India’s beauty craze – a primer to SEA’s success?

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Revlon, a 90-year-old cosmetics firm and a household name in the industry, filed for bankruptcy last month, citing supply chain disruptions. But analysts say the global brand failed to keep up with rising competition from newer upstart players for a long time.

I don’t have to say more about the cut-throat competition in the beauty industry. I am often lost whenever I enter a store. The only strategy to keep me from overspending is to stick to brands I regularly use.

The craze for beauty products in Southeast Asia and India is here to stay. But what Southeast Asian players can learn from India’s more mature market, as my colleague Samreen details in this week’s Big Story, is to go directly to their customers and to personalize their offerings.

Beauty direct-to-consumer startups in India have racked up nearly US$900 million in funding over the last two years. They are also smart at localizing their products – Sugar Cosmetics’ lipsticks, for example, are well-known in the country for matching the Indian skin tone.

Southeast Asia’s young D2C brands are trying to replicate that success by identifying white spaces in the industry and diversifying their sales channels. Essentially, that’s how you can stand against global but “aging” competitors like L’Oréal, Unilever, or Revlon in the past.

In the Hot Take, I write about the collapse of one young startup in Pakistan. Quick commerce company Airlift ran out of money within just a year after it raised US$85 million. The company was ambitious but it was far from enough – does this signal stormy seas ahead for its Southeast Asian counterparts?

– Huong

THE BIG STORY

India’s beauty craze a primer to SEA’s success?

Image credit: Timmy Loen

While direct-to-consumer beauty brands in India have gone from strength to strength, the opportunity in SEA may be even bigger.

THE HOT TAKE

The demise of Pakistan’s quick commerce star fires stark warning to SEA players

NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW