SUGAR Cosmetics inches closer to its goal of 1000 retail outlets with North India expansion

The latest 197sqft SUGAR outlet is located in the city of Gurugram at the MGF Metropolitan Mall. The exclusive store houses the whole range of cosmetic products from the SUGAR Cosmetics brand.

According to CEO Vineeta Singh, the company chose to open a store in Gurugram as it is a “key hub” for the brand’s target consumer.

With the opening of the Gurugram outlet, the company now has over 770 physical retail touchpoints in India.

This number includes 25 exclusive brand outlets in cities such as Kolkata, Bengaluru, Gurugram and Udaipur as well as including self-operated kiosks, general trade stores as well as shop-in-shop outlets with partners such as Health & Glow and Project Eve.

SUGAR Cosmetics claims to be one of the fastest-growing premium beauty brands in India. According to the firm’s figures, its retail presence has grown 777% over the past year.

The company has been aggressively expanding offline as part of its strategy to strengthen its presence in the market and reach a broader customer base.

According to the company’s research, almost 60% of their consumers prefer to shop in brick and mortar outlets.

“Maintaining a single uninterrupted flow in the customer relationship is core to winning in the longer term and with that view, we are already in the process of expanding our retail portfolio not only into North India, but through the length and breadth of the country,”​ said Singh.

She added: “This will help the brand reach out to our target audience in a much bigger way but building distribution, improving access and as a consequence boosting sales.”​

The offline expansion contributed significantly to the company’ impressive revenue growth, said Singh.

“SUGAR Cosmetics has had accelerated progress in their retail front achieving revenue growth of 700%... With this accelerated growth rate, we are hoping to touch 1000+ retail outlets by the end of 2019.”​

Product expansion​

SUGAR has since expanded its product portfolio to around 350 SKUs. Recently, the company forayed into skin care with its own range of sheet masks that aim to give consumers an “at-home spa experience”.​

“We understand that skincare has always been an important part of every woman’s routine. From traditional natural remedies that have been passed on across generations to the current times when these remedies have now been meticulously sourced and recreated in convenient, hassle-free forms,”​

She added that sheet-masks were the company’s ideal entry into skin care.

“With the “sheet mask selfie” trend gaining traction, our research showed that sheet masks would be a great start… we will soon be expanding our skincare range through innovative and different formulations and products that have still not hit the Indian market. In the coming month, we are launching a three-minute Pore Cleansing Mask and Peel Off Mask as well.”​

International expansion

Currently, SUGAR has a presence in 92 cities, including Russia. The company expanded into the country in 2018 with a soft launch.

“We are retailing in Russia through L’Etoile, which is the biggest federal network of perfumes and make-up stores in Russia. SUGAR products are available in over 200 L’Etoile brand stores, sharing shelves along with the biggest international make-up brands in the market,”​ said Singh.

She added that the company will be expanding into a new market, but declined to share details.

“We can’t comment much on it since we’re still in the middle of negotiations at this stage.”​