How Italian Beauty Brand KIKO MILANO is Expanding its Footprint?

KIKO MILANO was founded in 1997 in Milan, since then brand has widened its reach globally. The foryed Indian market around three years back and has 11 stores pan India. The company has opened its 5th exclusive brand retail outlet in the capital city Delhi. Foraying in the West of Delhi with this launch at the newfangled Vegas Mall in Dwarka, the brand promises a one-of-a-kind shopping experience for all makeup fanatics. Spread over 51sq mt approx. the new KIKO MILANO store at Vegas Mall, Dwarka carries the brands latest collections such as Sicilian notes, Pop revolution& more alongside the other most sought after cosmetic product lines. Also present at occasion, Abhishek Bhattacharya, Country Director, KIKO Milano India interactive exclusively with indianretailer.com.

What is your assessment about beauty market India? Also, tell us about Kiko Milano’s India journey so far?

This is our 11th store in the country and 5th in Delhi. As far as our journey is concerned, since we are relatively new so as of now, our focus was on understanding the market. Therefore, first three years we have not launched many stores, so far the response we have garnered is very encouraging. We have already started getting traction in the cities where we not even present yet due to our online channel including Nykaa, Myntra amongst others. We are shortly going to foray Amazon. We have recently tied up with Shoppers Stop(SS) for our SIS concept.  Moreover, we are planning to open 4-5 new stores in the first part of 2020. If we look at industry growth largely, beauty is the only industry which is growing at CAGR of 20-22%.

Do you think color cosmetics market is still under penetrated in overall beauty market?

Yes, it is true that the growth of color cosmetic market is not up to the mark. The main reason behind this sluggish growth is less availability of affordable options.  We are available with affordable price tag.  Also, we believe in experience of products before making purchase. Therefore, we encourage our consumers to visit our store then they can make final purchase either of our channels.  

Tell us about brand USP.

We are a luxury brand available at value pricing .DLF Brands is our local JV partner to manage India operations of Kiko Milano. The uniqueness and creativity of KIKO Milano products is inspired by the Italian tradition of art, fashion & design. KIKO Milano is a one-stop destination for all, as it caters to both professional and personal beauty needs with its vast and beautiful collections and numerous colour palettes. It is not only the perfect destination of vibrant makeup products- lipsticks, foundations, eyeliners, eye shadows, just to name a few, but also retails some of the most refreshing ranges in skincare and accessories.

According to you, what are the latest trends of beauty consumption?

People are now looking for sustainable products. There is a growing trend of organic, herbal products. Therefore, we have also introduced green line in our product range. Though, it is not our core category.

What is your pricing strategy?

Our starting price point is Rs200 and exiting range is Rs3000.

Going forward, what are the plans to scale-up the distribution? Would you be exploring franchise model for further expansion?

We would continue to open company exclusive stores. Also, we would be focusing on shop-in-shop (SIS) format as we go forward. We have already opened two SIS stores. We are looking to double the offline touch points in next two years.

Online vs offline, which channel has fetched better results in terms of sales?

It is very difficult to measure. With online, our objective is to reach more pin codes especially the area where offline store is not present. Going forward, our focus is to grow all channels equally.