Key targets: India’s Aminu targets UAE and Saudi Arabia in Middle East expansion

Aminu was established in 2019 and spent two and a half years before launching its first products in March 2021.

“We started with the hypothesis that there was a need for deeply researched skin care products in the Indian market to start with. That turned out to be slightly more expensive than the other products, but the response we got from people told us there was this need and we are fulfilling that in the market right now,”​ said Aman Mohunta, co-founder of Aminu.

Mohunta told CosmeticsDesign-Asia​ that the company is acutely aware of how saturated its local skin care market is. Instead of jumping on trend bandwagons and marketing hype, the company pours most of its investments into research and development.

“There are hundreds of, for instance, vitamin C serums in the market, with different labels and slightly different stories, cooler packaging. There’s almost no point in bringing another one on the market. I feel that you have do to something that is at least three steps ahead of what’s happening in the market currently.”​

Mohunta pointed out that we should expect more foreign beauty brands to enter the Indian market in coming future and create more competition. In that environment, he expressed confidence that Aminu would be able to hold its own against local heroes and established foreign brands alike.

“I still sleep eight hours at night because I know we did not copy any brand that may someday come to India to expand – we have a very unique proposition. In fact, we are very confident that we can bring the brand to Europe, US, Middle East, South East Asia and compete with the existing brands there.”​

Making a mark overseas

An overseas expansion is what the company is working hard towards, it has already laid the groundwork in the Middle East and will be working to expand its presence there with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia as the key markets.

The company is excited to be contending against more established brands from the likes of Europe or the US, which Mohunta estimated cost at least three times more than Aminu.

For the Middle East, the company is taking an omnichannel channel approach, said Mohunta.

“What the pandemic taught everybody is that you can’t put all your eggs in one basket, hence the multichannel approach in case we have a lockdown situation again. So, we need to have something online. At the same time, for a product-focused brand, an offline touchpoint makes a huge difference​.”

After the Middle East, the company’s next step is to expand into the SEA region. In the meantime, the firm is also working to expand its geographical reach in India in order to reach its goal of achieving USD1m in revenue this year.

To reach this goal, the company is focusing on expanding its distribution channels, particularly in the online space.

Since its launch, the brand has been more focused on expanding in physical points, namely in niche beauty boutiques and beauty salons. Today, it is present in more than 100 stores across multiple states in India.

According to Mohunta, its offline channels account for roughly 70% of the company’s sales. It has vast room to grow by expanding with new digital channels and reaching its targets this year.