Amazon to take on Myntra with own line of personal care products

With Flipkart arm Myntra threatening to run away with the growing online personal care segment, Amazon India is reportedly looking to launch its rival personal care and beauty products. The country's two top ecommerce majors appear to be locked in a race particularly in the cosmetics segment.

Soon, you could buy beauty and personal care products sold under Amazon India's own brand, The Economic Times reported on Thursday.

According to the report, online retailers are increasing their focus on cosmetics, which is a high-margin category, at a time when the online apparel market, worth $3.8-billion and growing at a modest 10-12 per cent, has shown decelerating growth.

An anonymous ET source said that Amazon India was in talks with contract manufacturers and would be "launching private labels in a few categories within skincare and makeup".

However, experts told the financial daily that retailers should establish themselves in the category before striking out with in-house brands.

Amazon India, which retails 2 million beauty products under 19,000 different brands, and Myntra are competing for a pie of a beauty and personal care market which Red-Seer Consulting expects will cross $3.5 billion by 2022 from about $300 million now.

Myntra, which ET says plans to launch its in-house beauty and personal care labels this year along with retailing through offline stores in collaborations with international players, is investing in the growing personal care segment and expects it to contribute 7-8 per cent of its revenues in the next two years.

"Personal care is an important category and we are investing in it," Myntra chief executive Ananth Narayanan had told the media in December, adding, "The purchases are more frequent and we have seen a strong growth in the category with brands like Estee Lauder."

Myntra aims to clock a total revenue rate of $2 billion by March 2018.

Speaking about the product portfolio, Narayanan revealed that the company would operate in the "masstige" segment.

The fashion ecommerce major would look at "more mass-premium or masstige products like a Mac or Bobbi Brown", he said, adding that the company also hoped "to bring in more international brands".

Further, according to reports, Reliance Industries has partnered with Myntra to co-brand its exclusive denim collection Mast & Harbour with the flagship product from the former, RElan FeelFresh.