Why beauty brands are shifting ad budgets to quick commerce

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TL;DR:

Beauty brands are moving advertising budgets to quick-commerce apps as consumers increasingly discover and buy personal-care products on rapid-delivery platforms. The shift offers measurable conversions, but brands risk higher acquisition costs, thinner margins and growing dependence on platform-controlled visibility.

Article:

Indian beauty and personal care brands are increasing advertising expenditure on quick-commerce platforms as rapid delivery evolves from an emergency-shopping service into a product-discovery channel. The shift matters because brands can now place advertising within minutes of a potential purchase, shortening the distance between consumer attention and checkout.

The spending follows rapid category growth. Research published by a leading Indian management consulting firm says India’s online beauty and personal care market expanded 2.4 times, from about ₹21,000 crore in 2022 to ₹52,000 crore in 2025. Beauty and personal care sales through quick commerce grew roughly 22.5 times during the same period.

“India’s overall online BPC market has scaled 2.4x in three years,” the consultancy said, describing quick commerce as the fastest-scaling channel within that expansion.

For marketers, the attraction is intent. Sponsored search results, homepage placements and platform promotions reach consumers who are already shopping, making campaign performance easier to connect with transactions than broad-reach advertising.

The model also creates a new toll booth. As more brands compete for prominent placement, advertising costs can rise while discounts, platform fees and rapid-fulfilment economics squeeze contribution margins. Smaller labels may struggle to maintain visibility against established companies with larger trade-marketing budgets.

Quick commerce is also unlikely to replace specialist beauty retail. Nykaa chief executive Adwaita Nayar has said much of the immediate-delivery demand is concentrated in personal care rather than considered beauty purchases, even as the company’s beauty business continued to grow.

The decisive metric will therefore be profitable repeat purchasing, not app impressions or gross merchandise value alone. Beauty brands that treat quick commerce as a measured conversion channel may gain share. Those buying permanent visibility without testing margins could find that speed merely delivers the bill sooner.