Beauty, grooming and self-pampering during lockdown

People are looking to stay engaged at home through self-pampering, spending time on grooming and experimenting with make-up

After a tough 2020, most businesses saw a revival, some movement and an upswing in the first quarter of 2021. Mrunmay Mehta, Head, Beauty and Luxury Beauty at Amazon India gives an insight into the how the beauty business has fared over the past six months.

As most cities begin curfews and lockdowns once again, will there be a slump or rise in demand of beauty products? What are the beauty trends we can try at home and which grooming tools are a must have?

Mrunmay shares, "We have observed that customers are looking for ways to stay engaged at home through self-pampering, spending time on grooming and experimenting with makeup. The eye category has seen maximum acceleration followed by lips category. The premium beauty business is recovering at a faster pace and continues to accelerate online. The perfume category is also witnessing an increase in demand amongst customers. These categories will continue to accelerate online, given increased customer adoption of online as a buying channel in the new normal we live in. In the last 6 months, we have witnessed a surge in demand for beauty products such as eye- make up, matte and transfer proof lipsticks, skincare, and beauty tools & accessories on our platform."

Customers today are inspired by not just Bollywood but in fact a lot more by so many digital platforms, influencers, and social media. Fashion and Beauty trends have been influenced by films for the longest time. Even today, this is largely evident in customers across markets including tier II & III cities.

In early 2020, we collaborated with Filmfare as the title sponsor of the 65th edition of Filmfare Awards to bring alive the connection between entertainment, fashion, and beauty. Besides, we also created a storefront to leverage the make-up looks of the characters from the 'Bandish Bandits' web series on Prime Video.

Mehta shares, "At Amazon, we also have a large affiliates program, where influencers can host their page on Amazon and direct traffic to it through their channels. Lastly, Amazon overall has multiple channels of customer engagement & acquisition across customer touchpoints such as FoundIt and Fashion Influencer Program, from which we continue to see a rapid increase in our customer base for Beauty as well. As the world lives with the pandemic, customers are looking to stay engaged at home through self-pampering, spending time on grooming and experimenting with make-up. The make-up and premium beauty business had taken a momentary pause in March 2020 but has slowly recovered to its pre-Covid performance with the advent of video conference calls."

Highlighting some broad trends on Amazon Beauty over the past six months:

Revival of makeup

With eyes becoming the new lips, within make-up, the eye category has seen maximum acceleration. Brands have quickly aligned themselves to innovate in the lips category by moving from gloss and shine lipsticks to promoting matte (transfer-proof and smudge-proof) lipsticks, tinted lip balms and tint this season, only to stay in line with the new norms– they can be worn with face masks.

See the rainbow

There is an emergence of joyful colours, be it on the lips, eyes, or the cheek. While minimalism as a trend continues, products will be used to add a dash of colour on the eyes (yellow, blue, pink etc.)

Natural effortless glam

A naturally glamorous and glowing face has made a comeback. Customers are now doubling down on highlighters and bronzers that offer a glowing face coupled with dramatic lashes and blushed cheeks.

Clean beauty

Today, customers are mindful about product ingredients and formulations. With people spending more time and research on their beauty routines, there has been a distinct rise in the adoption of natural, organic, and plant-based skincare and haircare as well as natural makeup products.

Salon at home

With customers facing limitations in visiting salons, the focus on professional skincare and haircare products has multiplied. We are seeing a surge in demand for professional brands on Amazon Beauty which were only popular with salons earlier.