SUGAR Cosmetics expansion plans: SUGAR Cosmetics looks to expand offline across 60,000 stores over the next 12-15 months

Direct to consumer beauty brand SUGAR Cosmetics aims to double its revenue and expand its offline presence to more than 60,000 stores over the next 12-15 months, Vineeta Singh, co-founder and CEO, SUGAR Cosmetics, told BrandWagon Online. “Brick and mortar stores account for about 65% of our revenue. Over the last two years, we have continued to add shelf space when the other brands were exiting retail. In FY23, we expect the share of offline retail to be at about 70%,” Singh added, on the sidelines of Goafest 2022. As of now, SUGAR Cosmetics is available across 30,000 stores in the country. 

The company claims that 60% of the overall business comes from markets outside of tier 1, while the share of international markets (which includes the Middle East, US, and Nepal), stands at about seven to eight percent. “International markets will continue to be under 10% as we are focussed on growing the India business. We will focus on these markets once we have slowed down our trajectory in India,” Singh said, adding that for expansion to happen in other countries, at least 30-40% of the company’s stock keeping units (SKUs) should be relevant to that market. 

Interestingly, Singh expects that offline retail as a channel will continue to dominate over the next 10 years in terms of purchases while online platforms such as Instagram and YouTube will be used for discovery. “For women, the learning in terms of wearing makeup has been a very important part of consumption and purchases. So far, that learning process would happen in stores. However, over the last two years, we have moved that conversation to digital platforms. On YouTube, and Instagram, content around beauty is one of the highest engagement and highest watched category, not just in English but also in regional languages,” she elaborated.