Kantar Launches India Beauty Panel

Kantar has launched a research panel focusing on the beauty industry in India, continuously tracking and reporting purchases made by shoppers across four categories: face, eyes, lips and nails.

The panel, comprised of more than 3,000 women in the 18-44 age band and reporting data on a monthly basis, will also feature a deep-dive into segments within each of the four categories. A multi-stage data checking process will include real-time data capture at the point of purchase, through a 100% self-filling application; data capture through images and visuals; and image and barcode-based matching at the back end. From next year the panel will also make use of an AI-based image decoding feature.

K. Ramakrishnan (pictured), MD of the Worldpanel Division for South Asia, comments: 'The cosmetics market is riding a positive wave right now, and we are absolutely delighted to be able to track this wave with India's only robust Cosmetics Panel, using next generation technology. The panel is the first of its kind to employ artificial intelligence to increase the accuracy of the data inputs, as well as to carry out quality checks. This will ensure that brands in the cosmetics category get real-time, accurate and insightful data to inform their strategic decisions'.

The first wave of the research found that 42% of women purchased at least one face makeup product in the last 10 months, while 33 million packs of eye makeup were bought; and that whilst 40% of cosmetics shoppers shop online, all but 7% also shop elsewhere. While convenience is important to purchasers of cosmetics products, the firm says the opportunity to 'try-and-buy' continues to remain relevant for most.

Web site: www.kantar.com .