In the beauty game, quick commerce's serving all the looks

Mirror, mirror on the wall--who’s the fastest of them all? The delivery rider bringing the new anti-aging serum to your door in less than 10 minutes, way ahead of the product claiming overnight miracles.

Beauty and personal care (BPC) has become one of quick commerce’s breakout stars, clocking an estimated $100 million in monthly gross merchandise value, a little less than Nykaa's entire monthly sales of beauty products on average. This reflects the shift from impulse or emergency buying, mostly of groceries and household products on these apps, to beauty products, otherwise a planned purchase.

“The BPC category has been one of the fastest-growing segments this year. We are seeing strong traction across core segments: makeup, skincare, and everyday beauty essentials,” said Zepto chief business officer Devendra Meel, pointing to an uptick in demand for premium skincare and cosmetics on the channel.

According to data from consulting agency Redseer Strategy Consultants, the beauty category has grown 160% year-on-year on quick commerce platforms in the last quarter, outpacing the 20% growth on traditional ecommerce.

“In India, it’s clearly a game changer for us because whether it’s quick commerce or the traditional ecom platform, it allows us to reach consumers all over the country, which we couldn’t do before,” L’Oreal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus said on a recent earnings call.

For direct-to-consumer firms as well as legacy players, the quick commerce channel accounts for anywhere between 7% to 25% of sales already. Honasa Consumer, the company behind Mamaearth and The Derma Co., said quick commerce is its fastest-growing sales channel, contributing about 10% of total revenue.