Despite the boom of beauty in India, the country’s luxury beauty market is not growing at the rate of other markets.
“Currently, luxury cosmetic brands are less dominant in India compared to other markets. We wanted to take this as our opportunity to fulfil the needs of the consumers who are looking for high-end experience in their daily skin care regime,” said Doyoul Kai Lee, head of Amorepacific India.
In addition to that, the high demand for K-beauty products in India is pushing the maker of Laneige and Innisfree to further expand into the market.
“This year in particular, Laniege has been showing rapid growth chiefly on the strength of its Lip Sleeping Mask. Innisfree is continuing to grow in the skincare category and Etude House is also receiving a lot of attention principally for its eyebrow products,” said Lee.
This July, the South Korean company launched its top-end beauty brand Sulwhasoo into India, making it the fourth brand in its portfolio to enter the market.
“Thanks to the growth of the luxury segment overall as well as the high demand of K-beauty in India, we saw the potential of the market for Sulwhasoo,” said Lee.
Sulwhasoo is known for its skin care products which contain its signature ingredient, Korean ginseng.
The company launched via leading Indian beauty e-commerce platform Nykaa, which has previously helped to launch Laniege, Innisfree and Etude House in India.
“Indian consumers have been introduced to Amorepacific’s various brands through Nykaa. On the platform, Laneige, innisfree and Etude House have all been delivering excellent results,” said Lee.
Brick-and-mortar expansion a possibility
He noted that it was also a strategic decision to launch the brand via the online platform given the current circumstances surrounding the novel coronavirus crisis (COVID-19), which had already delayed the launch by three months.
“Since the COVID-19-induced lockdown in India, the country's digital beauty market has been showing explosive growth, and the digital beauty market for premium products in particular has been expanding at a rapid pace,” said Lee.
He added: “Such a change in market trends has led to the good performances of our brands on Nykaa. In July, our luxury brand Sulwhasoo was officially launched into the Indian market through Nykaa, and the brand has since been delivering results that have exceeded our expectations.”
Amorepacific has not ruled out the possibility of introducing the brand into brick-and-mortar stores but said it would have to wait until the pandemic situation improves.
It may, however, expand into the offline retail market through Nykaa, which is planning to launch the Nykaa Luxe store in Delhi and Mumbai by the end of this year.
In the meantime, it will continue to explore opportunities and avenues into the market, said Lee.
“Amorepacific will continue to have great interest and high expectations for India as an important market for us. In the future, we plan to introduce to the Indian market to the various brands from our company that meet the needs of Indian consumers through continuous research on the Indian market and consumers.”