Skin Sutra

A PANDEMIC may not be the best time to launch a brand in the international market but when you’re Korean luxury skincare brand Sulwhasoo and the market in question is India, which boasts an increasingly discerning skincare consumer, even Covid-19 cannot serve as a deterrent. Sulwhasoo was launched on an e-platform in July this year and some of its iconic products have already racked up 5-star ratings, their prohibitive price tags notwithstanding.

A key ingredient in the creation of a luxury brand is heritage, which is infused with traditional knowhow and technology. Think of Swiss watchmaking. In Korea, it is hanbang and skincare. Hanbang is the science of traditional medicine with a heavy emphasis on herbal remedies for not just ailments but also skincare and haircare. Sulwhasoo is a hanbang brand, one that marries the power of medicinal herbs with modern science to create end products, such as their First Care Activating Serum, a bottle of which, according to parent company Amorepacific Group, is sold every ten seconds worldwide. In India, a 60 ml bottle of this serum vends at Rs 6,200.

If hanbang sounds similar in principal to Ayurveda, then you are not off the mark. In India, the very basic tenets of Ayurveda are common knowledge—think ritha, an amla concoction for hair, or ubtans for skincare. But it was only at the turn of the 21st century, with the setting up of, first, Forest Essentials (2000), and then, Kama Ayurveda (2002), that the skincare and haircare elements of Ayurveda got a facelift. Ayurvedic concoctions till then were something either cooked in your grandmother’s kitchen or sourced from obscure clinics. Although Biotique, an Ayurveda-inspired brand set up in the 1990s, in many ways stood tall as the prime mover in giving traditional skincare and haircare remedies a makeover, Forest Essentials and Kama came in later and pioneered the concept of luxury Ayurveda. Affluent Indians who patronised international beauty brands were more than willing to be convinced of the age-defying properties of a kumkumadi tailem, provided it came in a nifty glass bottle and was sold out of stores redolent with the fragrance of rose petals and jasmine. Today, while Estée Lauder has a stake in Forest Essentials, Puig, a Barcelona-based fashion and fragrance house, is funding Kama.

Both Forest Essentials and Kama have salience in the Indian skincare market though the space is dominated by mainstream labels that cater more to the price-sensitive consumer. However, over the last few years, as the clean beauty movement has gained ground, there has been a proliferation of homegrown brands, from those in the luxury Ayurveda space to smaller independent organic labels, each vying for the attention of an increasingly picky customer, fussy about what he/she puts on their skin and the ethical profile of the brand they choose to patronise.

In 2017, the Indian skincare market stood at $1.6 billion with a projected growth rate of 9 per cent. Rising disposable incomes and increased demand for specialised skincare, especially among the younger consumers, are considered to be the key drivers. Skincare regimens have evolved from the very basic to the sophisticated, which in turn was made possible with the launch of e-platforms like Nykaa, rapid internet penetration and the Korean beauty regimen boom. During the pandemic, sales have taken a hit even as the conversation has veered towards more holistic life and consumption patterns. The Indian consumer, already curious about what all was going into the bottle in their beauty cabinet, is now asking for more details, ranging from eco-friendly packaging to the ‘give back story’ of the brand.

There has been a surfeit of brands, both international and local, in the Indian market for years now but few directly addressed specific skincare issues prevalent in the subcontinent—pigmentation, dark circles, uneven skin tone being some of the biggest concerns. “When Fenty Beauty was launched, I was impressed with the inclusivity of its range. It also went to the heart of the question I had been asking since my return to India in 2015—why is no one answering the specific needs of the Indian skincare market?” asks Dr Aneesh Sheth, co-founder and CEO, Dr Sheth’s, a skincare range launched in 2017. His mother, Dr Rekha Sheth, was among the country’s first cosmetic dermatologists who already had a small line of products, albeit for her dedicated clients, when Dr Aneesh Sheth decided to expand. “For years, my mother would go to international conferences and ask for data on skin colour. Even today, only 10 per cent of all papers published deal with issues faced by skin profiles like ours,” he says. Dr Sheth’s, the skincare line, was launched with five products, including a peel, sunscreen and a cleaner, all on the promise that they would treat the specific concerns of the Indian skin. “We had to understand where the gaps were. For instance, there were no peels in the market. We needed something that was safe, had FDA approvals and boasted scientific experiments,” he adds. He considered it a risk but also thought there was nothing to lose. Since then, the range of Dr Sheth’s has expanded considerably and the growth, according to Dr Aneesh Sheth, has been “100 per cent year on year”.

What seemed like a risky proposition was actually an opportunity waiting to be grasped and Dr Aneesh Sheth wasn’t the only one thinking along those lines. Some, like Coimbatore’s Pritesh and Megha Asher, had already been at work since 2014. It was their quest for organic skincare products that led them to set up Juicy Chemistry. Like Dr Aneesh Sheth, they started small with soap bars and face scrubs, which they would retail at local markets and small trade shows. “The clean beauty movement was going to get big; we knew there was a gap in the market but it could only be bridged if we combined efficacy with clean beauty,” says Pritesh Asher. The product pages on their website list the ingredients used, the benefits of each and the percentage of organic farming.

ANY BRAND that wants to create a space for itself in the Indian market today needs to be prepared for a consumer who is well informed, with a strong sense of self-belief. The latter is closely linked to the patronage of homegrown brands. “There is a wealth of wisdom in Ayurveda texts but none of it is in a format which is accessible. For most of us, our knowledge and understanding of Ayurveda comes from our grandparents for whom it was a way of life,” says Prasanthy Gurugubelli, founder of Daughter Earth, an organic skincare beauty company. Gurugubelli was, however, not content with just looking up old texts and re-packaging oil formulations. “There was no real evolution (in that). It is when you combine Ayurveda with empirical science that the fun begins, you have the power to harness the best of both these worlds,” she says.

Both Gurugubelli and Pritesh Asher talk extensively about the research and development that goes into the creation of every single product in their range, be it hair oils or serums, and the tight quality control exercised in their manufacturing units. “Every single ingredient in a product earns its place, we reverse engineer in order to cut out preservatives. From ideation to physical presence on a shelf in a store, everything is subjected to a rigorous test apart from efficacy studies done by third-party agencies,” says Pritesh Asher.

For any brand to succeed, transparency is key to sourcing as well as manufacturing since discerning consumers increasingly demand an open culture. The pandemic has made people more conscious and brands now receive detailed queries on both their websites and social media pages. Detailed reviews with a special emphasis on the contents section is par for the course. When Daughter Earth launched a serum with bakuchiol, an extract derived from the babchi plant and considered to be as effective as retinol, they were inundated with questions. “’How does it work? How does it absorb? How will it specifically help my skin condition,’ were just some of the questions we got. And we responded to all of them because customer service is key to building brand loyalty,” says Gurugubelli. It helps that bakuchiol is currently enjoying its moment in the sun internationally as well with cult favourite brands like Paula’s Choice championing its use.

Community engagement has been an important part of every brand’s narrative, no matter how big or small, especially since the ecological havoc wreaked by multinational cosmetic giants started becoming clear. The urban, socially conscious consumer, now wants to know about the lives a product impacts before it ends up in their beauty cabinet. Jessica Jayne, founder of Pahadi Local, a skincare and wellness brand which has built an almost cult following in the four years since its launch, understands this very well because she cares about it as a consumer and an individual herself. Her label’s signature product is their gutti ka tel, cold pressed apricot oil, though they also boast of walnut and hazelnut oils in their portfolio. “Local wasn’t cool when we started the brand but our only intention was to bring pure natural Himalayan oil to the consumer who wants it,” she says. Unlike other homegrown independent brands that have expanded, Pahadi Local still works with a handful of products, a very deliberate decision. “For us, sustainability is a way of life. It is not a cool new fad to follow but one that informs every decision taken here at Pahadi Local.” From fair pricing to afforestation drives to working with women self-help groups to installing solar panels in Ladakhi villages, Pahadi Local wears its well-meaning heart on its sleeve and ensures all customers, old and new, know it too. At the start of the lockdown, Jayne noticed an uptick in the kind of probing questions new customers were asking, ranging from the difference between natural and organic to sourcing and their work with communities.
Most of the new-age skincare brands, including Dr Sheth’s, Juicy Chemistry, Daughter Earth and even Pahadi Local have priced their products competitively in order to broaden their appeal. The idea is to offer good skincare but at an affordable price because the Indian customer, more than anything else, is price sensitive, says Dr Aneesh Sheth. “Value for money is key to the customer but not at the cost of efficacy. There are many startups in this space but to succeed, you will need to keep strict quality control as well as keep innovating,” he says. The price range for most of the products under these brands begins in the low hundreds and is capped off at Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000.

But there is also a small segment of skincare consumers who don’t mind digging deep, provided the brand ethos gels with theirs. To cater to them, there are new entrants in the luxury Ayurveda segment—Paro by Good Earth and Purearth. Paro as a brand is a wellness concept which promotes traditional holistic wellness practices in accordance with the seasons, as advised by older texts. The brand offers a wide range of oils for skincare, with blends that target everything, from enabling a deep sleep to fighting ageing, all the while insisting on a deeper understanding from the consumer as to what ingredient is used best in which season.

Even within the skincare market, the growth of the organic segment is the fastest, with no better testimony than the growth of brands like Juicy Chemistry. The company is currently clocking 40,000 orders a month and Pritesh Asher is open about their ambition to hit the Rs 100 crore turnover mark in a few years. “We are expanding our manufacturing unit and hope to take up our output to 8-9 lakh product pieces in the next quarter from the current 2.5-3 lakh.” They got a seed round investment of $650,000 in August this year. Daughter Earth, a relatively younger brand, is completely self-funded and Gurugubelli says they are growing steadily. “Even till last year, things were uncertain but we are on a much stronger footing now,” she says. Most brands prefer to retail online with heavy emphasis on social media although the level of engagement with influencers remains a personal choice. Dr Aneesh Sheth, for instance, works closely with influencers as he feels they have democratised the skincare space and help him understand consumers better.

Most new homegrown brands, to their credit, have refused to succumb to perceived market pressure and have included skin ‘brightening’ products in their arsenal. The brands have taken the cue from consumers who are not just resistant to the idea but openly contemptuous of it. Mainstream brands that long enjoyed market supremacy are increasingly being called out for their limited range of foundations for the Indian skin palette while there is a demand for make-up that complements the undertones peculiar to Indian skin. “We sometimes may still get an odd query about skin brightness, but by and large, the market has evolved. Now it is more about an even skin tone and the health of the organ,” says Gurugubelli.

Until a few years ago, the homegrown skincare space was not as vibrant and competitive as it is right now. But today, holistic natural skincare is only set to grow more, tossing up opportunities for our wellness entrepreneurs.

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