Shoppers Stop is betting big on its beauty business. The company is accelerating its presence in this segment by expanding its standalone specialty beauty store network, shop-n-shops at its department stores and distribution tie-ups with global luxury brands. The company aims to garner nearly a quarter of its future revenues from the beauty business.

Currently, it is running 13 standalone specialty beauty stores under the brand SS Beauty. The company plans to open a large format 3800 sq ft store at Bangalore International  Airport Terminal 2 this month. This will be followed up with the addition of another 9000 sq ft store in Kolkata in March

Biju Kassim, Customer Care Associate and CEO of Beauty, Shoppers Stop told businessline, “Our desire is to have 3-5 large format flagship stores under SS Beauty. We also expect to have 30-35 mid size format stores and 40-50 small format stores. Our aimbition is to eventually have upto 100 stores in the few years. We want to ensure that this expansion is done in a sustainable manner with a strong focus on profitability.”

Talking about the strategy to open large format flagship stores, “ These large format stores will offer the best beauty brand assortment and presentation. So for instance, in terms of education, we are on track to do one million makeovers and master classes this year. So the store will focus on leveraging on various elements to deepen consumer engagement,” he added.

The company will also ramp up the number of beauty shop-n-shops as it expands its department store network. “We will add 15-20 department stores every year. So besides the standalone beauty store expansion, the footprint of our beauty shop-n-shops will also grow. So overall, we have a very robust plan in the beauty space,” he added.

Currently, nearly 18 per cent of revenues come from the beauty segment at the group level for the company. “ We believe the beauty space has a strong potential especially in post-Covid times when consumers engagement in this space has increased signficiantly. We think this contribution will grow to 20 per cent in the near future and our desire is to further grow it to about 25 per cent. Given the low per cap consumption, we believe the combination of engagement and education will enable the beauty segment consumption to see strong growth in the coming years,” he added.

The company has also been growing distribution tie-ups with global beauty brands such as the recent launch of NARS Cosmetics. “ We have a strong portfolio of global brands and continue to look for opportunitie to grow the distribution business. For instance : We currently distribute fragrances of brands such as Armani, Prada and Valentino. These brands will also be launching their make-up lines by March-April,” Kassim explained.

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