Myntra forays into beauty and cosmetics products

Bangalore-based lifestyle e-commerce firm Myntra , which has been associated with fashion and lifestyle, has made a foray into beauty and cosmetics products segment. Myntra's new section is sub-divided into 31 categories including a slew of beauty products.

The firm is offering stock-keeping units (SKU) of about 1,200, dealing in brands like Biotique, Colorbar, Deborah, Lakme, Lotus Herbals, Nivea, Olay, Ponds, Revlon, Streetwear and Viviana.

Users would be able to search products either by category or by price, brand and colour.

The company will soon be adding L'Oreal, Maybelline and Garnier to its collection.

Ganesh Subramanian, chief merchandising officer at Myntra.com, said in

a statement, "We have over 1,100 fashionable beauty products covering lip, nail, face, eye and skin solutions. Shoppers in Tier II and Tier III markets will now have unlimited access to a wide range of beauty products which are otherwise difficult to find in those cities".

Myntra foray into beauty segment is bound to impact e-businesses in the same space, which has a host of e-commerce sites like Flipkart, Jabong, Indiaplaza, Urban Touch, Infibeam and Pepperfry, though it needs to expand its product range to compete with the existing players.

One of the most funded e-commerce companies, Myntra, raised $20 million in a series C funding, led by Tiger Global in February. The capital was supposed to be used to grow its logistics services (the company has already started its own logistics services) and expand

into new categories. Earlier, the firm raised $14 million in its second round of funding from Tiger Global and the then existing investors IDG Ventures and Indo-US Venture Partners. In November 2008, Myntra raised $5 million in a series A funding from NEA-IndoUS

Ventures, IDG Ventures and Accel Partners. It had also received seed-funding from Accel Partners (formerly Erasmic Venture Fund), Sasha Mirchandani (from Mumbai Angels) and one other angel investor in October 2007.

(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)