Myntra poised to become India's largest beauty and personal care player

The segment is a major driver of new customer acquisition for the Walmart-owned firm, as vaccination penetration rises and more people venture outdoors

Walmart-owned fashion retailer Myntra is set to emerge as the biggest beauty and personal care (BPC) player in the country and give strong competition to traditional players and online beauty platforms such as Nykaa, MyGlamm and Purplle.

Beauty and personal care is a major driver of new customer acquisition for the firm. A much higher proportion of users are making their first orders on Myntra are showing affinity towards buying BPC items.

The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the shift among consumers towards online shopping of these products.

“With the restrictions posed by covid and overall the shift in the market has propelled consumers to shop safely on digital platforms such as Myntra,” said Ayyappan Rajagopal, chief business officer, Myntra, in an interview. “We want to be the largest destination when it comes to beauty and personal care. With the experience and scale that we have been able to offer, we are definitely the fastest growing beauty and personal care player in the market.”

Myntra now has over 650 domestic and international brands and more than 27,000  styles. It plans to scale this to 1000 brands and over 35,000  styles by the end of the year. In the last 6 months, the firm has scaled from 400 brands to 650 brands, roughly added 250 brands and 20,000 SKUs (stock-keeping unit).

“We have been scaling up the BPC portfolio and are looking forward to this upcoming festive season to take a huge leap in this space as India’s new beauty expert,” said Rajagopal. “We started working backwards, when we realized the vaccination penetration had started going up and people venturing outdoors again, beauty was integral to getting back to normalcy.”

According to data platform Statista, India’s BPC market, estimated at $25.9 billion in 2020, is projected to reach $32.7 billion by 2023, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1 per cent.

Myntra is looking forward to festive shopping from customers in beauty and personal care categories that are more outdoor in nature, like make-up, fragrances and appliances. About 40 per cent of Myntra’s BPC business comes from the make-up category. Within this, the face has a share of 30 per cent.

Metro and Tier-1 customers together make 55 per cent of the current BPC customer base, while the rest are from Tier 2 cities and beyond.

“In the last few quarters, we have seen a large influx of shoppers from the North-Eastern region including Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram apart from the key metros and Tier I cities, where the traction has always been high,” said Rajagopal.

During this edition of Myntra’s Big Fashion Festival (BFF) this month, Myntra Beauty is significantly bigger than the previous event. Last year Myntra housed 400 brands and 15,000 styles. This selection has increased more than 50-60 per cent year-over-year.

Growth in BPC customers for Myntra is 106 per cent year-over-year. The growth in basket size in 2021 was 40 per cent year-over-year. The average selling price was Rs 800 and the growth in new customers was 2x year-over-year. A significant portion of female customers are buying products such as  Kajal, eyeliner, facial kits, nail polish and foundation.

Rajagopal said the firm is working on cutting edge personalized AI recommendations. He said this is distinct compared to any other player in the market whether it is offline or online. “We know what brands they (customers) typically prefer (across categories), the price point, geography,” he said. “All of these can be understood even more deeply when it comes to BPC and our recommendations can be a lot more sharper.”

The firm also has Myntra Studio, a personalized content destination on the platform that provides users with access to original and exclusive, shoppable content. This is coming from a set of influencers. These include independent influencers as well as from the brands themselves. This will play a huge role in the BPC category. They recommend products and share insights about how to use them and when to buy them. The firm also does the video cataloguing of the products to give a personal shopping experience to customers. Myntra Beauty’s separate social media presence has given the category a large share of recall and voice digitally.

“We have also been experimenting with virtual try-on, for a few segments like lipsticks, where people can see how it is going to look on them before even buying it,” said Rajagopal. “These are seeing good initial traction and we will be building on top of these in the next 12 months as well.”

Myntra said its overall customer base is on a trajectory to clock 3X of its pre-pandemic numbers this year. During this year’s BFF, it expects a  4X growth in demand in BPC in comparison to last year’s event

With life inching back towards a semblance of normalcy, Myntra said it has significantly ramped up its selection of lipsticks, eye makeup, fragrances and personal care products. For the festive season, the firm has bolstered its collection of fragrances with the likes of Salman Khan’s FRSH, Virat Kohli’s One8 and Lara Dutta’s Arias. Myntra has also collaborated with brands such as  MAC, Smashbox, Clinique, Bobbi Brown, Lakme and Maybelline for various offers specially for the festive season. It is also launching brands such as Derma Co, Syska Appliances and Moroccan Oil. It has also partnered with D2C (direct-to-consumer) brands such as Mamaearth, Sugar Cosmetics and Amrutam.

For ensuring a smooth BPC buying experience, the firm has come up with a 15 days return policy. Myntra said this is a one-of-its-kind in the industry, with certain terms in place.

BOX:

Growth in beauty and personal care (BPC) customers for Myntra is 106% year-on-year.

40% of Myntra’s BPC business comes from the make-up category.

In the BPC category, it now has over 650 domestic and international brands and 27,000 styles.

It plans to scale this to 1000 brands and 35,000 styles by the end of this year.

In the past six months, Myntra has added 250 brands and 20,000 SKUs (stock-keeping units).

Metro and Tier 1 customers together make 55 % of the current BPC customer base, while the rest are from Tier 2 cities and beyond.

India’s BPC market, estimated at $25.9 bn in 2020, is projected to reach $32.7 bn by 2023.