How Colorbar Made INR 106 Cr In FY24 From Its Online Arm?

Since the last 41 editions of The D2CX Newsletter, we’ve been juggling between the growth playbook of prominent D2C brands and industry deep-dives. 

How about we break the pattern? 

This one is about a 2-decade-old offline-first business that is metamorphosing into a D2C model. Let’s break down Colorbar Cosmetics!

The seed of Colorbar sowed in the mind of Samir Modi back in 2003, when he directly managed operations of Modicare’s cosmetics vertical.

The idea of a home-grown cosmetics brand outpacing the likes of Revlon, L’Oreal, and Unilever, sparked the lightbulb for Samir.

The journey of Colorbar has been nothing short of a roller-coaster ride – first scaling to INR ~250 Cr, a 40% topline reduction during the pandemic, and now coming back stronger,  raking in INR 530 Cr in FY24.

🔥 3rd largest cosmetic brand in India

🔥 100+ exclusive stores

🔥 1200+ multi-brand outlets

🔥 AI-powered D2C website

A pureplay offline brand for 15 years, Colorbar made inroads into the D2C model in 2019 with the launch of its website.

But, creating an online presence wasn’t as simple as swiping on a new lipstick shade.

How Colorbar Went From Bricks To Clicks

With limited search volumes on brand keywords and stiff competition for generic terms, Colorbar had to fight for digital visibility in a crowded market. The goal was to engage an untapped pool of online buyers, and turn clicks into conversions and browsers into buyers. and grow revenue.

Keyword Precision: Identified top brand, generic, competitor, and behavioural keywords for tailored campaigns.

Data-Driven Campaigns: Analysed top-viewed and best-selling products to create focused campaigns by geography and user behaviour.

Audience Expansion: Used Display Ads and YouTube Discovery Ads to grow audience pools for remarketing efforts.

Smart Solutions: From Dynamic Remarketing to Smart Shopping Campaigns, Colorbar left no stone unturned.

Creative Variety: From carousels to catalogue ads, each audience segment got personalised content to spark interest.

Brand Ambassadors: Leveraged celebrity endorsements to add allure and credibility.

Remarketing Power: Nudged cart abandoners with SMS, browser notifications, and exit intent campaigns.

Cosmetics: Not Just Skin-Deep But Data-Deep

Implementing these digital marketing strategies, Colorbar was able to gain substantial momentum for its online arm in a year of website launch.

🔹105.67% revenue growth

🔹98.86% boost in online transactions

🔹63.79% surge in website visits

🔹48.32% rise in new customers

🔹21.41% lift in ecommerce conversion rates

The revenue split of Colorbar is 80:20 offline to online, and while their online arm is picking up momentum (INR 106 Cr is a job well done), it is still far off from what Samir had envisioned.

How Is Colorbar Faring Against Competitors?

According to a Statista report, the cosmetics market in India will hit the INR 57,000 Cr mark by 2029, with 2.62% CAGR.

It was only natural for new players to enter the market, vying for the lion’s share! And these brands, with their new-age strategies for online expansion, are giving Colorbar a run for its money!

What’s On The Horizon?

To keep up with immediate competitors and upcoming players, Colorbar is banking on AI and revamping its website with state-of-the-art features, such as:

🔸Find It Right: A feature that helps customers choose the right foundation for their skin tone

🔸Skincare Diagnostics: A feature to help customers assess their skin condition, and then suggests suitable products

🔸Virtual Try On: A feature that allows customers to virtually try different shades and tones

The Idea → Give customers a delectable purchasing experience!

We will keep an eye on how the addition of these new AI features impact the online sales of Colorbar. Will you?

See you in the next one!