MAM
Ex-Marico’s Konark Gaur joins D2C brand Pilgrim as CMO
Mumbai: Pilgrim, one of India’s fastest-growing D2C personal care brands, has onboarded Konark Gaur as chief marketing officer. In his new role, Gaur will spearhead marketing and commercial strategies to unlock the next phase of growth for the company.
Gaur, who comes in from Marico, brings with him almost two decades of experience in effectively building successful businesses in India and global markets. His expertise in scaling up businesses from the ground up will bolster Pilgrim’s journey to be a strong player in the personal care space.
Gaur’s striding career spans over 18 years having built strategy and innovation for leading Indian and global consumer brands for blue chip FMCG companies. Prior to increasing the food footprint of Marico as their business head, he worked with Sebamed as the chief marketing officer and led the brand to achieve 3X growth in a short span of time. In his expansive career, he has also worked with Nestle & General Mills leading business strategy, innovation and go-to-market execution. Additionally, he co-founded Jazz up Salon, a leading professional salon chain and hijinny.com, an internet start-up.
With Pilgrim eyeing 3x the current run rate in 2023, Gaur will closely lead the marketing efforts in introducing new categories in the beauty and personal care ranges. He will also be focusing on building a multidisciplinary team and plans to hire critical positions in the next 2 quarters.
Commenting on this development, Pilgrim co-founder and CEO Anurag Kedia said, “We are thrilled to have Gaur on board, whose expertise and proven success in building leading brands makes him the ideal partner to channel our business goals into a robust marketing strategy. 2023 will be a crucial year in our growth journey and with Gaur at the helm of our consumer-insight-driven marketing strategy, we are geared up to build a credible brand in the personal care industry.”
On his appointment, Gaur said, “Pilgrim is committed to providing Beauty Secrets from around the world to Indian consumers in an accessible way. Kedia and Gagandeep have built a truly differentiated brand and a relevant idea that meets the unmet desire of millennials to experience global beauty offerings affordably, at their doorstep. Pilgrim is curating and innovating “native” global experiences and not merely importing global ingredients. This is what excites me the most about the company, the founders and their vision. At this crucial juncture, I aim to scale awareness and growth across multiple channels that can help fast-track Pilgrim’s journey to being the most preferred and loved brand in the beauty and personal care industry.”
Pilgrim further aims to accelerate its momentum this year. In 2022, the brand onboarded Kalki Koechlin as the brand ambassador for their France-based Vinotherapie range. Furthermore, they entered two new categories in the personal care range—lip care and body care and have introduced three new international ranges from Spain, Australia, and the Amazon Rain Forest. The brand also plans to go on a hiring spree for positions in the first half of the year, amidst major layoff announcements in the startup ecosystem.
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
