Amazon India turns to Korea for beauty product portfolio expansion

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Dec 14, 2017

Global e-commerce giant Amazon has tied up with Korea Investment Trade Centre (KOTRA) in India to expand its product portfolio and offerings in the fast growing beauty segment.
 

Leading Korean cosmetic brands like FaceShop, Dermal, Coony, Swanicoco, The Beauty Co and It’s Skin will go online on Amazon’s India platform with more brands likely to join in the coming months.
 
With online beauty portals Nykaa, Purple expanding its offerings and Flipkart subsidiary Myntra entering the Inian beauty segment with an exclusive store, the battle in the beauty segment is heating up and Amazon is trying to remain competitive by offering something different to the consumers.

Korean cosmetics brands have already proven to be a success for etailers in India with brands like Faceshop, Innisfree, Klavuu driving growth of Indian’s booming beauty market.
 
The retail beauty and cosmetics market in India is currently estimated at $950 million and expected to touch $2.68 billion by the year 2020 according to Assocham, an apex trade association.
 
The partnership with KOTRA will help Amazon introduce popular Korean brands to Indian consumers which is expected to boost sales of the company in the beauty category. Amazon India has said that the beauty category has been witnessing a 100 percent year on year growth with majority of the demand coming from tier II and tier III cities.
 
“With Korean brands being added on the platform, the offering of our beauty product would increase. We have set extremely competitive prices, with the range starting from Rs 300 and going up to Rs 700 in case of creams, lotions, face masks and up to Rs 2,000 in case of high-end face serum and oil,” said Richa Gupta, category lead, beauty, Amazon India in a statement.
 
Gupta added, “The aim is to add more beauty brands on the platform. The company is looking at signing some more similar alliances.”