Shoppers Stop has ambitious plans to scale up its beauty distribution business under Global SS Beauty by ramping up existing operations while also continuing to focus on bringing more international brands to India. This comes at a time when per cap consumers spends on the beauty segment in India are seeing a steady uptick and prestige beauty products have been growing in salience. 

As part of this strategy, the company has launched the first Armani Beauty (Giorgio Armani) boutique store, selling the luxury brand’s make-up range, in India in New Delhi at DLF Promenade with plans to roll out more boutique beauty stores across top cities in the coming years. It had launched Armani fragrances in India last year. 

Biju Kassim, CEO of Beauty, Shoppers Stop, told businessline, “Global SS Beauty was set up just two years ago and within a short span of time we have been able to ink partnerships with some wonderful brands. We expect the distribution business to close this fiscal with revenues to the tune of Rs 220-250 crore. For a young company to achieve this size in terms of numbers is commendable. Global SS Beauty has emerged as a key engine for bringing international brands to India. I think we will continue to see similar growth trajectories going forward.”

“Our ambition is to double the size of the beauty distribution business in the next 2-3 years. There is potential to partner with many more global brands. Many international brands want to come to the country and leverage on the India growth story,” he added.

Responding to a query on the segments in which the company is looking to partner with global brands, Kassim said, “ While beauty is a large space, we have largely been operating in the prestige and lifestyle beauty spaces. So within this segment, the market opportunity revolves hugely around fragrances, makeup and skincare and hair care.”

Talking about expansion plans for Armani Beauty in India, Kassim said that the company has plans to launch two more boutique stores in Mumbai and Bengaluru in the next few weeks. 

“We feel there is potential to open 8-10 Armani beauty boutique stores in the next few years. We will also be selling the products through shop-n-shop format at other specialty beauty retailers. Prestige and luxury beauty is still in its niche stage in India. We are working to develop this into a bigger category,” he added. 

The company is also looking to launch the make-up range of brand Valentino and Prada in India in the near future.

Shoppers Stop expects the beauty segment to become a key growth engine in the coming years. “ The contribution of the beauty segment to the overall business was hovering around 14-15 per cent and has increased to about 17-18 per cent levels in 2022. We believe it can further increase to about 25 per cent in the near future,” Kassim added.

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