Lakme: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome
Snigdha Uppala
Senior Consultant, Capgemini Invent | Gold Medalist x2 | IIM and Manipal Institute of Technology Alumna | Six Sigma Green Belt
Lakme, the brand that claims to be India’s biggest cosmetics brand, has been around since 1952 and went on to become a household name over the next decade. Started under Tata Oil Mills, it was a pioneer in promoting domestic brands and manufacturing. In 1996, it underwent a 50:50 merger with Hindustan Unilever Limited and two years later, it was bought out completely by HUL. The brand has been a staple in Indian women’s vanity with affordable products that cater to Indian women. Most women and girls in India would tell you that their first makeup product was one from Lakme and that is the level of trust and reach it has garnered.
The opinion on the current state of Lakme is split between the brand being considered a classic owing to having legacy products still in production but also as growing irrelevant as it fails to be inclusive or adapt to newer customers. The former shows that they have stood the test of time with their cash cows that still garner sales and no major innovation has disrupted them. The latter points to the increasing demand from their customers for more innovative products that suit the entire range of skin tones. This demand stems from the sentiment of younger customers who would rather buy from a brand that sells products made for their skin tone rather than making the best of the given situation.
The oversaturation in the beauty industry combined with the increasing new entrants to the Indian market and better accessibility in the form of e-commerce is providing customers with more choices than before. The remnants of racism are still prevalent in the form of colourism that is ingrained into our minds and has inadvertently influenced the beauty market greatly.
Lakme is often criticized for being the most non-inclusive with their shade ranges. Their foundation shades are between 4 to 6 in number with all of them being too light to even fit someone with a medium skin tone. They advertise their very light shades as “deep” and call them suited for deep skin tones. Their undertones are only yellow and orange, and that reiterates that the remnants of racism are still widely present in the brand. Lakme has been trying to keep up with the trends but often is too late to the party and doesn’t stand up strong against their competitors.
One might argue using the sales numbers but that can be easily explained by a few factors, chief among which is that Lakme has the highest market penetration and brand recall. People in rural areas also recognise Lakme and that has worked in their favour. The other factors are a lack of awareness of other brands or channels of purchase and ingrained colourism. Lakme’s revenue has significantly been impacted by the salon division which must be considered while looking at the financial information.
With all that said and done, Lakme is in a unique position to revolutionize the Indian beauty market. This would not just involve a rebrand but rather a deep dive into the psyche of the Indian beauty consumer with a sincere focus on what the customers need and not what is easy to produce. They would need to reformulate and expand their portfolio to truly be able to cater to the needs of Indian consumers.
In my opinion, the best place to start would be their most criticized product – the foundation. They don’t just need to expand in terms of shade range but also undertone range. Their 6 orange/yellow shades would need to be at the very least 24 with all 4 undertones (warm, neutral, cool and olive) in all 6 depth blocks of light, light-medium, medium, medium-deep, deep, and dark. This would have to be expanded to 50 shades at the very least within 2 years of launch. Indians have access to products with 50 to 70 shades from foreign brands like Rare, Fenty, Sephora, MAC, etc., but often are too heavy on the pocket. This is where Lakme could easily gain customers by staying in their price range but offering the shade range demanded.
A clear representation of the difference mentioned can be seen in the below images. The brands covered are Lakme, Rare Beauty, Fenty Beauty, Sephora Collections, and Kay Beauty. Kay Beauty, the Indian home-grown brand, plays in a close price market, just above that of Lakme, unlike the other mentions here that play in the higher end. All products are available in India.
Source: Lakme website
Source: Sephora India website
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Source: Sephora Indian website
Source: Nykaa website
Source: Nykaa website
This also extends to other products so that they can be formulated for true Indian skin and not only the impossible society-standard version of it. They need fresh and young talent in product development as well as marketing to spearhead the necessary change. Decision-makers need to truly understand the voice of customers as not having intimate knowledge of the problems faced by the customer base would be detrimental. The C-suite needs to arm itself with in-depth research about the beauty industry of today and the aspirational goals of Indian beauty consumers.
Another point to note is Lakme is often too little too late to trends and often misses out on being able to produce viral products. A clear example of this is the lack of any lip oils from Lakme whereas this product has been all the rage for the past 2 years. Their sun protection products are not highly regarded in Indian beauty forums. Lakme does have some hits such as their blush range as this has been the hero product for Gen Z for the past year at least. They have also jumped on the trend of skincare but have not been able to break the viral barrier as they focus on complexion + skincare instead of just skincare.
The debate about Lakme’s hits and misses can go on for a long time and I would like to conclude by saying that Lakme is a brand with great potential. Once they re-evaluate their status and focus on taking risks to grow, they could take the market by storm. Lakme can truly disrupt the status quo by stepping out of their comfort zone, especially in their complexion products, and prove again why they have stood the test of time.
All opinions expressed are personal.
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