By Vineeta Singh
From being a digital-only company to 35K+ outlets across 500 cities, Sugar Cosmetics and its founder Vineeta Singh have covered a lot of ground.
When Sugar Cosmetics started its operations in 2015, the company’s goal was to celebrate inclusivity. In the words of Vineeta Singh, Co-founder and CEO of the company, the vision was to offer makeup of choice for bold, independent women, who refuse to be stereotyped into roles. However, back in 2014, the beauty industry in India was dominated by multinational brands, very few of whom had a range suited for the Indian complexion.
“This is why the conscious customer sourced makeup and beauty products from abroad, while many others ended up with incorrect shades that would not pair with Indian skin tones. Our inspiration to launch Sugar was to provide Indian women with products exclusively curated for them, rich in pigment and in shades to suit their skin tone and undertones, and was long-lasting so that they did not have to keep reapplying their makeup during the day,” says Singh.
Singh along with Sugar co-founder Kaushik Mukherjee had launched a beauty subscription company Fab Bag in 2012. The 200,000 women who shared their detailed beauty preferences with us at Fab Bag was at the heart of her pivot to Sugar Cosmetics as the company launched a direct-to-consumer makeup brand in 2015. Since then, the company has emerged as one of the fastest-growing beauty brands in India and is on its way to clocking INR 300 crore revenue during FY 2021-22. While the journey has not been easy, the brand has its presence across over 35,000 outlets in more than 500 cities.
Sugar Cosmetics began operation as a direct-to-consumer brand harping beauty subscription company Fab Bag’s network of 200,000 who had shared their detailed beauty preferences.
“We also have a robust digital presence through our brand-owned website, app, and major partner portals, which gets over 50+ million items shipped online. Besides, we have the highest-rated beauty app. Sugar Cosmetics app crossed two million downloads on the Google Play Store with a constant 4.5+ rating. It is also #2 in the beauty category,” she says while explaining how the digital amplification of the brand has helped build on the brand.
Building on the success, Singh and her team at Sugar are now planning to further expand the brand website, app and social media channels using content marketing strategy. The company also has plans to invest in building an immersive online shopping experience.
BUILDING THE BRAND
The economy is constantly changing, which is why it’s crucial for a brand to be extremely hands-on and to take advantage of all sorts of avenues that are available and viable in today’s fast-paced world. Sugar decided to tap its audience through the avenues they use in everyday life, using a mix of traditional and new media options.
“Sugar was digital-only till 2017, present through our website and other leading marketplace partners. From day one, we decided to go strong on influencer and digital marketing. We also focused on our core strength of building solid content to garner consumer engagement. Hence, our content marketing game was always strong with solid campaigns such as #MySkinMyChoice,” Singh points out.
From day one Sugar decided to go strong on influencer and digital marketing with a digital campaign like #MySkinMyChoice and ATL campaign like #BoldAndFree with actor Tapsee Pannu.
The company was, however, clear that the retail play was imperative for building a large business. The solution was to use the strong content to launch high-decibel ATL activity. The outcome was its television campaign #BoldAndFree with actor Tapsee Pannu. “We have also been doing big in retail marketing, visual merchandise at stores, and building exclusive merchandise for our customers. Additionally, we invested in OOH ads across tier 1 and 2 cities along with a smaller chunk in print and radio,” the CEO explains.
BEING A RESPONSIBLE COMPANY
While Sugar was conscious about creating the brand that would appeal to independent women using vibrant low poly designs that has now become an essential part of the company’s identity, it was also clear about being a company with a conscience and meeting its ESG – environmental, social, and corporate governance – goals.
Besides crafting the perfect match for every Indian skin tone across seasons and around the calendar and providing trendy, richly pigmented, high colour payoff, and long-lasting products, the company decided to offer only cruelty-free products. “Our core target audience, GenZ, and Millenials prefer products that are paraben-free, cruelty-free, sustainable, and inclusive so we ensure to take care of each of these. In terms of sustainability, we launched BB Cream Refills to reduce packaging waste,” Singh highlights.
Another important aspect of the Sugar brand was its focus on creating signature packaging. “It was not just about selling colour cosmetics but building a distinct individuality for the brand,” Singh elucidates adding that keeping this in mind the company decided to define the brand’s persona. With inputs from an extensive market survey, the company decided to use vibrant low poly designs on the packaging and a clutter-breaking persona for the brand.
COVID AND ITS AFTERMATH
Like most other businesses, Sugar too faced a tough time during Covid-19 and the lockdown that followed. Before the pandemic hit, almost 60% of SUGAR’s sales came from its offline channels. With the lockdown in force, the company face tough times during the first quarter of 2020. Soon after the lockdown was announced, the company’s warehouses, retail operations, and logistics came to a halt and the new launches coming from international manufacturing units were also stalled.
“As restrictions eased, we first focused on hygiene and safety for our customers and employees. Our team was supportive enough to double down, work harder, rent waivers, and reshuffle jobs. We focused on adaptive strategies, clear communication and remaining prepared so once the lockdown was lifted, Sugar could hit the ground running,” Singh says. By the end of the October-December quarter, the company was back on track with revenues jumping 150% of the pre-COVID levels.
The company focused on retail marketing and visual merchandise at physical stores and invested in OOH ads across tier 1 and 2 cities.
The company has also added new products to its portfolio and extended its SKUs, including Power Clay Mask Stick, Lip Zip Matte Topper and Eye Love Jelly Eyeshadow. In addition to this, the company is expanding its number of stores and outlets, as well as its available brand options for customers and shoppers. It also expanded the retail presence by launching brand-owned high street stores along with the existing exclusive brand outlets, kiosks, and presence in outlets like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Pantaloons, and Central.
Sugar also crossed international borders with its entry in the Middle East, Russia and the USA, even as it strengthened its online presence touching over 1.8 million followers on Instagram, while its YouTube channel got over 410,000 views on the content clock every day. Recently, the company also picked a majority stake in ENN Beauty, a fast-growing natural skin and haircare brand that is targeting to cross INR 100 crore in annualised sales in the next two years.
Sugar created a signature packaging using a vibrant low poly design that has evolved as an essential part of its identity and a clutter-breaking persona for the brand.
Going ahead Sugar and Singh have their plans chalked out. The company aims to expand across its divisions to keep up with the demands of new markets and different consumer needs. “As our next steps, we plan on building and expanding across our core pillar, the retail footprint by enhancing the marketing and visual merchandising experience, including product line and product distribution,” Singh informs adding that the company will also adopt a strong omnichannel approach to grow the brand.
“We aspire to make Sugar one of India’s top three brands in the overall colour cosmetics category, employing more than 10,000 women and an IPO,” she says summing up.
