Skincare giant Kiehl debuts in India

Kiehl, the well-renowned New York-based skin and hair care products, has made its Indian debut

with a flagship store at the Ambience Mall in New Delhi. They have partnered with speciality retailer Quest Retail to distribute and run their retail operations in the country. India is the 39th country to join the Kiehl's family with this launch. The Delhi store will be followed by another one in Mumbai.

Kiehl is a family-owned business with a range of skin and hair care products that was founded in 1851 and is now well-known across the world. Having been taken over by the cosmetic giant, the L’Oreal Group in 2000, it is currently sold through 800 retail outlets in 38 countries as part of L’Oreal’s luxury products division. The luxury division has famous cosmetic brands such as Lancome, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren and Diesel under its umbrella. In India, their target is to be in to six cities in near term.

Kiehl’s product portfolio will be a unique blend of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals as well as herbal and medicinal knowledge in men’s, women’s and babies range of products. Imported from Kiehl’s manufacturing facility in New Jersey, the company will initially start with retailing about 120 products which will be priced between Rs 450 and Rs 3,800 to suit all pockets.

Kiehl began by supplying pharmaceutical tonics and medicinal salves manufactured from natural ingredients.  Even today the company’s products are based on natural ingredients with a motto of not testing its products on animals. With Indian market research reports predicting that the skin care market alone would register a compound annual growth rate of nearly 13 per cent through 2012, reaching $365 million, Kiehl is expecting to stake a major share of this market pie.