L’Oréal is sharpening its India playbook around quick commerce, locally produced content and dermatological skincare, as the French beauty major reported 7.7% like-for-like sales growth in the September quarter.
India gets a local execution reset
On L’Oréal’s third-quarter 2026 earnings call, chief executive Nicolas Hieronimus said India was performing well, supported by stronger local teams, more India-specific content and an accelerated push into e-commerce.
“We create for India much more than we did before,” Hieronimus said, adding that quick commerce is now an important part of India’s e-commerce market.
The comments sit within a broader SAPMENA strategy. The region became one of L’Oréal’s biggest growth contributors in the quarter, with the beauty market growing at a double-digit rate and the company gaining share across countries and divisions.
CeraVe and La Roche-Posay widen the skincare net
L’Oréal is also expanding its dermatological beauty portfolio in India. CeraVe is entering new cities from a small base, while higher-priced La Roche-Posay has been launched in the country. The two brands give L’Oréal distinct positions at different price points.
“India is one of the countries where CeraVe is still a baby brand, but growing fast and expanding to new cities,” Hieronimus said.
Dermatological beauty is growing at close to 10% globally, according to the company, and L’Oréal’s Dermatological Beauty division is growing at about 1.5 times the market in sell-out. La Roche-Posay, CeraVe and SkinCeuticals are each growing at double-digit rates.
Local content and commerce become levers
Hieronimus pointed to Indonesia as an example of how localised content can blunt competition from independent beauty brands on TikTok. L’Oréal restructured its content production there to become more competitive on social platforms and accelerated growth.
AI is increasingly doing the heavy lifting: the company uses its Beta IQ tool to support media allocation, generate multiple content variations for different social networks and improve advertising efficiency.
For marketers, three moves stand out:
- Localise deliberately: create market-specific assets rather than repurposing global cut-downs.
- Treat quick commerce as a discovery and distribution channel, not just a fulfilment option.
- Use dual-brand pricing: pair an accessible skincare brand with a premium one to cover more consumers without blurring positioning.
Why it matters
The India comments signal that beauty discovery and purchase journeys are shifting toward fast delivery apps and feed-driven content, especially in mobile-first markets. For marketing teams, the task is to align content, media and distribution around the platforms where trial and repeat purchase happen fastest.
L’Oréal expects the global beauty market to grow about 5% in the fourth quarter, and says it will outperform, albeit at a more moderate pace than in Q3. It is also investing in product launches, advertising and consumer engagement for the year-end selling season.
Source: Storyboard18
