Inika Organic launched its makeup into four countries last year but nonetheless recorded its strongest sales growth in its home market.
Speaking at Inika’s annual sales conference, Inika global brand manager Celia Trevisani said the brand’s sales grew by 20 percent across Australia and New Zealand from 2017 to 2018 primarily due to the salon and spa market which saw “a 70 percent increase in new stockists”.
Although the 20 percent growth is less than half the phenomenal 42 percent growth recorded by the brand from 2016 to 2017, Trevisani said the company was particularly happy with the result as “it was a strong performance when compared with the overall Australian cosmetics market growth figures.
Key drivers for the growth were “technical and formula innovation across new products” such as the Inika Organic Long Lash Vegan Mascara “100 percent natural, professional quality mascara) and brand awareness activities such as New York Fashion Week where the brand created makeup looks for two designers.
Trevisani said the company had its “sights set on driving awareness and demand directly with the consumer” further in 2019.
“We want consumers to know Inika Organic and to go searching for it to try and purchase with our salon and spa partners.
“We have a great consumer base around our foundation and mineral powders so this year we will be creating content and education to inspire our consumers to trial additional products in our colour categories.”
Internationally, the brand, which is currently stocked in 32 countries including the US, France, Italy and South Africa, will continue its “next steps towards world domination”.
“There was an explosion in demand [for Inika] in Asia during 2018,” said Trevisani.
The brand launched into Singapore in July, Taiwan in October and Hong Kong in November and is now planning to launch in India with its “warm weather formulas”.
The team also launched into Canada with “fantastic results” in October and saw “strong growth in accounts across the US and “fantastic growth in both new door count and account sell-through” in the US.