Mumbai: Nykaa, the Indian fashion and cosmetics retailer, has tied up with the Middle East based fashion and lifestyle retail giant, Apparel Group. With this strategic alliance, the former aims to utilise the latter’s robust retail infrastructure network and deep market relationships to recreate its beauty retail platform and build distinctive Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) focused beauty offerings in UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.
The joint venture will create an omnichannel, multi-retail brand for the Middle East with Nykaa holding a 55 per cent stake in the new entity and the remaining 45 per cent will be owned by Apparel Group.
As per reports, Nykaa CEO Falguni Nayyar believes that the per capita consumption of beauty is very high in the GCC region, and the company views it as a multi-year growth opportunity.
As per Elara Capital senior vice president - research analyst of media, consumer discretionary and internet Karan Taurani's margins in the GCC market is far superior as compared to India (around 48-50 per cent gross margin). Nykaa’s gross merchandise value (GMV) contribution from private labels currently is 11.2 per cent, which can potentially lead to 10-15 per cent higher sales volume for this segment in the near term due to new market expansion, he points out.
“As per our assessment, this joint venture will thereby have a positive impact of one-two per cent on growth rates for the overall beauty and personal care (BPC) segment; it may be margin dilutive initially due to investment in the overseas market (creating brand awareness) but will impact earnings positively, once they achieve scale,” says Taurani.
Elara Capital has estimated 23.7 per cent revenue compound annual growth (CAGR) for the Nykaa BPC segment in the upcoming years, he adds.
For the record, Nykaa has 112 retail stores in India (as of 30 June), catering to approximately 28,000 pin codes and offering over 4,500 brands across platforms. Apparel Group is a global fashion and lifestyle retail conglomerate headquartered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is home to over 75 lifestyle and beauty brands with over 2,000 stores in 14 countries.
