Himalaya Wellness reveals natural beauty trends driving India's marketing ecosystem

Amazon Ads India head Pratik Udeshi hosted a detailed discussion on July 14, 2025, with Ragini Hariharan, Marketing Director of Beauty and Personal Care at Himalaya Wellness, revealing significant shifts in India's beauty and wellness ecosystem. The interview, broadcast through Amazon Ads Canvas, showcased how consumer preferences have shaped marketing strategies across India's rapidly expanding beauty market.

According to Hariharan, who brings over 15 years of experience across beauty, grooming, and fabric care categories, India's beauty sector has transformed dramatically. Consumers have become significantly more informed and digitally savvy, driving demand for transparency in product formulations. This shift extends beyond simple efficacy requirements to encompass values-based purchasing decisions focused on herbal, clean, and sustainable formulations.

Summary

Who: Ragini Hariharan, Marketing Director of Beauty and Personal Care at Himalaya Wellness, and Pratik Udeshi, Amazon Ads India head, discussing industry trends with marketing professionals.

What: Comprehensive analysis of India's beauty and wellness ecosystem evolution, covering natural ingredient trends, consumer behavior changes, product innovation, media strategy adaptations, and full-funnel marketing approaches.

When: July 14, 2025, during Amazon Ads Canvas session, building on three years of significant consumer behavioral shifts in India's beauty market.

Where: Amazon Ads Canvas platform, focusing on India's beauty market with global implications for natural beauty trends and digital marketing strategies.

Why: Consumer preferences have shifted toward natural formulations, transparency, and values-based purchasing, requiring beauty brands to adapt product development, marketing strategies, and communication approaches to maintain competitive positioning.

The conversation highlighted three major consumer behavioral changes over the past three years. First, Indian consumers no longer prioritize efficacy alone but seek products aligned with their personal values. Second, ingredient consciousness has reached unprecedented levels, with consumers actively reading labels and researching formulations before purchases. Third, there exists growing pride in using trusted Indian brands, particularly those suited for Indian skin types and climate conditions.

Himalaya Wellness has responded to these trends through significant product innovation. The company recently launched serums as a portfolio expansion, marking entry into a category where penetration remains nascent in India. Additionally, they introduced beauty gummies, addressing consumer demands for holistic wellness solutions that extend beyond topical skin care.

Natural ingredients have experienced remarkable resurgence, representing what Hariharan describes as a "comeback" after initial popularity 25 years ago when Himalaya entered beauty and personal care. Traditional Ayurvedic ingredients like neem, aloe, rose, and turmeric now form the foundation of modern formulations that combine natural efficacy with advanced scientific backing.

The serum category demonstrates this trend particularly well. According to the discussion, 65% of consumers purchasing Himalaya serums were new to the category entirely. These "fence-sitters" wanted to try active ingredients but remained hesitant about purely chemical-based products. Amazon's data revealed that consumers trusted natural formulations combined with proven actives, creating a unique market positioning opportunity.

Hariharan identified three critical micro-trends shaping the industry. Sunscreen represents a significant opportunity, with penetration at only 16% in India. Consumer hesitation stems from concerns about chemical formulations and potential skin health impacts. Himalaya's upcoming launch of a 90% natural ingredient-based sunscreen with SPF 50 protection addresses these concerns directly.

Transparency has emerged as a non-negotiable consumer expectation. Brands must clearly communicate what each ingredient provides and deliver on promises made. This transparency requirement extends across all aspects of skincare, forcing companies to maintain higher accountability standards.

The third micro-trend involves regimen-based solutions for specific skin concerns. Consumers now understand that different product formats address various needs within comprehensive skincare routines. Himalaya's recent turmeric range launch specifically targets dark spots through multiple product formats, including face washes, moisturizers, serums, and packs.

Media strategy has evolved to accommodate this product diversification. Hariharan emphasized that modern advertising has become more deterministic, enabling precise consumer targeting. Face wash campaigns, targeting a category with only 40% urban penetration, still require significant awareness building. As market leaders, Himalaya accepts responsibility for growing the entire category.

The company's serum launch strategy exemplifies sophisticated targeting capabilities. Amazon's Demand Side Platformenabled identification of distinct consumer segments for vitamin C and turmeric serums, with only 20% overlap between audiences. One segment prioritized dark spot solutions while another focused on overall brightness, though both preferred natural formulations.

Content strategy varies significantly across platforms and formats. For established products like neem face wash, Himalaya employs long-form communication across YouTube, Amazon mini TV, and web series to reach young consumers entering the category with acne concerns. The company recognizes that teenagers typically enter the beauty category through pimple-related problems, making neem face wash a gateway product.

Premium portfolio items like serums benefit most from influencer and beauty creator partnerships. Low category penetration means consumers need education about usage, benefits, and potential side effects rather than simple awareness building. Authentic voices provide credibility that traditional advertising cannot match.

The full-funnel marketing approach integrates seamlessly with Amazon's ecosystem. Amazon's conversion tracking capabilities enable sophisticated retargeting of consumers who engage with upper-funnel content. Grocery basket data revealed unexpected insights, showing 2x higher new-to-category acquisition for neem face wash among consumers purchasing groceries rather than beauty enthusiasts.

Cross-platform measurement has become essential for campaign optimization. Different consumer demographics respond to varied creative approaches within the same campaign. Amazon DSP enables testing multiple creative sets for awareness building versus consideration, depending on consumer psychographics and demographics.

Hariharan provided three key recommendations for beauty and wellness brands seeking sustainable growth. Product quality remains paramount despite marketing innovation pressure. Companies must maintain rigorous research and development processes, testing formulations under appropriate conditions for extended periods before launch. The temptation to chase trends without proper validation poses significant risks in beauty and wellness categories.

Second, brands should abandon artificial distinctions between performance marketing and brand building. Consumer journeys have become increasingly complex, requiring integrated full-funnel approaches that consider how audiences consume media throughout their day. Understanding growth phases enables appropriate budget allocation decisions between awareness and conversion objectives.

Third, artificial intelligence presents significant opportunities for creativity and consumer understanding. Himalaya uses AI to analyze consumer conversations, sentiments, and future preferences, incorporating this data into new product development pipelines. While ethical considerations around AI-generated creative content exist, AI proves valuable for creation process support and consumer insight generation.

The discussion revealed that even highly penetrated categories like face wash maintain substantial growth potential. Beauty cream penetration beyond fairness benefits remains surprisingly low despite widespread adoption for fairness applications. This creates opportunities for brands willing to invest in category education and expansion.

Amazon's enhanced measurement capabilities support these sophisticated marketing approaches through Amazon Marketing Cloud integration. The platform enables creation of custom audiences based on streaming TV ad exposure, website visits, and purchase behavior, facilitating precise bid adjustments for high-value segments.

The beauty industry's rapid pace creates both opportunities and challenges for marketing professionals. While technological capabilities continue advancing, fundamental product quality and consumer trust remain critical success factors. Brands that balance innovation with proven formulations while maintaining transparency achieve sustainable competitive advantages.

India's beauty market evolution reflects broader global trends toward natural formulations, transparency, and holistic wellness approaches. However, local preferences for Indian brands suited to regional skin types and climate conditions create unique positioning opportunities for domestic companies like Himalaya Wellness.

The integration of traditional Ayurvedic knowledge with modern scientific validation represents a compelling value proposition for consumers seeking effective yet natural beauty solutions. This approach differentiates Indian brands in an increasingly crowded global market while addressing specific consumer concerns about chemical formulations.

Amazon's advertising platform continues evolving to support these sophisticated marketing strategies. Recent enhancements to Amazon DSP include goal-based bidding functionality that optimizes reach and frequency for brand awareness campaigns, addressing key challenges in upper-funnel marketing activities.

The discussion highlighted the importance of understanding consumer media consumption patterns when developing marketing strategies. Young consumers entering the beauty category through acne concerns consume different content than established users seeking anti-aging solutions. Platform selection and message customization must reflect these behavioral differences.

Timeline

• July 14, 2025: Amazon Ads Canvas features discussion between Pratik Udeshi and Ragini Hariharan on India's beauty ecosystem trends
• January 2025: Amazon introduces conversion path reporting for 30-day customer journey analysis
• October 2024: Amazon DSP launches goal-based bidding for brand awareness optimization
• October 2024: Amazon Ads expands AMC capabilities with no-code interface and audience targeting
• July 2024: Amazon launches Target Promotion for Sponsored Products advertisers
• April 2024: Amazon advertising revenue grows 24% reaching $11.82 billion in Q1