Recently, a colleague of mine started looking for lip colours. Her online searches took her to e-tailing giant Amazon, beauty retailer Nykaa and fashion platform Myntra-yes, the Flipkart group company also sells beauty products.
On Myntra, she zeroed in on a nude shade sold by MAC Cosmetics, an American cosmetics manufacturer, called 'Powder Kiss Lipstick. She loved playing with a 'virtual try-on' feature. That's a trial room of the online world where augmented reality and virtual reality technologies are used. Over live camera or through a selfie uploaded, one can check exactly how a shade looks and feels.
"Myntra's virtual try-ons are great and addictive; the platform is so well-stocked; the search results are intuitive," the colleague told me.
But, she did not buy from Myntra. She bought the same lipstick from Nykaa.
Why? "I got a 420 discount. The listed price was 2,550. In addition, I also received a MAC cleansing oil free," she said.
Discounts work like magic in e-tailing and this is nothing new. For almost a decade now, Amazon and Flipkart have engaged in a battle to grab a customer at any cost. Many e-commerce companies, who couldn't sustain the ever ballooning costs of customer acquisition, bit the dust.
While that battle was mostly fought for mobile phones, other electronic items and household products, beauty is a relatively newer category. For many years, online beauty shopping was Nykaa's playground.
It's getting crowded.
Last year, the Tata group launched beauty retail platform Tata Cliq Palette; Reliance Retail Ventures launched Tira to sell 'mass and prestige beauty products'; Sephora, a global beauty retailer partnered with a subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures to develop beauty retail in India.
Myntra, which became synonymous with fashion shopping online, now sees beauty as its second growth engine.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 14, 2024 من Mint Mumbai.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 14, 2024 من Mint Mumbai.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
7 myths about ADHD and how to handle it
Some adults with ADHD are misdiagnosed as having anxiety or depression as myths prevail even in the medical community
Why women bear the brunt of misdiagnosis
Girls are half as likely as boys to be diagnosed correctly as having ADHD, show studies
At these international marathons, it's ready, steady, swig
Can running and drinking go together? From France to Scotland, here are five races where running is a merry party
Indian IT firms should brace for Trump's second term
Restrictive visa, trade and other policies under Trump 2.0 may force a review of their US-centric business models
Freebies don't offer a long-term solution but let us not ban them
Keeping citizens dependent on handouts is not fiscally sustainable. India needs a transparent framework to regulate them
Is Nvidia's chief dreaming of selling us R2-D2-like robots?
It may turn out to be a good bet if the chip-maker keeps its risks low
Two ways the EPFO can get itself an image boost
India's state-run retirement fund would do itself a favour by resolving its high level of claim rejections and speeding up interest payments. Its digital makeover should signal efficiency
Forex card vs debit card: How to lower cross-border markup fees
Unlike debit cards, forex cards are not linked to your bank account, limiting your exposure to fraud and theft
India must reassess its rejection of the RCEP trade bloc
Joining it can work in our favour as global trade barriers get reshaped and value chains are forged
Armed hostility between Israel and Iran is very likely to escalate
Israel senses a high-risk high-return chance to reshape West Asia that Trump might green-light
