‘The next frontier’: The Good Glamm Group’s international venture targets Middle East, SEA

The company behind brands such as MyGlamm, POPxo, St Botanica, and Organic Harvest announced its international plans on July 6, naming Asad Raza Khan global commercial officer of the new division.

The firm is aiming to introduce its portfolio of brands to new markets and is aiming to achieve a revenue target of U$150m over the next three years on the back of its widely successful content-to-commerce model.

Speaking to CosmeticsDesign-Asia​, group founder and CEO Darpan Sanghvi, said: “We’ve created a platform with which we can take a brand and significantly grow it. So far, our thesis has been limited to India, and as part of the process, the next frontier for us is international.​

“It doesn’t matter where they originated as long as they’re solving a great customer need and have a strong brand value prop. It is time for brands that might have originated in India to transcend into other markets.”​

The company’s priority is to launch its portfolio of brands into new markets, but it is also keeping an eye out for strategic acquisition opportunities.

“Getting the brands that we have established is priority one. We always make an acquisition to solve a strategic purpose for the group – is there a category we want that we are not in today? Is there a customer base we want? Is there a distribution channel that we can get access to? If it fits our strategic purpose, we’d love to have a look,” ​said Sanghvi.

Middle East: ‘The final frontier’

The first stop for the company is the Middle East market.

“The Middle East as a very unique proposition. It has a very good mix of nationalities and cultures, and it’s a breeding group for a lot of international brands – it’s like the final frontier for a lot of these brands,”​ said Khan.

The company will be working with larger retailers in the region to tackle the largely offline beauty market, while at the same time building up its online presence in the country.

As it happens, the firm already reaches 1.5 million users through its content platform POPxo, which is as large as the largest content platform in Dubai, it claims.

“That is our competitive advantage versus any brand that’s coming into the region with all the muscle. And it's what has excited our key partners in the region because knowledge is power,”​ said Khan.

Priyanka Gill, co-Founder and head of Good Media Co added: “We will be using that to first amplify and launch our brand. After that, if there’s anything else we need at a local level – and I’ve been looking at some local level platforms – if required, we’ll put them into play.”​

The company is set to enter the Middle East first with intimate hygiene brand Sirona and baby care brand The Mum’s Co in August, followed by beauty brands Organic Harvest and St Botanica in the next quarter.

One eye on SEA

In addition to the Middle East, The Good Glamm Group is also keeping an eye on the SEA region, a market it plans to start tackling early next year.

Comparing it to the Middle East, where the intricacies of doing business do not vary as much, the SEA beauty market would be more complicated to overcome.

“In SEA, each of the countries is unique in terms of supply chain, regulations, and other requirements. It’s going to be the last [market to look into] because it’s the trickiest to crack,” ​said Sanghvi

“The beauty and personal care market in SEA is actually bigger than India, it’s extremely large but also the most complex to crack, but if we are able to crack it, the rewards are also the largest.”​