If at all, there is anything that Indian beauty and skincare enthusiasts look up to, it is the Korean glass skin that seems impossible to achieve. Moreover, the entrance of Korean beauty brands in India has amplified the reception and adoption rate of Korean skincare products among Indian consumers.
One such brand called Laneige by Amorepacific recently also launched refillable skin refiners to promote sustainability in the skincare industry.
Minni Sood Banerjee, Assistant Director and Head of Marketing of Amorepacific Group, believes Korean beauty is not a new concept but has picked up pace now. “Innisfree was launched in 2013 and was the first brand given to Indian consumers to try out. Innisfree studied the market for a good two to three years and then the R&D team launched Laneige.”Laniege offered the hydration part of the business which was really missing in the Indian market, according to her. The adoption is higher now also because Indians focus on skincare way more than they did. And it's not only K-beauty but K-food, K-pop, K-drama have also gained traction in India.
She said, “The whole Korean culture has got on to the Gen-Z and millennials and our products are loved by the same niche.”
Further she shared, Laniege’s ultimate goal is to be in every household. And to market the brand to that level, the brand got Athiya Shetty on board as their mega celebrity.
“For digital marketing we are investing a lot and increasing our budgets on influencer marketing, social media, and brand collaborations. We did brand collaborations with House of Candy, Well-being Nutrition, and others which gel very well with the brand and exhibit the same kind of persona,” added Banerjee.
But Sally Lee, Brand Manager, Laneige India revealed there still exist challenges for Korean beauty brands in a market like India. “Ayurveda is still the main go-to option for Indian consumers. As they’re getting to know more about Korean culture, they are ready to try newer options but their trust in Ayurveda remains the strongest.”
Also, Korean skincare routine is a lengthy, four to five step process and Indians do not want to invest that much time and money into it as of now, Lee mentioned. Hence, the adoption rate is just slow but gradual.
To make the product part of every household, Laniege is focussing on increasing their offline presence.
Banerjee said, “We are currently available in over a 100 stores with Nykaa, Tira, SS Beauty and Tata Cliq.Our strategy for next year also is to collaborate in every quarter with various brands and be more available on offline stores so we can reach out directly to customers because that is our motive to reach out to every Indian household.”
Lee added, “We are going by a 9:1 ratio, where online is nine and offline is one but we are targeting somewhere like 3:7 in the coming years via offline events and more. For this, we plan to place our higher priced products in store so that we get more sales revenue from offline.”
In terms of AI, Banerjee shared, at a global level in the HQ, the skin analyser has already been integrated and the Laneige India team is in talks to bring it to India as well very soon. “The analyser scans your face, asks certain questions and suggests you a skincare routine which will be great for the Indian market.”
For 2024, Lee believes it is going to be a big year and the brand has big changes planned. The team is also going to experiment with new flavours via new product launches.
Banerjee is very positive about 2024 since multiple new products are in line for all four brands - Sulwhasoo, Laneige, Innisfree and Etude.
She said, “We also plan to get someone huge on board for Laneige and Etude very soon. Moreover, we will be having a lot of Indian content as we want to relate more to the Indian audience and that's what we are looking forward to.”
