Looking young and healthy is the new rich, says Varun Alagh

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Varun Alagh, founder of Honasa Consumer which owns Mamaearth and The DermaCo, reckons looking young and healthy is the new rich. A decade ago, most youngsters discovered specialised skincare brands through dermatologists. Now, social media influencers do that job. According to Alagh, younger consumers are really into their health, and view skincare as an extension. Edited excerpts from an interview.
Why are youngsters so obsessed with their skin care routine now? The emergence of personal voices has led to category education becoming easier. Consumption of social content is leading to the shaping of genuinely good skincare categories. For instance, active ingredients are not something new, but are now getting democratised. Using efficacious active ingredients for skincare and for problem solution
and skincare has existed for decades. What was not done earlier is marketing these directly to the consumer. Globally, this realisation came almost 20 years back when brands started to take it directly to consumers. We are seeing this now in India as well.

Is putting ingredients upfront on the pack the only way it works now? Active ingredients do have a narrative. Rather than keeping it as a black box (you want to show it). People want to know if you put in vitamin C, what is the percentage. If you put in salicylic acid, what is the percentage. They know this is the ingredient that they need for their skin, and that it works at a certain potency level. But does that mean the entire segment is shaping like that? Not