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India's retail beauty and cosmetics industry is currently estimated at $950 million and is likely to almost treble to $2.68 billion by 2020 while the current Indian pharmaceutical market is US $ 11 billion and is expected to touch US $ 74 billion (in sales) by 2020. Let's find out about the pharmacy and beauty retail leaders we have handpicked for the potential investors.

The segment of health and beauty retail is scaling up y-o-y as organized brands are mushrooming in every nook and corner across the country. According to the consulting firm McKinsey and Company, India's pharmaceutical sector will touch 55 billion USD by 2020. Experts say that the profit margin in drug sales ranges from 10-40% that is the major attraction for the new entrants. Also, the Rs 29,000 crore ($4.5 billion) Indian cosmetic market is growing briskly at 15-20% annually, twice as fast as that of the US and European markets.

Growth drivers

The market of pharmacy and beauty retail is mainly driven by the influx of organised chains and franchising this segment is also growing exponentially. These franchising brands offer excellent business opportunities to the interested investors, ensuring high degree of customer and franchisee satisfaction.

The industry has certainly seen a gradual transition toward organised retail formats. In fact, retail spaces at malls and e-commerce are also regarded as the perfect platform for retailing beauty and other FMCG products. Talking about the preferred location for the cosmetic stores, Vijay Shanker, Chief Operating Officer, New U, Dabur India Ltd. Says:” Whether Indian or international cosmetic brands, malls are serving as the launchpads to them. The high footfall of consumers from all walks of life and all sorts of business format available, under one roof are the main reasons behind why malls have great number of beauty retail brands.”

However, player like Apollo Pharmacy still operates by the Company- Owned & Company- Operated (COCO) business model fearing of brand dilution and satisfactory quality services to its end customers. “Though technology is scaling up the pharma industry faster with dynamic and multi-programme operations but the unorganised lot is a threat to the organised cadre. To bring our brand par excellence among the whole pharmacy lot, we focus on customer satisfaction which includes loyalty schemes, home delivery, maintaining of customer date and hybrid retail model,” asserts Rama Krishna, Vice President, Marketing and Sales, Apollo Pharmacy who believes the market size of pharma industry is Rs 85000 crore and is expected to increase to Rs 1.5 lakh crore by 2018 via organised pharmacy retail chains.

How to start a retail pharmacy and cosmetics

Business registration as per the format of the drug store
Value Added Tax (VAT) registration
Pharmacy license or drug license by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation and State Drugs Standard Control Organisation
Area: Minimum of 10 sq. mtr for medical shop or wholesale outlet
Minimum 14 sq. mtr for combination of retail and wholesale
Storage facility: refrigerators and air conditioners are must
Technical staff: For wholesale outlet, registered pharmacist is a must who has passed SSLC with 4 years of experience in drug dealing. For retail outlet, presence of registered pharmacist approved by the department is required throughout the working hours.