The Indian beauty market has witnessed a dramatic evolution in recent years, driven by digitally savvy, aspirational consumers seeking authenticity, quality, and experiential engagement. Furthermore, brands entering this landscape must navigate a complex mix of consumer expectations, regional diversity, and evolving trends.
At the forefront of this transformation is Medhavi Nain, GM-Marketing, International Brands at House of Beauty. She oversees globally recognised prestige brands, including Kylie Cosmetics and Anastasia Beverly Hills, and in doing so, ensures that global brand equity is balanced with narratives that resonate with India’s diverse beauty audiences.
Marketing approaches in India have shifted from transactional campaigns to immersive storytelling that aligns with lifestyle, aspiration, and regional nuances. Moreover, Nain’s portfolio reflects this trend, emphasising artistry, technique, and experiential engagement for ABH, while simultaneously presenting Kylie Cosmetics in a way that appeals to Gen Z and young millennials through playful and trend-driven content.
This strategic focus has allowed House of Beauty to expand beyond metros such as Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai, and alongside this, tap into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where beauty aspiration is rapidly growing. Consequently, localisation, influencer-led storytelling, and AI-enabled marketing have become key levers in connecting with these audiences, creating a stronger and more integrated presence across India.
Integrated Brand Storytelling Drives Engagement
To understand how House of Beauty defines narratives for its global prestige brands, Nain explained the guiding principles behind their marketing approach. She highlighted that balancing global brand positioning with local relevance allows brands to stay authentic while connecting with Indian consumers.
“For our global prestige brands portfolio, we anchor the narrative in accordance with the brand positioning and relevance for the Indian consumers. Over the years, our consumers have become expressive, informed and driven by both aspiration and authenticity, so the approach is to preserve each brand’s global equity while shaping stories and experiences that feel rooted in India’s unique beauty behaviors and regional nuances.”
Importantly, she added, “Across all brands, the goal is consistent: to ensure global prestige, beauty speaks in a voice that feels personal, emotionally relevant and culturally connected to the Indian consumer, while still retaining the universal codes that make each brand iconic.”
She further elaborated on individual brand positioning, highlighting how each is tailored to different segments while maintaining a cohesive portfolio strategy. “Anastasia Beverly Hills is positioned through its artistry driven ethos, focusing on masterclasses, technique led conversations and professional credibility that resonates strongly with India’s growing makeup skilled audience. Kylie Cosmetics taps into the energy of Gen Z and young millennials through vibrant, trend forward content, experiential pop-ups and playful product storytelling, reflecting India’s evolving and experimental side of beauty.”
Consequently, this dual approach allows House of Beauty to simultaneously nurture highly engaged makeup professionals and educators through ABH, while at the same time appealing to a younger, trend-conscious demographic through Kylie Cosmetics.
Evolving Consumer Behaviour Shapes Marketing Strategy
Shifts in Indian consumer behaviour have also guided Nain’s marketing strategy, underscoring that a nuanced understanding of consumer motivations is now critical. Consumers increasingly prioritise information, experience, and authenticity over transactional interactions.
“The Indian consumer today is far more informed, elevated and experimental. Earlier, shopping was functional; now it is emotional, expressive and research led. Consumers want to know what’s in the formulation, which creator uses it, and how it fits into their lifestyle. They straddle with multiple products of the same likes and make an informed decision which perfectly suits their requirement and pocket.”
Moreover, Nain emphasised, “Consumers now don’t hesitate to invest in a good prestige brand if it offers performance and is coming from a trusted voice that echoes their makeup sensibilities and is inspiring. Social media has accelerated discovery, and the leap in demand from Tier 2-3 markets is proof that beauty aspiration is no longer concentrated in just metros but rather going deeper in the tiers where people are seen elevating their daily beauty requirements which is quite a fundamental shift.”
Influencer-Led Marketing and Omni-Channel Approach
Another core pillar of Nain’s strategy is leveraging influencers to create authentic, credible storytelling. Accordingly, House of Beauty focuses on long-term collaborations with creators who genuinely align with brand values, helping bridge the gap between global prestige and local relevance.
“In prestige beauty, authenticity is non-negotiable. We look for creators who genuinely align with the brand’s aesthetic and values. We priorities long term partnership by building brand advocacy, creator led education and real transformation content which aligns with their followers. When creators integrate our products into their routines rather than deliver transactional posts, the content becomes more credible and resonates far deeper with consumers.”
She then explained how the media mix supports both storytelling and business outcomes: “Our media mix is designed to balance strong storytelling with measurable business impact. Influencers lead the narrative, our campaign layer strengthens cultural relevance, and performance marketing ensures precision and conversion.”
Focusing on bridal campaigns, she added, “For our ongoing bridal campaign with ABH, we’ve partnered with leading makeup artists who bring unparalleled credibility to the Indian bridal space. We’re also expanding the roster with regional artists to ensure the looks reflect the cultural diversity of Indian weddings. Together, they’re creating authentic, high skill bridal transformations using ABH’s iconic products as well as the new launches. Their content is amplified across the brand’s social channels, strengthening ABH’s position as India’s most trusted, artistry led brand for modern Indian brides.”
She highlighted the role of educational content and performance marketing in driving engagement and conversions, “We’re strengthening our focus on educational content on social media, tutorials, product deep dives, and technique-led videos that help elevate product understanding, build trust, and support long term brand affinity. Parallel to this, our performance marketing engine targets high intent consumers, those engaging with creator content, browsing premium makeup, or actively exploring bridal beauty. This ensures we convert interest into action while also driving traffic across e-commerce platforms and offline retail doors.”
Growth, Innovation and Market Expansion
Looking ahead, Nain shared how House of Beauty plans to build both scale and depth for its prestige brands in India. In particular, expansion plans are rooted in deepening offline presence, strengthening consumer experience, and integrating technology into marketing operations.
She began with the overall growth focus for Anastasia Beverly Hills: “Looking ahead to next year, our focus is on building both scale and depth for Anastasia Beverly Hills in India. While the brand already has a strong presence across major e-commerce platforms, the next phase of growth will come from expanding offline reach and strengthening our consumers’ experience with the brand.”
Elaborating on retail expansion, she highlighted how in-store experiences drive brand equity: “Our two-year roadmap includes growing to 250 premium retail doors across metros and high potential Tier 2 cities. This retail expansion is critical because in-store artistry and guided trials remain one of the strongest conversion drivers in prestige beauty. The more consumers experience ABH through touch, technique, and expert application, the stronger the brand’s equity and purchase intent become.”
She then outlined technology and quick-commerce initiatives that support wider access and convenience, “In parallel, we are exploring quick-commerce integrations to capture fast, replenishment led demand especially for our brow portfolio and other high velocity hero SKUs. This allows us to meet consumers wherever they are in their journey, whether they are discovering, learning, or making a last-minute purchase.”
Concluding with the overall strategy, Nain emphasised the combined impact of these initiatives: “Together, these steps are designed to deepen brand access, strengthen omni channel presence, and accelerate both revenue and market share growth for ABH in India.”
