This festive season, professional at-home services 'fully booked'

NEW DELHI: Home cleaning and at-home salon services have hit an all-time high in terms of demand this festive season, said industry executives, attributing the surge to multiple factors such as convenience for working professionals, growing awareness of professional deep cleaning and increasing emphasis on cleanliness in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Complete home cleaning and home grooming services have seen the sharpest growth, they said, with startups such as Wify, Vijay Home Services and Squeaky Clean witnessing a 30% year-on-year increase, while proptech firm NoBroker has recorded a 75% jump in demand for its home cleaning services.

"Overall industry has grown by 30% in top-tier cities, while NoBroker has grown by 75% year-on-year, which far outpaces the industry growth rate," said NoBroker CEO Amit Kumar Agarwal.


Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi-National Capital Region have seen higher growth in demand than elsewhere in the country, he said, adding that Bengaluru-based NoBroker has expanded to Ahmedabad this year and will soon launch operations in Jaipur and Kolkata.

Bengaluru-based Vijay Homes Services gets 80% of its 12,000-13,000 orders a month for full home cleaning, said founder Pankaj Kumar Choudhary. "This October, we are aiming for at least 35,000 such deliveries," he said.

The company serves 21 cities across the country, up from 16 cities last year, and its headcount has increased to 700 full-time employees from about 400 employees during this period, he said, adding, "Our journey has just begun. We are looking at expanding to tier-2 and tier-3 cities."

Gurgaon-based Squeaky Clean gets to fill most of its slots in advance, especially at weekends, said a company spokesperson. "Despite the fact that we have multiple teams, we still have to refuse 10% of clients unwillingly," said the spokesperson.

Wify, a Mumbai-based home improvement and maintenance company, which recently raised funding from the likes of Mount Judi Ventures, Capria Ventures and Blume Founders Fund, has operations in 80 cities, with Mumbai and Bengaluru topping the list in terms of demand. "This year we plan to cover 100 cities," said CEO Vikram Sharma.

Apart from the convenience factor, upscale construction is also driving the demand for home cleaning services, said executives.

"A lot of newly built houses have used expensive stones, tiles and wooden flooring. They (homeowners) are aware that regular mopping may not be able to maintain the same quality of cleaning," said the Squeaky Clean spokesperson.

Category leader Urban Company, which recently raised $50 million from growth-stage technology and consumer investment firm Dharana Capital, declined to comment.

This year, home salon treatment services have also seen a sharp increase in demand, according to industry executives.

An executive at the upscale Geetanjali Salon chain, which has about 120 outlets across India, said on condition of anonymity, "We are booked almost to full capacity for at-home salon services, especially during weekends and evenings, starting with the Navratras, till Karva Chauth, Diwali and then the wedding season. Premium at-home grooming packages, like facials and hair spa, are most in demand."

Ecommerce company Meesho said in its recent 'Smart Shopper Report', "With increasingly hectic schedules, mass consumers are prioritising self-care, leading to a rise in at-home salon treatments... This year (2024), they have purchased 6 lakh face packs, over four lakh facial kits, three lakh wax strips, four lakh press-on nails, and four lakh nail paints."