NEW DELHI, India — Call it a homecoming, should you like: India is the primary stop within the international rollout of Anomaly, the hair care brand by actress, producer, activist and creator Priyanka Chopra Jonas. Launched last week in an exclusive tie-up with India’s biggest beauty retailer, Nykaa, the brand has been making a ripple within the country’s $16 billion beauty market.

Along with the indisputable fact that the actress said she has grown up on hair care that included oiling and hair brushing, and her consideration of the house market as vital, there may be the fast-changing Indian consumer to think about.

“I believe the Indian consumers are at a really interesting point and that makes it much more exciting,” Chopra Jonas told WWD. “I feel like in the previous couple of years platforms like Nykaa have also democratized access to beauty and private care and it’s a very interesting market where women are attempting different products and men are also equally all in favour of personal care.

“The Indian consumer may be very conscious about their environment — they wish to check out every little thing and use what’s best for them. That’s what makes it so interesting to play in a market like this and supply a brand like Anomaly, which has superior formulas, is sweet for the environment and has taken away every little thing that’s bad for the hair — sulphates, parabens, mineral oil — and put in ingredients from around the globe which can be predominantly natural,” she added.

Nykaa, which began as a beauty e-commerce player in 2012, has a robust digital retail footprint in India together with greater than 120 physical stores and three.1 million stock keeping units from greater than 4,078 brands.

“Really we feel it’s Anomaly’s homecoming to India; Priyanka is way loved by tens of millions of individuals on this country, Nykaa is way loved by tens of millions on this country and the synergy of the 2 goes to be improbable,” Anchit Nayar, chief executive officer of e-commerce beauty at Nykaa said, adding that it was a simultaneous launch within the physical stores and e-commerce, and could be expanded over the approaching months.

“We aren’t only the retailer here, but we’re also the importer and distributor of Anomaly. We launched first on Nykaa since it is essentially the most relevant platform given the sort of consumers that we’ve got, but over time we’ll take this into more extensive physical distribution in our stores and likewise third-party stores. Because the fact is that this brand belongs across the length and breadth of our country,” he said.

Starting at 750 rupees, or $9.38, the pricing is essential to a masstige segment.

“It is extremely difficult to maintain the identical price parity with the U.S. due to all the extra costs [in duties] that we’ll need to bear. But we’ll try to maintain it as near the U.S. pricing as we possibly can. So it’s incredibly inexpensive, it’s aspirational and still not out of reach,” said Nayar. “I believe it is an ideal sweet spot for Priyanka, and for Nykaa. We all the time say that beauty is an aspirational category, it can’t be out of reach, and this brand nails that from a price viewpoint.”

Each side seem like clear on the synergies.

“I believe what is actually exciting for us is that here you may have got a robust female celebrity who’s making the transition into becoming an entrepreneur in her own right. And should you have a look at the history of Nykaa, the corporate can be founded by a girl who made a profession change on the age of fifty and moved from finance into beauty [Falguni Nayar]. We see a number of similarities between what Priyanka is doing and what we did,” Nayar observed.

“It also goes back to Nykaa wanting to support strong women founders with incredibly unique brands. We’ve got a track record: first it was Huda, which we launched in India. Then we launched Charlotte Tilbury. Then got here Katrina Kaif [with Kay beauty]. Now you may have Priyanka and Anomaly. There are a number of common values with Nykaa and these brands. I believe they see it as a trusted partner who can do justice to their brand, [that] is what is exclusive about us,” he said.

Other synergies are finding the market area of interest, and filling available in the market gaps.

“I’ve slowly got all in favour of the business side of entertainment. I used to be 18 years old once I got into entertainment, and over time that has led to the interest of diversifying as much as possible. So, I wrote a book and I began investing in nascent firms and types using my platform to bring attention to them and seeing their growth. That led to founding my very own brand that may cater to the gap available in the market, which was exactly what led to Anomaly and its unique positioning,” Chopra Jonas said.

This includes clean formulas that contain no SLS/SLES sulfates, parabens, phthalates, mineral oil, or dyes and are vegan and cruelty-free. Anomaly’s bottles feature a skinny wall plastic constructed from 100% plastic trash using material diverted from landfills and ocean sure plastic, which may also be recycled after use.

So far as diversification in skincare or makeup, she is obvious that the brand will stay focused: “Anamoly goes to be hair care — and hair care only. We do wish to expand when it comes to what number of products we’ve got. For instance, this 12 months we expanded into scalp care. We plan to maintain expanding the skus of the brand,” she said.

Will Anomaly manufacture in India? “Yes, eventually buy no definite plans yet,” she said.

“We began our brand with a one-year exclusive with Goal and now we’ve got moved to Walmart, CVS and Kroger and that could be a clear indication of the indisputable fact that the brand is doing really good and we’re expanding…” Chopra Jonas said, talking in regards to the U.S., and the worldwide way forward, with India as the primary stop of varied global launches.

“Not less than that’s the ambition,” she said, adding, “I’m a highly ambitious woman and my ambition is for it to travel around the globe. I’m very enthusiastic about Anomaly’s travel to India and I will probably be very involved and traveling to India myself.”