DECODING INDIA’S BEAUTY BOOM

India’s Beauty and Personal Care sector has seen tremendous growth and evolving trends over the past few years. Various factors are driving this growth - India’s young population willing to experiment with products and brands, higher disposable income, more women joining the workforce, rise of e- commerce and Q- commerce making products easily accessible, launch of home grown brands available direct to consumer etc.

As with all sectors, technology is playing an increasingly important role – online shopping not just for discounts but convenience and variety, role of influencers in digital marketing, virtual try -on apps and expansion of the beauty- tech industry.

There is also a rise in the share of the premium segment – many beauty retailers are reporting a higher share and growth of this segment in their sales. This is driven by consumer’s willing to pay more for products that address their specific needs. This is both an opportunity and challenge, and understanding what consumers need becomes even more important.

The way Indians look at beauty has transitioned over time – from obsession with “fair/ white skin” to appreciation of clean beauty and natural ingredients (going back to our roots) and embracing K- Beauty.

This report is a compilation of some of the current consumer trends curated by Sakina Pittalwala and Shruti Patodia, and authored by our beauty sector experts – Archana Gupta, Gauri Pathak, Anu Thaker, Reema Notani and Ananya Roy Mathur.