How Is L’Oreal Progressing In India?

L’Oreal has been hugely successful in India despite entering the market much later than its peers. According to Euromonitor, currently, it has the third largest market share in the country and stands just behind consumer retail giants such as Hindustan Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive. The total market size of India’s beauty and personal care market is estimated to be around $12.5 billion. In an interview with Quartz, Jean-Christophe Letellier, managing director of L’Oreal, India, spoke about the various rising trends in the country and how the company has built up a successful business by catering to the changing Indian preferences.

Indian Beauty Market Is Growing And How!

India still has a long way to go in the field of beauty, as the majority of its personal care market is still dominated by products of personal hygiene and India’s cosmetic market is valued at only around €5 billion out of the overall market size of around €200 billion. However, the market is one of the fastest growing in the world, growing at a pace that is twice or thrice of that of the worldwide average. Over the next decade, the country is poised to become one of the top 5 or 6 markets globally.

In India, due to the high penetration of the digital media, there’s demand for beauty products even in lower-tiered cities and hence L’Oreal has products to cater to every segment of the population ranging between Rs 3 to Rs 10,000 (~$.05 to $150).

Two Most Important Segments

The two most important categories in the Indian beauty market are cosmetics and hair color. The company is building its premium hair care sales by partnering with beauty salons. It is also focusing on male grooming which is a growing market nowadays.

In the hair color segment, the company is launching innovative products such as hair color sprays and clay-based shampoo suited for Indian hair. In cosmetics, along with the launching of global brands, the company is also focusing on local products such as the Maybelline Colossal kajal.

Focus On Digital Reach 

India’s young populace, the rise of social media, and e-commerce are some of the key trends that L’Oreal has taken advantage of in order to be successful in India. With rising purchasing power, the trend of visiting salons have become more popular with time, thus making make-up the fastest growing segment in the beauty market.

Just like in the U.S. or in Europe, L’Oreal doesn’t merely buy advertisements on the digital media, it rather creates content with the help of social media influencers to expand its reach among consumers. As an example of this reach, Letellier talks about the Indian launch of its makeup brand, NYX, in Mumbai, where people apparently queued up since 3 am and around 700 people were gathered even before the store’s opening. This was entirely achieved by the word of mouth spread by the social media beauty influencers.

Herbal Products Are A Hit

Also, along with the rising popularity of natural and herbal products in India with brands such as Patanjali, Letellier said that L’Oreal is trying to collaborate science as well as natural ingredients in its products. Its Garnier brand has a lot of such products. The company is increasingly launching more such products into the country in an attempt to spur new growth.

Editor’s Note: We care deeply about your inputs, and want to ensure our content is increasingly more useful to you. Please let us know what/why you liked or disliked in this article, and importantly, alternative analyses you want to see. Drop us a line at content@trefis.com

Notes: