The Columbus, Ohio-based retailer is pivoting to a “consumer-first formulation” technique centred round upgraded formulations, extra disciplined advertising and marketing and fewer promotions.
The reset issues as India is rising as one of many firm’s fastest-growing and best-performing markets and can be changing into a testing floor for a way the model evolves its retail mannequin. India now ranks amongst Tub & Physique Works’ high 5 worldwide markets by development.
“We’re seeing sturdy engagement throughout shops (in India), digital marketplaces and even fast commerce, which supplies us confidence as we evolve the model and introduce extra innovation,” stated Tony Garrison, international vice chairman at Tub & Physique Works, in an interview with Mint.
The perfume maker entered India in 2018 in partnership with Dubai-based Attire Group and has since expanded to about 50 shops throughout main metros, whereas additionally constructing an internet presence by way of platforms equivalent to Nykaa, Myntra and Amazon.
Attire Group brings over 80 international manufacturers to India, together with Victoria’s Secret, Charles & Keith, Aldo, Crocs, Tim Hortons.
“We’re studying loads from how the Indian client retailers throughout platforms, particularly the velocity and comfort expectations,” he stated. “It’s serving to us assume in a different way about assortment, pack sizes and the way we present up digitally.”
Whilst discretionary spending softened, the model’s franchise associate, Attire Group, delivered double-digit gross sales development in India and excessive single-digit comparable-store beneficial properties in FY25. It reported a 26% year-on-year leap in FY25 income to ₹1,118 crore and a web revenue of ₹20.5 crore, reversing a loss within the earlier 12 months.
Globally, Tub & Physique Works’ earnings mirror a gentle client demand in addition to margin pressures. Its income declined 1% to $1.59 billion within the third quarter of FY25, whereas web earnings fell 27% year-on-year to $77 million. The corporate has three markets in income contribution – US, Canada and Worldwide.
Reviving the perfume engine
Whereas legacy scents equivalent to Japanese Cherry Blossom, Champagne Toast and Thousand Needs stay international blockbusters, the corporate admits it hasn’t produced sufficient new hits at an identical scale lately.
“Japanese Cherry Blossom is a $250 million perfume,” Garrison stated. “I believe we haven’t achieved one of the best job of maintaining with a number of the perfume tendencies. We haven’t achieved loads of innovation, and that’s what you’re going to see this 12 months. This can be a massive change 12 months for us.”
The corporate plans to raise its home-fragrance portfolio, bringing in additional premium candle collections, gift-ready packaging and deeper, extra subtle scent profiles.
The broader purpose is to encourage buyers to commerce up inside the model fairly than look ahead to markdowns. “We would like prospects to see the worth within the product itself, the perfume high quality, the substances, the expertise, not simply the promotion,” Garrison stated.
Tub & Physique Works additionally plans to introduce upgraded body-care traces in India, with a stronger give attention to substances and dermatology-led claims.
New retail codecs
India can be getting used as a take a look at marketplace for new retail codecs. Later this 12 months, the corporate and Attire Group plan to pilot a brand new, smaller “neighbourhood retailer” format of roughly 500 sq. ft in choose non-metro markets.
These shops will focus closely on core body-care traces and hero fragrances, whereas making a extra discovery-led setting for first-time buyers. If profitable, the format may inform retailer methods in different components of the world.
India can be rising as a key market in testing how far that premiumisation can go. Regardless of broader warning in discretionary spending, Garrison stated the corporate has not seen a slowdown regionally.
“India has really been one in all our strongest markets within the post-Covid interval,” he stated. “Even when customers are cautious, they nonetheless spend on small luxuries that make them really feel good.” That dynamic positions Tub & Physique Works squarely within the “inexpensive indulgence” candy spot, usually benefiting when buyers reduce from higher-priced magnificence or luxurious purchases.
Macroeconomic and coverage components may additional help the enterprise, he added. A stronger rupee helps franchise associate Attire Group handle import prices extra successfully, whereas a possible commerce settlement between India and key international markets may ease regulatory processes and velocity up shipments. Quicker imports translate into higher stock turns and more energizing product on cabinets, a crucial benefit in a class pushed by novelty and seasonal drops.
What specialists say
Retail specialists warning that Tub & Physique Works’ reset in India received’t be with out challenges, particularly after years of promotion-led development.
“It’s a self-inflicted wound,” stated Devangshu Dutta, founding father of Third Eyesight, a consulting agency. “Manufacturers pitch excessive, and when volumes don’t come by way of, they inevitably fall again on discounting. Indian prospects can look ahead to costs to be proper, which ends up in a really massive variety of gross sales occurring on the finish of the season.”
Dutta stated that the non-public care market has turn into intensely crowded, with a “humongous quantity of product variety”, making model readability crucial.
“If you happen to’re not clear about what you might be as a model, you simply turn into one other model or a commodity,” Dutta stated, noting that Indian customers at the moment are much more conscious of worldwide worth propositions.
Whereas Tub & Physique Works is leaning into fast commerce and smaller neighbourhood shops, Dutta cautioned that premium manufacturers nonetheless want bigger codecs to construct experience-led differentiation. “Fast commerce is a really curious setting. Prospects are in a searching for mode, not a looking mode, so model discovery is a big problem,” he stated. “Neighbourhood shops could be spokes, however you continue to want the hub -the massive retailer to speak the model expertise.
Key Takeaways
- Tub & Physique Works is shifting to a ‘consumer-first formulation’ to reinforce model engagement.
- The reset issues as India is rising as one of many firm’s fastest-growing and best-performing markets
- Regardless of competitors, India presents a robust development alternative for Tub & Physique Works, pushed by client demand for inexpensive luxurious.
- A stronger rupee helps franchise associate Attire Group handle import prices extra successfully
Race intensifies
The turnaround plan comes at a time when Tub & Physique Works rivals, together with The Physique Store and Forest Necessities, are additionally bracing to get a share of the Indian client’s pockets.
The Physique Store, plans to attain ₹1,100 crore in income in India inside the subsequent three to 5 years, buoyed by the strategic backing of Auréa Group, which acquired the model final 12 months.
India’s perfume market was valued at $1.0 billion in 2024 and is claimed to develop at a 13.9% CAGR to $3.23 billion by 2033, based on market analysis agency IIMARC Group.
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