'Quick commerce ops not hurting beauty biz, its aiding personal care'

Time of India

4 days ago

As Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart expand aggressively into beauty and personal care, Nykaa is taking a slower, more curated approach. Its pilot, Nykaa Now, is live in select areas of Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bengaluru, with a deliberate focus on personal care rather than its core beauty range.
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As vertical ecommerce players gear up to fight the quick commerce battle, Nykaa is taking a cautious approach toward the segment. After piloting quick-commerce platform Nykaa Now in select pin codes across Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru last year, the beauty and fashion etailer says its core beauty category isn't designed for 10-minute deliveries and much of the traction is coming from personal care products "Nearly 80% of what we sell is beauty and 20% is personal care. Personal care is what's really picking up on quick commerce," said Adwaita Nayar, cofounder of Nykaa and executive director and CEO of Nykaa Fashion. "Our beauty business' gross merchandise value (GMV) has grown at 30% year-on-year for the last four quarters. So I don't think we're seeing an impact of quick commerce. It's hard to know what growth would have looked like without it, but we're where we expected to be."Beauty is a discovery and inspiration-led category, where there is a lot of width and depth that needs to be serviced. The nature of quick commerce doesn't typically support that kind of assortment, Nayar told ET in an interview.She clarified that the Nykaa Now list is curated separately with a focus on personal care and gifting rather than mirroring its primary ecommerce catalogue. The cautious tone contrasts with how horizontal quick commerce platforms like Blinkit, Swiggy 's Instamart, and Zepto have aggressively expanded into newer categories such as electronics and fashion and beauty products. These companies have said beauty and personal care is fastest growing on their platforms.Along with the bigger players like Myntra, several vertical quick commerce startups have emerged, backed by venture capital including the likes of Slikk and Blip in the fashion and apparel space.She did acknowledge a broader shift in delivery expectations. "It's not about 10 minutes, but people's expectations for delivery speed globally is just going up," she said.Even as discretionary spending slows in parts of India's consumer internet market, Nykaa's beauty business continues to grow at a healthy pace, Nayar said. FSN E-Commerce , Nykaa's parent company, posted a net profit of Rs 19 crore, almost double that reported in the year earlier. Operating revenue rose 23.6% year-on-year to Rs 2,016.7 crore, led by gains in beauty and personal care."We are aware of the broader slowdown. We benchmark ourselves against a lot of these companies and understand what their growth rates look like. But so far, Nykaa hasn't seen a similar impact," Nayar said."Based on our estimates, the online beauty and personal care market grew in the low 20s, while we grew in the high 20s."In contrast, the fashion vertical, which Nayar has led over the last few years, is growing at a slower pace, though it has outpaced overall industry growth at 12% year-on-year GMV growth in FY25."Actually, if you compare the net sales value (of beauty and fashion) it is a more apples-to-apples metric. The split is 75:25 in GMV terms and 80:20 in NSV."Her goal is not to make fashion bigger than beauty, but to build a strong and profitable business with a clearly defined niche.Nayar said Nykaa Fashion's positioning remains distinct from fast-fashion players like Shein, which has re-entered India through Reliance Industries