The brand was conceived to offer Indian consumers a K-beauty experienced that is catered to their needs, concerns, and lifestyles.
For instance, unlike conventional K-beauty brands, Quench Botanics does not espouse a lengthy 10- or 12-step skin care routine.
“This is one of the most important things for us. Indian consumers don’t spend more than seven to 10 minutes on skin care per day. Therefore, expecting them to follow a lengthy 10-step routine would be unrealistic,” said Janvi Kapadia, brand manager of Quench Botanics.
To counter this, the brand developed products that allowed consumers to take shortcuts, like an oil-based foam cleanser that simplifies the K-beauty double-cleansing process into one step.
Additionally, the company targeted surveyed over 200,000 consumers to find out their top skin concerns and developed products based on that data.
At the moment, the company has four main skin care lines that target acne-prone, sensitive, dull and dry skin.
The company said it would continue to conduct market research so it can align its product development to the current skin care needs and trends.
“The idea is to launch new ranges that cover various other skincare concerns. We are also looking to expand the current product ranges by introducing products that are very popular in Korea but not commonly available in India,” said Kapadia.
Rising K-wave
Quench Botanics launched in May this year and is currently available on its official website as well as Amazon India.
It has also scored a distribution deal with retail chain Health & Glow, which stocks its products in over 200 brick-and-mortar stores.
The company believes it can tap into the growing K-beauty demand which has been driven by the interest in unique ingredients associated with Korean beauty products like centella asiatica and ginseng.
Awareness of these has been propagated by social media, where influencers have been building content around the K-beauty trends and philosophies.
“Considering the growing reach of social media, Indian consumers are much more aware of global skin care trends and genuinely are willing to experiment and try new products. The brand is focused on young and aspirational consumers who are aware about the benefits of Korean beauty,” Kapadia said.
Unsurprisingly, the interest in Korean skin care is also fuelled by the increasing penetration of K-pop and K-dramas.
“The growing popularity of K-pop and K-dramas across India has played a great role in driving interest for Korean skincare. Young, aspirational consumers are really influenced by the celebrities’ ‘glass skin’,” said Kapadia.
Kapadia highlighted that Indian consumers resonate with natural ingredients as most of them are familiar and comfortable with Indian Ayurvedic principles. At the same time, they are also looking for effective, fasting-acting products.
“A lot of consumers are now looking for products which have a combination of natural ingredients and efficacy boosting actives which ensure that a product really works. That is exactly what Korean skin care is about. It includes combining natural ingredients with actives such as retinol, niacinamide, hyaluronic acid… ensuring that products are effective and at the same time quite gentle on the skin,” said Kapadia.