Apparel Group and Nyka forge alliance

Nykaa, an omnichannel consumer-tech company, and India’s popular beauty and lifestyle retailer received board approval to sign an agreement with the Middle East’s Apparel Group, a global fashion and lifestyle retail conglomerate headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. Bringing its proven multi-brand beauty retail expertise to this alliance, Nykaa will leverage the Apparel Group’s robust retail infrastructure network and deep market relationships to build distinctive Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) focused beauty offerings in the UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Founded by Falguni Nayar in 2012, Nykaa disrupted the Indian beauty market with its content to commerce expertise, to create elevated shopping experiences for Indian consumers, both online and offline. Nykaa, featured in the list of 2022 TIME100 most influential companies, has 112 retail stores (as of June 30, 2022), catering to nearly 28,000 pincodes and offering 4500+ brands across platforms. The technology-led company is now set to bring its keen understanding of the beauty category and strong partnerships with domestic and international brands to the GCC’s beauty-forward consumers.

Founded by Sima Ganwani Ved in 1996, Apparel Group is one of the largest omnichannel retailers in the Middle East based out of the UAE. It is home to more than 78 lifestyle and beauty brands with over 2,010 stores in 14 countries. The Group brings over two decades of deep understanding of retailing in the GCC, having steadily kept their finger on the pulse of evolving consumer trends.

As these two retail powerhouses come together to harness each other’s strengths, the GCC can expect a seamless, world-class beauty shopping experience that is both highly curated and discovery led. Poised for accelerated growth, especially in the beauty and personal care category, the GCC presents a large opportunity for Nykaa to extend its highly focused value offering and drive the region’s offline and online retail growth story with the Apparel Group.

Speaking on this announcement, Falguni Nayar, Founder and CEO, Nykaa said, “Over the last decade, we have focused on building a formidable assortment of beauty offerings for the Indian consumer, bringing them the most coveted brands, trends and experiences from across the globe. Emboldened and encouraged by the love and trust of consumers in India, we now look forward to recreating our distinct beauty retail value proposition internationally, beginning with the GCC, with the Apparel Group. Through this alliance, we are confident of growing the GCC beauty market and bringing the best of both brands to a new world of consumers.”

Sima Ganwani Ved, Founder and Chairperson, Apparel Group said, “Since its inception in 1996, the Apparel Group has been focused on addressing the changing needs of its diverse customers across our presence in GCC, India, Southeast Asia & Africa. We understand our markets and our consumers and continually strive to exceed their expectations through our innovative and forward-thinking mindset. Our omnichannel approach, which includes the first ever Phygital store in the GCC region, has made us the partner of choice for a plethora of brands. This alliance is going to be a new chapter in our expansion journey as we look forward to leveraging each other’s strengths and offer unique value proposition to our consumers in the GCC region. So, we are ready to embark on what will be history in the making.”