How this family business found success in India’s booming beauty industry: the story of O3+ Skincare
O3+ Skincare was started in 2004 to cater to premium customers from the salon industry. Eighteen years later, the company, which sees Rs 150 crore annual turnover, has a presence across borders.
Indian women are catching up with their international peers in the beauty segment and so are the Indian skincare brands.
The beauty industry in India has been on the rise for the last two decades with an increase in the number of households upgrading to a higher consumption lifestyle. The period between late 90s and 2000s saw many beauty brands disrupting the market. This is when O3+ set foot in the then nascent industry.
Founded by Vineet Kapur, began its journey in 2004 from New Delhi to cater to the salon industry and help beauticians by offering a premium range of skincare products for facials.
Started as a small scale company, today O3+ has captured a decent market share for its products across India making an annual turnover of Rs 150 crore.
In an interaction with SMBStory, Vidur Kapur, the second generation entrepreneur, talks about the journey of the brand and how it is keeping up in the industry.
The genesis
In the mid-90s, Vineet Kapur was importing international skincare brands for Indian customers. He ran this business for around a decade when he realised the potential of bringing forth a Made in India brand that matches the international standards.
“My father was importing brands from Europe. We all know that European standards for beauty products surpass all. Being a cosmetologist himself, he thought of launching an in-house brand that would cater to Indian customers matching their expectations of using international quality products. Thus, in 2004 he started O3+,” Vidur says.
O3+ launched a Rs 1,500 facial kit, which was introduced to beauty parlours and salons. To cater to the mass segment, the brand also came up with an affordable range but Vidur says the target was to make premium ranges available even in the non-metro cities.
Today, O3+ is trusted by more than 50,000 salon boasts of product ranges right from facial kits to serums, masks, face packs, tonics, bleach, peels, eye care and hair care range and a lot more with a price range starting from Rs 155. The brand has a presence across India, Nepal and Bangladesh, and is also seeing traction in Dubai and Canada.
The company makes an annual turnover of Rs 150 crore.
O3+ Head office
Keeping up
Natural beauty products are now in vogue. Indian customers have become more conscious about the products and demand more natural, organic and vegan products. O3+ has also kept up with the times and has recently been PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) certified.
Vidur says that the brand adheres to vegan formulations for its products.
“We also have a different product line where products are blended in the concept of modern Ayurveda to serve our customers.”
For an industry that has a minimal entry barrier and numerous brands both local and international are paving their way in the market, Vidur says that many brands enter the beauty industry every two to three years, but not many sustain in the long term.
Falling in the likes of Lotus, Shehnaaz Hussain, Vidur says that brands who have a long term value chain are the ones peer to O3+.
Market scenario and future prospects
Since the onset of the pandemic and the surge of D2C (direct-to-consumer) wave, O3+ has also seen an increase in demand. Now, the brand is working rigorously to position itself online as a direct-to-consumer brand.
Vidur says that O3+ is presently available pan Indian with deeper penetration in tier 1 and 2 cities, it has tied up with salons like Looks Salon, Tress Lounge chain of Chandigarh, Eye Catchers chain, Kolkata, and many more.
O3+ is also set to bring more premium ranges for its customers and is also looking forward to tying up with premium salons for its product offerings.
Edited by Affirunisa Kankudti