Minimalist’s Strategy Breakdown

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Read time: 4 minutes 27 seconds

I learned about Minimalist from my friend (hi there! Rishit) at a house party. Making his signature hands in the hair move, he couldn’t stop sharing how much his girlfriend loved their face serum.

Knowing how crowded the Indian beauty market is, I was intrigued to hear so much praise for a D2C brand, so I dug in. 👀

The Indian beauty and personal care market is currently valued at a massive $20 billion and is projected to reach $38 billion by 2034 at a CAGR of 10-11%. Not just that, this remarkable expansion positions India as the fastest-growing beauty market globally.

Now, the beauty industry in India has traditionally been full of obscure and gimmicky marketing. From cow dung to argan oils, there’s a large range of profiteering products that lure consumers with their hazy claims. This left a lot of white space for data-backed, clinically-formulated beauty products.

The appeal of these products? Consumers feel they have somehow beaten the system by reaping the benefits from formulated chemicals without getting wooed by the industry’s marketing tactics.

The Yadav brothers, both seasoned startup folks, saw this opportunity and pursued building a skincare and haircare brand that offered scientifically-backed products with integrity. They called this brand Minimalist. 

While new in India, this space got traction in the US and Canada with the brand “The Ordinary” in 2014, which committed to transparency in chemical skin care. Minimalist became “The Ordinary” for Indian consumers.

How did Minimalist create a niche category in the crowded Indian beauty market?

In our AppsforBharat deep dive, we discussed how to go about designing a new category using the concept of the Magic Triangle. Let’s see how Minimalist applied these principles to create a new category for themselves.

In the last few years, competition has become stronger in this space. Brands like Pilgrim, Deconstruct, and The Derma Co. by Mamaearth have started gaining traction. Yet, the Minimalist’s repeat rate stands at 60%. How? 👇

Minimalist’s strategic playbook boils down to three powerful strategies.

Strategy 1: The Transparency Positioning

One of Minimalist’s most remarkable strategies is to present itself as a small, transparent business. Their data-backed transparency resonates with the audience, making them authentic and trustworthy. I love how they summarize their positioning on their values page

Transparency is reflected strongly in their product, packaging, product detail pages, and the content they produce. Their products come in unadorned dropper bottles which look like they have come straight from the lab. Most contain just one to three ingredients-salicylic acid, or vitamin C - with their concentration highlighted.

Much of their content features real customers' before-and-after photos. Their photos reveal subtle yet genuine changes that their products can achieve.

Side note: Before and after photos always remind me of transplant print ads. (I used to love them! )

Strategy 2: Quality skincare - Minus the Markups

Before Minimalist entered the market, many skincare brands inflated prices by using buzzwords like “anti-aging,” “rejuvenating,” and “brightening,” without providing clear explanations or evidence of how their products fulfilled these claims. These brands took advantage of consumers' limited knowledge about skincare ingredients, allowing them to charge a premium.

Minimalist saw this gap and stripped away the marketing fluff by making their products reasonably priced. This value-driven strategy translated into two things for them: easy penetration in tier 2 cities and fast growth. 

Strategy 3: Educating an informed audience

Minimalist takes a unique approach in the skincare industry by treating its audience as knowledgeable and capable of understanding the complexities involved in skincare formulations. Instead of oversimplifying their messaging as many brands do, they focus on educating consumers about the science behind their products. Through informative social media posts, Minimalist aims to empower customers to make informed choices rather than just pushing sales.

This strategy sets them apart from competitors and establishes them as thought leaders in the industry. By providing valuable educational content, they build a strong relationship with an audience that appreciates transparency and depth of knowledge in skincare.

Minimalist is cultivating a following by empowering people to decode skincare formulations themselves - very similar to a nerdy book club in the making.

PS: Here’s my first bottle of Minimalist :)

Until next time! 👋

Saurabh