To start with, the company will take the e-commerce route to sell multi-brand beauty and personal care products in six major cities.
MedPlus Healthcare Services, a pharmacy chain with 30% share of the country’s organised drug retailing, is making a foray into beauty and personal care segment in India.
To start with, the company will take the e-commerce route to sell multi-brand beauty and personal care products in six major cities. “We have over 1,000 drug stores across the country. We are present in all the major cities except Mumbai. MedPlus Beauty would leverage the network of MedPlus for retailing its products,” Madhukar Gangadi, founder and CEO of MedPlus, said.
“We are going to offer about 12,000 beauty products, including leading foreign brands, in the e-commerce venture. This is going to be the first multi-product beauty venture offering a virtual studio allowing people to try the products. For instance, one can upload her photograph and try out a variety of earrings or different shades of lipstick on it before ordering it,” he said.
Of the Rs5,000 crore personal care and beauty market in India, about Rs2,800 crore is of skin care products alone.
“The e-commerce potential in India is around $10 billion now and is estimated to reach $100 billion in the next six years at a compounded annual growth rate of 47%. The growth will be driven by Tier II cities and the increasing affluence in urban population,” he said.
Though not specifying the quantum of investments that have gone into the online venture, Gangadi said an attempt of this scale would involve not less than a $1 million.
Launched in 2006, the MedPlus chain is looking to add 250 to 300 stores to its network every year.
While each store is expected to involve an investment of about Rs15 lakh, the existing stores are clocking revenue of about Rs80 lakh per store every year.
The company’s stores are currently spread across Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi and West Bengal.
“We have already opened 200 stores so far this year, including 34 in New Delhi. We will be entering Mumbai next year,” Gangadi said.
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