The Premium Beauty Business Unit is an incubator set up within the HUL ecosystem.
“The Premium Beauty Business Unit is not just about building brands, but this is also about incubating capabilities. Some of these are having an agile innovation model to pick up trends on the fly, launch the product in minimal time, scaling it up as it succeeds, building a supply chain for small like nano-factory setups and flexible supply chain to provide agility,” said Sanjiv Mehta, chairman and managing director, Hindustan Unilever (HUL)
This unit has launched products such as booster serums under Simple and a sulphate-free hair care range with onion and apple cider vinegar under Love Beauty and Planet.
He said that the company is planning to ramp up innovation in this space. “Dialling up our innovation intensity in this space, we have charted an aggressive plan to launch new and on-trend innovations.”
In the long run, the company intends to build upon the success of the existing brands by extending them with new categories, such as it did with Dove.
“If you recall, [Dove] started with skin cleansing, then it went to hair. In hair, it’s done such a remarkable job that it is now one of the biggest brands in hair. And it will become, I would definitely say, one of the largest brands in hair care. And it would become one of the largest brands in beauty,” said Mehta.
One brand it intends to focus on is Indulekha, which it first acquired in 2016. Indulekha is a personal care brand based on Ayurvedic ingredients.
“We are looking at also how we can extend Indulekha. It’s such a great Ayurvedic property. We have grown from hair oil and have gone to shampoo. And now we are looking at going to other places,” said Mehta.
The extension aligns with the company’s focus on natural beauty, which it has done with Simple and Love Beauty and Planet.
“Naturals is a secular trend. It’s not going to go away. And if you look at in the premium beauty unit, some of the brands that we are building, whether it is Simple, which is clean beauty, or Love Beauty & Planet, these are all under the naturals platform,” said Mehta.
However, it is cautious not to rush the process and will follow the previous example set by Simple and Love Beauty and Planet.
“We first focus on the few categories or on the core, build …….