Maximising markets: India’s Minimalist outlines ambitious plans to enter US, Middle East and SEA

Minimalist was launched in October 2020, and since then the direct-to-consumer brand has expanded the business remarkably. According to co-founder Mohit Yadav, the firm has 25% of the market share for serums in India.

“One in every four [serums] sold in India is by Minimalist. Looking at a six-month cohort, more than 50% of consumers come back to buy our products,”​ Yadav told CosmeticsDesign-Asia.​

When asked about the driving force behind the brand’s success in the saturated skin care market in India, Yadav credited the efficacy of its products.

“If there’s something new in the market, people naturally would want to try. But why anyone uses skincare is to see transformation for whatever they are facing. I think all the [repeat purchases] in our case is because of the outcome consumers see.”​

The company has built on this momentum by expanding internationally. Minimalist is already available in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Malaysia, where response has been positive, said Yadav.

“We started selling on Amazon in the UAE, and in the span of four months, with zero dollar spent on marketing, we have about 14% to 15$ of market share already.”​

Over the last couple of weeks, Minimalist has furthered its international expansion, entering Saudi Arabia, the UK, and the US via Walmart. It is also eyeing expansion in the wider SEA region with partnerships with leading e-commerce players in the market.

“We always felt that once we have some foothold in India, we would definitely want to explore more markets. It will be happening sooner than what we planned because of these two experiments and how fast you able to go in India.​

“The US, UK, GCC and SEA – these are the markets which are pretty important for us in terms of expansion plans long term,”​ said Yadav.

Minimalist also has plans to expand domestically as well. Last year, it expanded into brick-and-mortar retail in both major metro cities as well as tier two and three cities.

The favorable reception was pushing the company to expand its offline footprint even further. By the end of this year, the company expects to have over 12,000 offline touchpoints across India.

New category, new opportunities

In addition to this, Minimalist will soon be launching its first hair care range, a category which is still relatively untapped in India, said Yadav.

“The hair care category, to a great extent, is still traditionally managed by the large companies. We feel there’s a lot more potential in terms of disruption and creating something with a very unique proposition.”​

He did not elaborate on the product specifics but told us it would take a similar ingredient-based approach as its skin care products.

Minimalist is set to launch the hair care category by the fourth quarter of this year, said Yadav.

“The efficacy studies have already been done, we’ll soon enter the customer feedback stage, and within three to four months, most likely it will be out in the market.”​