Indian beauty industry set to reach $30bn by 2025: The Skin Story CEO

The beauty sector, which includes an infinite range of skincare, cosmetics, and hair products, is worth a stunning $511 billion globally, and it is expected to grow to $716.6 billion by 2025. The Indian beauty business may be starting to catch up as well, significantly increasing from $11 billion in 2017 to $30 billion by 2025. In an exclusive interview with Bizz Buzz, Ravina Jain, founder & CEO, The Skin Story, elaborates on her cruelty-free, paraben-free, safe, scientific, vegan and a soothing brand ishelpingin solving the concerns of the customers with extensive research and development

The Skin Story believes that self-love and self-care are timeless practises that everyone should engage in on a daily basis. The relationship that brands form with end customers will be the most crucial and helpful for the numerous brands on the market's bright future. The Skin Story caters to all skin types, and our distinguishing feature is collecting innovative active ingredients and assessing and presenting those that are successful for customers. Not only do we cater to all skin/hair types and issues, but our products also have a big influence in terms of efficacy

How big do you reckon is the skin care industry?

The beauty sector, which includes an infinite range of skincare, cosmetics, and hair products, is worth a stunning $511 billion globally, and it is expected to grow to $716.6 billion by 2025. The Indian beauty business may be starting to catch up as well, significantly increasing from $11 billion in 2017 to $30 billion by 2025.The unexpected surge of e-commerce shops concentrating on the beauty category, according to many in the beauty business in India, is primarily responsible for the rise. The fact that the Covid-19 epidemic has had such a minor impact on the cosmetics sector is also due to online retail.

Can you describe your range of products?

We think that wellness is heritage and that wellness should be the author of every individual's skin story. To mention a few, we offer facewash, scrub, pack, face serum, spot corrector, anti-ageing serum, intense eye gel,body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and hair serum. We believe in creating a vigorous product that is both effective and gentle on the skin. Our products are made with natural active components such as witch hazel, moringa, French red clay, blueberry, charcoal, and match green tea, to mention a few. All of the components are hand-picked with care, following extensive research and experimentation. Not only do we believe in certified ingredients, but we also believe in transforming through certified production techniques.

What makes your products unique?

The Skin Story believes that self-love and self-care are timeless practices that everyone should engage in on a daily basis. The relationship that brands form with end customers will be the most crucial and helpful for the numerous brands on the market's bright future. The Skin Story caters to all skin types, and our distinguishing feature is collecting innovative active ingredients and assessing and presenting those that are successful for customers. Not only do we cater to all skin/hair types and issues, but our products also have a big influence in terms of efficacy.

We make it a point to provide items from all categories to our consumer base as a new-age brand that responds to every skincare demand of clients. Our users' needs are diverse, but they all revolve around switching to healthier, more mindful, and effective skincare, which is what our products are recognised for. While some seek to reduce acne and find solutions to specific skincare issues such as oiliness, many others are repeat purchases for our game-changing haircare products. All of our products are perfectly developed after years of study to deliver all consumers the greatest possible skin, hair, and body care solutions, which we have particularly selected.

How have your brands fared in the marketplace?

We aim to be recognised as The Skin Story, a brand that caters to all skin and hair types as well as all skin and hair concerns and is widely available in department shops, big format retail stores, beauty stores, salons, and A+ pharmacies. In the last 3-5 months, we have relentlessly worked on progressing our online marketplace presence. Due to this, we have gained a substantial 10-15 per cent increase in our online market visibility from platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Pharmeasy, etc.We are one of the most significant R&D developers of personal care products. Our goal is to be a brand that offers customers the appropriate goods with the correct components. Since our beginning, we have grown and want to capture a significant market share in the near future with our innovative product lineup. The Skin Story believes that self-love and self-care are timeless practises that everyone should engage in on a daily basis. The relationship that brands form with end customers is what keeps us growing and helps us introduce more consumer-centric products in the market.

What are price points for your brands?

The Skin Story aims to nurture the skin from within to make it beautiful & healthy from the outside. We don't believe in cutting corners nor do we make any product that does not align with our mission of ethical skincare. All the products are not only made with the purest of ingredients but are also extensively dermatologically tested, both in-house and at NABL accredited labs, so that they perfectly suit a user's skin type and there are no unwanted effects in the long run. It's worth noting that the prices of skin care products have skyrocketed in the previous 10 years, especially for under-eye and face creams. Both popular and premium companies have been able to demand prices much above what marketers might have anticipated a few years ago. Our price points have always centred around the affordability notion so that consumers can take advantage to experiment and enjoy their beauty and skincare routines without stressing over prices.

How would you define your target audience?

For us, our target consumers are primarily in the age bracket of 18 to 45 years. Most of our products are influenced by the Millennials and Generation Z. Before making a purchase, today's consumer is an attentive and knowledge eable shopper who identifies their skin type, its individual characteristics, and conducts research on trends and ingredients that will work for them. The market is vast, with solutions to meet the demands and budgets of every consumer, new or old. The consumer has begun to migrate, but not fully, from cosmetics to skincare, even adding multi-purpose items that fulfil both functions. With the advancement of beauty standards, some customers are gravitating toward 'skinmalism' (using the bare minimum to create a natural sort of beauty).Customers in Generation Z are more active, adventurous, and inquiring about product formulation and if it is sustainable and ecologically beneficial. As customers' attention turns toward mindful purchasing and responsible living, purposeful purchasing has also transformed the cosmetic and skincare business. Individuals want to know about the ethical sourcing, packaging, and formulation of the products they want to buy, while also considering social media trends, comments, and reviews.

How significant are your brands to the Make in India story?

With increased internet penetration, India's online industry for the purchasing of cosmetics and beauty products has grown rapidly in the last 3-4 years. This category has attracted major local and global companies who are capitalising on e-commerce growth and fighting for a substantial share of the online cosmetics market.

The Skin Story is proud to be an Indian brand with products made of world-class, high quality well - researched imported active ingredients. We are 100 per cent vegan, paraben-free and also cruelty-free. Considering the effectiveness of the products and their ingredients, the rate of customer satisfaction as well as repeat purchases is high. Our 'made in India' products speak for themselves, delivering results that satisfy our clients and convert first-time users into ardent supporters and advocates.

How would you rate your competition?

In a highly competitive market, launching a new product and establishing a brand is always tough. However, we have always believed in the innovation and revolutionary products that we provided to the modern customer through our men's and women's skin, body, and hair care brands. There are many factors that would be taken into consideration when rating the other players in this industry. Ranging from product innovation to having products that deliver on their promises, it's the consumers who have the last say in choosing their preferred brand. Today's consumers are known to make wise and well-researched choices. Hence, we too are very stringent in carefully researching the ingredients that go into making our products. However, in a very short time, we have distinguished ourselves via the quality and distinctiveness of our products, which have quickly gained us a devoted and ever-expanding consumer base.

What is the market share of your brands in the category they address?

As a brand, we have traditionally enjoyed a strong offline presence and this has helped us cater to the niche audience for our segments. However, due to Covid restrictions, the offline sales took an impact and we didn't see the expected increase in our sales. Hence, we have also begun a rapid expansion process for gaining market share by being available online as well. In the last few months, we have been committed to building a strong online presence in the growing eCommerce space. By being available on platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, Purple and Pharmeasy, we are optimistic to take on competing brands and increase our overall brand visibility. We are upbeat about increasing our market share in the skin and beauty segment by maximizing the availability of our products for our consumers.