How Fabindia is Planning to Rule the Personal Care Category with Fabessentials

Fabindia is one of India's best-known brands for wide-ranging, naturally-made traditional products. It launched an immersive personal care range, Fabessentials in December 2021. With an overarching theme, ‘Kindness is Essential’. Thus, Fabessentials’ products bring forth self-care through easy routines amidst a bustling fast-paced lifestyle. 

The journey of the brand to date has been progressive due to the rise in consumer awareness towards differentiated natural and organic beauty products. Moreover, to cater to the demand, the brand offers a wide range of products under the categories – Face, Body, Hair, Aromatherapy, and Gift Sets, that are carefully curated to create pure, sustainable, and natural products.  

“The blend of tradition with contemporary strikes a fantastic synergy with Biome Lifesciences and Fabindia bringing science and nature into symphony. As an endeavor, we have combined the best of both worlds with Indian ingredients and modern science considering ‘Nature’ our oasis as opposed to a geographical distinction that most brands create,” said Sania Arora Jain, Managing Director, Biome Lifesciences, Fabessentials, a Fabindia Group Company.

Brand Acceptance

Being a clean beauty brand, Fabessentials has received great customer response, offering scientifically backed personal care products that are free of endocrine disruptors and harmful ingredients. 

“We consistently educate our customers regarding the natural bioactive used in our products, and benefits of our ultimate product range which is free of toxins and harmful chemicals,” added Arora.

Consumer choices are evolving as they actively self-educate themselves by checking labels for ingredients. Moreover, with the advent of digital media, the world is getting closer, with an increasing number of individuals becoming conscious. 

Furthermore, a lot has changed in the industry after the California Act, the Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act, Cosmetic Safety Bill, etc. which banned numerous ingredients including Formaldehyde, Parabens, Phthalates, PFAs (Polyfluoralkyl Substances), and Mercury from cosmetics and personal care products. 

Some of these chemicals are known for carcinogenic risks, while others are being studied for their potential harm. Acts like these have a significant global impact and are redefining the choices of consumers across the world and in India.

Options Galore

Fabessentials was formed out of a need for personal care products that are toxin-free with an endeavor to deliver scientifically-backed products made in India. Currently, the brand has developed over 100 products, blending together both science and tradition.

The brand is rooted in kindness with a focus on gentle, toxin-free daily essentials with natural bio-actives that deliver visible results inside out. “Our products are ethically sourced with the highest quality standards and multiple certifications. We are proud to be a brand that is free of toxins like Phosphate, Phthalate, Paraben GMO, and Formaldehyde, and the fragrances in all the products are certified by IFRA which is a global regulatory body that promotes the safe use of fragrances,” said Sania Arora. 

The brand’s products include vibrant and exotic ranges of herbs, flowers, fruit extracts, oils, kinds of butter, etc. which come together to create unique product formulations. Moreover, the brand brings forth both Indian and International natural ingredients which come together to curate contemporary product ranges like Neem, Tulsi, and Moringa; Saffron, Turmeric, and Marigold; Silk, Argan, and Gotu Kola, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Rose, Aloe Avacado Apple, Jasmine Tea Tree, Coconut Hibiscus, Charcoal Coffee Lavender, etc. 

Therefore making the Fabessentials range an affordable ‘luxury’ for day-to-day use compared to its competitors.

“We plan to expand our product offerings within the clean beauty vertical and include more products with efficacy and quality at its core, we seek to leverage our market position and understand the preferences of our loyal customer base to develop quality products, while ensuring that our brand remains distinctive and well differentiated,” added Arora.

Technology

Fabessentials strives to address the needs of its customers and offer products post-gauging and tracking market trends, changing consumer preferences, demographics, purchase patterns of customers, and months of deep R&D and product testing. 

Once the statutory certification processes are complete, the brand only juxtaposes the key focus areas of products made with Toxin-free daily essentials inspired by the best of nature.

“We are consistently working to cater to the demands of society and offer tech-enabled, well-researched affordable solutions. Our team continues to invest time and efforts in offering a range that represents the best of nature in form of Indian and International ingredients. A great deal of research, development effort, and testing has gone into each formulation,” said Sania.

She further added, “We have multiple certificates and claims that make us credible and provide our customers a high level of confidence and assurance. Our products are ethically sourced with the highest quality standards maintained at each supply chain step.”

Factors Driving the Demand for Skincare and Beauty Products

India’s skincare market has been constantly growing and evolving to cater to consumers’ diverse tastes and demands. Also, brands are focusing on connected beauty systems to offer personalized skin care solutions and collect behavioral data on customers to craft aspirational demands for brands in the personal care industry. 

Thus, the growing consumer exposure and awareness, change in consumer lifestyles, increased disposable incomes, along with rising health and environmental concerns, can be considered to be the key factors driving the growth of skincare and beauty products in the APAC region, especially India.

Adding to it all, there has been a generational shift with young consumers entering the market who are experimental and enthusiastic to try on personal care products. The change in consumers along with catalysts like social media, international trends, and e-Commerce has made a lasting impact on buying behavior when it comes to beauty products.

Fabessentials is thus evolving along with its consumers. Complementing the Group’s retail expansion strategy, Arora stated, “We believe the omnichannel network would help accelerate growth. New customers who are exposed to the brand for the first time can learn about our story and product offerings through our website and through social media, while our investment in marketing technology enables us to personalize and tailor our engagement with our existing customers, particularly as our product offerings increase.”

Thus, the more the brand interacts with both new and existing customers, the more data and insights it is able to gather about customer behavior, which then supports the brand’s personalization efforts, and further drive website and mobile app traffic, eventually aiding the tapping of a larger market share.

Growth and Market Positioning

According to a recent analysis by EY, the beauty and personal care market is worth Rs 1.12 trillion and has grown at a rate of 9.5 percent per year (CAGR) between Fiscal 2015 and 2020. Haircare accounts for 29 percent of the market, followed by bath and body at 24.8 percent, scents and deodorants at 6.5 percent, and cosmetics at 6.3 percent. Hair oils and soaps are significant, established categories with Rs 143 billion and Rs 217 billion in revenue, respectively, although they are heavily penetrated and expanding in the low single digits.

The industry is thus experiencing adoption-led growth, owing to new personal care product categories like serums, specialty oils, and body washes. As per the report, the market is expected to reach Rs 1.98 trillion by Fiscal 2026, despite the entire category being stable during Fiscal 2021. Natural, organic, and chemical-free products are increasingly in demand in the personal care and beauty industries. 

By focusing on natural ingredients for its premium goods, Fabessentials is fundamentally positioned to serve this market and eventually take the lead in it.