Chennai: India’s beauty and wellness industry has seen growth twice as much in recent times than Europe and the United States. With the country being the second largest consumer market in the world, competition is fierce.
One of India’s leading beauty and wellness brand, VLCC Healthcare Ltd recently announced that it will soon open 14 wellness centres across Tamilnadu with a plan initiated to increase the firm’s presence in the southern State.
In this regard, founder and CEO of VLCC Healthcare Ltd, Vandana Luthra, spoke with News Today.
“Our decision to expand in Tamilnadu is important for us to grow. We are happy with the beauty, health and wellness segment here. The expansion has been well-planned to reach customers not just in Chennai but also in Coimbatore and Madurai,” Vandana said.
She added that the wellness industry in India is growing at a phenomenal pace. Her comments come in line to a report by FICCI and EY which suggested that India’s wellness industry will grow at an annual growth rate of nearly 12 per cent for the next five years and will reach an estimated Rs 1.5 lakh crore by 2020.
Vandana spoke about her brands’ latest offering. “We will soon bring out body sculpting and scientific weight-loss procedures like DNA wellness to customers apart from the advanced beauty and skin care treatments,” she said. As a part of its expansion plan. VLCC will also open five skill development institutes in the State.
“Currently in Tamilnadu, we have about 17 wellness centres and five skill development institutes. Here, we have trained over 40,000 students,” says Vandana.
“We teach students everything related to beauty, health and wellness. It is open for everyone and there is no age limit. In fact, we support students belonging to the transgender community. One of our main focus is to empower women. Through these institutes, we aim to make a youth employable in the wellness sector.”
Asked which city has been financially successful for the brand, Vandana says, “Chennai has always been one of our prime business location. When we first opened here at Alwarpet in 1999, we achieved a turn over of Rs 50 lakh in the very first month. It was incredible. Our centres here has been very well received by our customers.”
The wellness expert reiterated about the necessity to regulate the wellness industry. ‘People always wish to look and feel good,’ she said.
“It is natural that they will invest on programmes that will help them achieve such goals. I feel it is essential for brands to use natural ingredients in their products. At VLCC, we keep our products and services at affordable rates. We even offer money-back guarantee when our customers do not achieve weight loss within the prescribed time frame.”
VLCC was started in 1989. Today, the group operates in over 150 cities and 14 countries.
| Statistics |
| * According to a KPMG report, the size of India’s beauty and wellness market was around Rs 80,370 crore by 2018-end. This includes beauty products, beauty salon and spa businesses. The compounded annual growth rate of the beauty and wellness business in India has been around 18 per cent. According to the report a prominent feature is that herbal beauty care has driven the growth of the beauty business in India.
* Reports also state that the sudden surge of e-commerce, with online stores becoming shopping destination other than shopping malls that cater to Metro and tier-2 cities. |