Arvind shares up by 2 per cent after its entry into beauty and cosmetics business

Today, Arvind shares gained around 2.7 per cent in the morning trade after the company declared its entry into the beauty and cosmetics segment through partnership with SEPHORA, owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, a french conglomerate.

Arvind Lifestyle Brands will manage Sephora's three stores in Delhi and one in Pune. Arvind plans to add another 40 stores in the next 5 years. As Sephora wants to accelerate their expansion plans in India, this partnership with Arvind is a long-term for stores and e-commerce.

Sephora has built a network of around 200 stores in China in the past. It considers India to be a similar big market in the long term. Sephora offers cosmetic, skin care, fragrance, bath and body, hair care products across 200 brands, including Calvin Klein, D&G and Ralph Lauren, as well as its namesake brand Sephora Collection. It has 1700 stores across 31 countries.

Sephora wants to pull up a bigger share in India's premium cosmetics and beauty market, which is a break between department store chains. Overall, the beauty and personal care market is around Rs 15,000 crore, out of which premium market is Rs 2,500 crore and growing at a CAGR of 25 per cent. Sephora entered India 4 years ago but back then it showed a slow start. At that time Sephora parented with Genesis Luxury and DLF Brands.

Arvind has a portfolio of 12 of its own brands. It also runs the country's largest value retail chain Megamart and the UK based department store chain Debenhams, apart from the apparel specialty retail chain Next. Arvind has over 1.3 million square feet of retail space across various brands.