemic and many of them closed which left me with a quarter of my client base. I was also left with SNS on my nails during this time and I had been a devoted SNS customer for years but relied heavily on my salon appointments. I loved SNS because it was applied to my natural nails and they would grow long and strong and last 3 weeks. As a marketing creative, my mind is always assessing the consumer market and environment and how I can better serve and reach customers and stand out in a crowd. My friend and I always discussed maybe starting a business together. Natalia my now business partner was great at sourcing products and admired my marketing knowledge and business acumen and said, now we are in lockdown, let me know if you think of a product that we could sell and support ourselves while we can’t work.
The lightbulb came on when I was in the painting isle buying acetone and sandpaper in an effort to remove my old SNS. Then came loads of research, consulting with nail techs to get to the bottom of a system we really only new only skin deep. The first thing is we discovered SNS was a dip powder system and SNS is merely one of many brands. Then we discovered at home dip powder systems were huge in America. Many of the American companies over the last year have been targeting the Australian market. Where they fell short was in building a local community and having a face of the brand. So I boldly put my face forward and started to share my personal DIPD journey. Nat and I invested $1000 each into setting this business up. She would source bottles and jars and product and I would package them and send them. I’d even drive by and deliver to people's homes. With no trade with China or overseas with the pandemic spiking worldwide, we found a formulator in Australia and started our Australian made journey called DIPD Nails. We bought 150 kits and thought that was all we needed. Within 2 days we were sold out and chasing stock to keep up with the supply and demand. Our entire 2020 has been a blessing and a huge learning curve. As a face of the brand, my passion to provide a quality product and amazing customer service has always been my focus. I speak with everyone, I build a community and I’m passionate about women getting lasting amazing results as I’ve learned to do. It hasn’t come with its challenges and sometimes our generosity has been in vain but our integrity and hard work has transformed our business from being average to awesome. Making ourselves accessible and pivoting quickly when we need to has been the key to our success.
Josie's Juice: I’ve always been fascinated by this, especially of late… Why do you think the manicure market has completely exploded, especially in the last year or so, there's been a huge spike in selfcare products that people can do themselves?
Nadia:
In the last year or so, self care products that people can master at home have boomed. People can’t rely on appointments regularly as we don’t know when the next outbreak will happen. People have time on their hands to learn a new skill, plus over the last year, we have been gifted a new audience of engaged customers looking for an alternative to maintaining their beauty regimes while their salons are closed. People have become a lot more savvy and interested in becoming their own beauty therapist.
Josie's Juice: You’re obviously a business success story. What would you say to a young person, say your best friend’s daughter or your own daughter or niece if you were to give them some loving yet savvy advice about starting a business?
Starting a business is challenging but you bust break it down into bite sized pieces to make it less intimidating. Don’t sit on your idea for too long and try to perfect it to it’s enth degree. Jump in and allow your market to grow and evolve. Don’t isolate yourself from your customers. I see many people with social influence starting businesses but rarely connecting genuinely with their audience. I speak to and help everyone 24/7. It’s hard work but rewarding and now those beautiful people have become genuine ambassadors of our brand helping their friends, making my job lighter and helping grow our audience
Josie's Juice: What is your yardstick to recognising when you’ve truly made it?
Nadia: Haha, gosh that’s a hard one. I am of the philosophy ’Never say Never’. There were times when my business partner would say, this brand will never get bigger than X so we need to start a new brand and I’d always argue and say never say never. We will grow to our vision, stop thinking small. She also thought we’d never sell the whole 150 kits we started out with. Now we have tens of thousands of customers who have started their DIPD journey and and they’re begging me everyday for more colours and more everything. As I work very heavily in the marketing and strategy of our business, the biggest yardstick for me that we’d made it was when the data on Google showed us as being the biggest competitor to SNS Australia. All the hard work building our brand from a customer loyalty perspective and online to create reach and visibility has been a slog. We mix our powders, we make up our kits, we design colours. we don’t just call China and get them to pack a kit. Our kits are customisable and inventory is growing and its all based on what our customers tell me. I speak to them all day, everyday. Another is when I hear women talk about our brand and get excited about it. Or I meet someone for the first time and they tell me they have a kit. It’s amazing.
Josie's Juice: What are some nail trends you've seen, which you can reveal to us here, to have people get excited about trends for Spring/Summer?
Nadia: Metallics are huge. Combo nails are everything where girls combine a range of tones and textures and then coloured french tips is a real thing. choose the one tip colour or choose a combination of coloured tips. Our customers jus love being creative. Ombre is also really populated and easy to do with DIPD Nails.
Josie's Juice: Have you seen a real shift towards more DIY nail care at home, even though now far more people seem to also go to the salon for a mani or a pedi?
Definitely, My aim is all about reach and conversion during these times when half the nation is in lockdown. I am of the mindset that a percentage of these women will try DIPD and love the convenience and become a long term customer. There is a market that will always love a salon manicure, however for the busy mum or busy woman who like me didn’t enjoy the trip to the salon but loved the nails so couldn’t give it up, this is an absolute game changer!
You can start to explore DIPD nails HERE: https://dipdnails.com.au
And don't worry... you can access a complete how-to guide right here too: https://dipdnails.com.au/pages/how-to-guide
And yes... you may recognise Nadia from that little show called 'Married At First Sight'... Nadia featured in season
And... while this interview was conducted several weeks ago, we can also now announce that Nadia is expecting her first baby with her boyfriend, cricketer Glen Talarico! Huge congratulations to the happy couple.
Follow Nadia HERE.
And follow DIPD Nails HERE.
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