The organised beauty and personal care industry is betting big on the festive season to drive sales and increase consumer loyalty. Players told Social Samosa that the digital mediums will see more focus and marketing spends will see a jump this quarter due to the high consumer purchase intent. The industry is expecting to garner strong double-digit growth, driven by the adoption of e-commerce channels.
For Swiss Beauty, 40% of their annual spending comes from the festive season, making it the most crucial season for the brand.
“Increased consumer spending during the festive period makes it a prime opportunity to capture their attention and influence buying decisions. Brand discoverability is at an all-time high during this time as consumers are more inclined to research and engage with brands they come across,” said Rumi Ambastha, AVP - Brand Marketing at Swiss Beauty, sharing why the festive season sees a jump in ad spends.
Due to this, Swiss Beauty will increase ad spends ensuring high visibility and engagement.
Amorepacific Group, which houses K-beauty brands like Etude and Innisfree, has seen the love for K-beauty opening many avenues for the brands in the country. As per Mini Sood Banerjee – Assistant Director & Head of Marketing of Amorepacific Group, apart from metros, the North East cities bring in good sales for the beauty company.
“For Etude, we will increase the budget by 10-15% for the festive season. And as for Innisfree, we have increased the budget by 20-25%,” said Banerjee.
The peak season for the skin care industry has now started and O3+ is amping up its marketing blitz, betting on the positive consumer sentiment.
Vidur Kapur, Director of O3+ said, “We’re going to promote our products through spending on ads this season by increasing 25% of spending on ads.”
Leveraging e-commerce and digital
According to a report by Merkle Sokrati, 76% of consumers are likely to research and purchase products online this festive season. Moreover, beyond metros, 7/10 of rural shoppers are going to use online touchpoints in their purchase journeys.
Skincare brand Fixderma is leveraging e-commerce sales to reach out to consumers.
Shaily Mehrotra, CEO and Founder of Fixderma said, “We will be active in all prominent e-commerce marketplaces with desirable offers and combo packs. We will also be targeting gifting solutions through our combos. E-commerce platforms will have the larger share of the ad spends pie keeping in mind the audience’s behaviour and convenience.”
Leading ecom player Nykaa Beauty has seen a rise in categories such as skincare, cosmetics, and fragrances and this trend is expected to continue. It will be focusing on multi-channel engagement and art of retailing this season.
“With over 3400 brands on the beauty platform, Nykaa is well-positioned to meet the needs of every consumer. We are also hosting our first and biggest beauty festival, Nykaaland, in November in Mumbai with 80+ brands participating, which is expected to create an immersive and highly engaging experience for those looking to explore and enjoy beauty,” said Nykaa Beauty spokesperson.
Nykaa Beauty is further expecting a steady growth in the premium and masstige segments and its customers in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are emerging as key beauty enthusiasts.
Influencing the audiences
Digital is getting more attention from the beauty industry and within that, influencer marketing has taken a big share of the pie.
A recent study conducted by Meta and YouGov revealed that influencer and creator content significantly impacts purchasing choices. As per the report, 66% of Diwali shoppers concur that creators have a considerable influence on their purchase decisions.
Kaushik Mukherjee, Co-founder and COO of SUGAR Cosmetics said, “We're focusing our budgets on digital channels such as social media, influencer collaborations, and TV commercials.”
He also said that the brand is anticipating a 2x increase in sales and is increasing its advertising budget to attract more consumers. SUGAR has unleashed its influencer marketing campaign and is sharing festive looks in collaboration with creators.
Foxtale has also turned to influencer marketing to create buzz.
Romita Mazumdar, Founder of Foxtale said, “We are partnering with 100+ creators this season. While digital continues to be our biggest marketing channel we are also making sustained efforts in increasing our offline presence.”
Etude and Innisfree is also pumping up spends on influencer marketing.
Mini Sood Banerjee said “We are planning majorly for digital advertising like IG ads, IG reel ads and other SNS Ads. We will also be investing in Influencer campaigns for this festive season.”
Banking on regional
According to a survey by Meta, festive is the time when consumers especially look for content in their local languages. 76% of Diwali shoppers prefer to see advertising in the local language, growing significantly year-on-year. This year, beauty brands have taken notice of this and planned heavily on going regional. Moving beyond just Diwali, brands are trying to tap into diverse festivities.
Rumi Ambastha said, “This festive season, we are taking a localised regional approach to connect with various consumer segments.”
To connect on a regional level, brands are also launching region-specific products that align with the festivities.
Vidur Kapur stated that since the brand’s audience differs from region to region, the brand is actively trying to include products that resonate with local audiences.
Festive trends
As self-care and self-indulgence witness an upscale in the market, the want for beauty, cosmetics and skin care products has also increased.
Romita Mazumdar said, “In the prelude to the festive season, life gets busier than ever for everyone. There’s too much to do and very little time. Consumers are looking for smarter and more effective ways to glam up.”
She said that during the festive, quick glam fixes are the talk of the town and consumers are gravitating towards at-home care rather than salon glow-ups.
Rumi Ambastha said, “Conversational commerce is driving the beauty industry with engaging content that meets consumer needs and resolves their problems.”
As customers gear up to spend big bucks this festive season, beauty brands are rolling out regional-specific products, going heavy on digital and predicting escalated sales for the coming few months.
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