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Nykaa goes to the UK with Katrina Kaif's Kay Beauty brand of cosmetics
Katrina Kaif's Kay Beauty, an in-house brand of Nykaa, is likely to compete with L’Oreal to Estee Lauder for shelf space in UK stores.
FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd., which operates India's online beauty store Nykaa, is expanding its overseas business in hunt for future growth.
The Mumbai-based company is launching Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif's Kay Beauty in the UK, co-founder and Executive Director Adwaita Nayar told Bloomberg in an interview, adding that “the US, Middle East and certain markets in Asia,” are the other growth markets for the brand.
While the UK push will be across 13 stores and an online platform, Nykaa faces the challenge of pushing its brand awareness in a very competitive cosmetics and skin care market. The company will tussling with stalwarts from L’Oreal SA to Estee Lauder Cos Inc. for shelf space in these UK stores.
Kay Beauty plans to sell a range of standard cosmetics suitable for a range of skin complexions, Nayar said. It’ll also retail specialty items such as kohl targeted at South Asian women in the UK.
Nykaa, which had a blockbuster debut in 2021, has sought to establish a presence ever since. The company currently operates a retail store in Dubai and has subsidiaries in Qatar and Oman.
Gen Z Cohort
Nykaa has grown rapidly in India as it had the first-mover advantage in the online beauty retail space—a segment boosted by rising purchasing power of Gen Z and millennial buyers.
India's local beauty and personal care market is expected to grow to $34 billion by 2028 from $21 billion in 2023, according to a September report by Redseer Strategy Consultants and Nykaa.
FSN aims to to nearly triple its gross merchandise value—a measure of sales excluding expenses—for its in-house cosmetics brands by the year ending March 2030 to ₹6,000 crore, Nayar told Bloomberg.
Its in-house portfolio, which includes brands like Dot & Key and Nykaa Cosmetics besides Kay Beauty, racked up about ₹2,100 crore in gross merchandise value in the financial year ended 31 March 2025.
“We’d like to strive for profitability margins that some of the world’s best have” of around mid-teens to early-twenties, Nayar said, without sharing details of the current profit margins for in-house brands.
The retailer expects newer launches to drive sales over India’s upcoming festival season, which kicks off in September. It’s also building out its fashion vertical and is keen on expanding a line of in-house lingerie.
