While the beauty industry is booming in Asia, consumers on each market have specific tastes.
What makes India unique is that it is rooted in traditional beauty recipes, particularly in the hair care segment - where oils and treatments are in high demand.
Market research firm Mintel confirms, stating that launches which bridge the gap between value and prestige products are likely to drive the growth in India.
Numerous international beauty manufacturers have caught on to this, particularly L’Oréal, whose South Asia Pacific MD, Jean-Christophe Letellier recently told The Business Standard; "Our role in India is to build a bridge between traditional recipes and products to modern cosmetics."
In that interview, Letellier informs the publication that with the exception of a certain luxury products, 90 per cent of the company's India portfolio is sourced and produced locally.
Where modern meets traditional..
In fact, L’Oréal has already combined this ethos in the hair colourant segment with ‘Garnier Black Naturals’.
According to Vivienne Rudd, Director of Global Insight, Beauty & Personal Care at Mintel; launches like L'Oréal’s seeks to “encourage consumers to trade up from traditional, low cost products to more sophisticated products that use familiar ingredients and claims and add a more cosmetic twist, promising luxuriant, shining colour and professional results at home.”
The beauty behemoth made its first acquisition in India in 2013 with Cheryl’s Cosmeceuticals, headquartered in Mumbai and synonymous with skin care treatments and products across salons in the country.
At the time, the brand had a distribution network spanning over 10,000 salons in India and a turnover of approximately 200 million Rupees (3 million Euros).
"This is an attractive opportunity for L'Oréal in India as it broadens the product offering of our Professional Products Division in this country to also include skin care products and services,” Letellier said at the time of the acquisition.