Growing demand for cosmetics and body care products drives the expansion of e-commerce entities

E-commerce giants Flipkart and Amazon are expanding their product ranges in the beauty and personal care segment to reach new customers in smaller towns, as the category is seeing rapid growth driven by rising disposable incomes.

Walmart-owned Flipkart is expanding its beauty and personal care offerings to deepen its presence in upstream markets.

“At Flipkart, we have witnessed significant expansion in the beauty and personal care category, with a significant growth of 1.2-2X driven by changing consumer demands. There is a noticeable trend towards self-care, especially in skin and hair care. Flipkart is focused on expanding its presence in tier 2+ markets, where we continue to see increased availability and adoption of skincare and lifestyle products,” said Manjari Singhal, Business Head, FMCG and General Merchandise, Flipkart.

BPC is one of the top ten selling categories (by volume) on Flipkart. Consumer demand in this category is being driven by innovation across categories such as color cosmetics, especially by new-age brands that are expanding online.

Digital channels

“Brands are leveraging digital channels to expand their reach and align their offerings with changing consumer preferences. Innovations like Flipkart’s Virtual Try-On (VTO), video commerce and skin analyzers are transforming the shopping experience to suit the dynamic needs of beauty and lifestyle consumers. These advancements are enabling informed decision-making, thereby empowering the contemporary beauty and lifestyle landscape in India,” added Singhal.

The cosmetics and personal care market in India is set to grow five-fold in the next 15 years to reach $90 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV), up from $19 billion in 2022, according to a June 12 report by HSBC Global Research. Currently, e-commerce sales account for just 17 percent of the total BPC market, but will grow to 45 percent by 2037, it said.

Last PIN

Amazon India has announced plans to provide access to high-quality cosmetics to people with the latest PIN in India.

“We have seen a significant increase in demand for beauty products among Indian consumers, especially from tier-II cities and beyond, with 80 per cent of new beauty customers coming from these areas. With skincare as our largest category, we recently launched Derma Store to better meet the growing demand for specialist skincare solutions. We also have a Global Beauty Store that offers a curated selection of over 60 international beauty brands with over 5,000 products, including cult favourites in skincare, haircare, K-beauty gems and exquisite fragrances from across the world,” said Zeba Khan, Director, Beauty, Personal Care & Luxury Beauty.

The cosmetics and personal care sector is seeing increased competition as more and more beauty brands and retailers enter the market.