Global SS Beauty Brands, a fully-owned subsidiary of Shoppers Stop, which is best known for distributing luxury beauty labels such as NARS, Armani, Valentino, and Prada, among others, will increasingly tap the mass beauty segment as it eyes its next level of growth, CEO Biju Kassim said in a conversation with FE.
The move comes as the domestic beauty and personal care market, currently valued at $21 billion, is set to touch $34 billion by 2028, according to industry forecasts, driven by growing aspirations for affordable, but good quality products. India will also be among the fastest-growing beauty markets in the world, moving at 10% per annum between now and 2028, ahead of China, which will grow at 7% per annum, consultancy firm Redseer said in a recent report.
Global SS Beauty Brands, which competes with Baccarose, also a leading distributor of beauty and fragrance products in India, has taken the first few steps in its endeavour to expand its portfolio, tying up with Turkish beauty brand Note Cosmetique to distribute the brand in the country. While Note has been in India since 2014, largely in the digital space, the association will Global SS Beauty Brands will see it get a wider push into both offline and online retail, Cihan Bayraktar, director of the firm, said. Besides Note, Global SS Beauty Brands has introduced Armaf, a mid-priced fragrance brand from the West Asia recently, and is expected to look at more such tie-ups in the future.
Known for its affordable, skin-friendly make-up products across the world, colour cosmetics under Note Cosmetique will start at Rs 399 a unit, Kassim says, with the range largely available under Rs 1,000 a unit.
Affordable fragrance brands, on the other hand, will be available for Rs 2,500-3,500 a unit, Kassim says. The mid-priced or mass beauty market, he says, is an evolving space, with international beauty brands ready to tap this segment.
“I see this as a sweet spot for a number of global brands wanting to reach Indian consumers with good but affordable products,” he says. While the luxury beauty market in India has been booming as the wealthy aspire to have the best brands from across the world, the mass beauty market in India is bouncing back after a brief lull, experts say.
Most beauty retailers including Nykaa, Reliance Retail, apart from Shoppers Stop have been bringing their focus back on the affordable beauty market in a bid to drive growth in recent months.
Kassim says that the strategy for Global SS Beauty Brands has been a combination of luxury, prestige and masstige brands in its portfolio. While luxury and prestige brands constitute 85-90% of its portfolio at the moment, this skew is likely to change in the future as the focus shifts to masstige brands. Luxury and prestige brands will likely constitute around 65-70% of the firm’s portfolio in the next few years and masstige brands will make up about 30-35% of its portfolio.
At a broader level, Shoppers Stop is looking to take the share of its beauty business to 25% of its total revenue, from 18% now, in the next three years.