Brands
Britannia Marie Gold chooses ‘an act over an ad’ with HerStore on International Women’s Day
Mumbai: Britannia Marie Gold, one of India’s leading biscuit brands today launched HerStore, a unique digital ecosystem for women entrepreneurs honoring its commitment from 2023 of #LetsKeepGoing to celebrate women every day. With HerStore, it is furthering its commitment to empower women entrepreneurs with constant support throughout their journey.
The tagline “Saath Judo, Saath Udo” captures the essence of the brand’s commitment to cultivating a supportive digital ecosystem where women entrepreneurs stand united, and uplift each other, so that they can do more and be more.
HerStore, powered by Britannia Marie Gold has taken the initiative towards its commitment with the launch of a unique marketplace which lists both products and services – all owned by women. The platform will also soon offer a comprehensive suite of training, workshops, and upskilling videos tailored to equip women entrepreneurs with the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in a dynamic market landscape. This will be complemented by a community to enable knowledge-sharing and mentoring among women entrepreneurs. The platform will also further fuel aspiring womenpreneurs with seamless access to Britannia Marie Gold Mystartup Contest Season 5.
HerStore is built on learning from four immensely successful chapters of the Britannia Marie Gold Mystartup programme. The programme was initiated in 2019 to enable women to overcome barriers concerning finance and upskilling required to embark on their entrepreneurial journeys. Thus far, MyStartup Contest has provided seed funding of Rs. 10 lakhs each for over 50 entrepreneurs and equipped 50k+ women with the skills to start their businesses. More than 25 of the winners now have thriving businesses, and already over 10 winners have been onboarded on HerStore.
The strategic design of HerStore with the proposition of ‘Shop | Be Inspired | Sell,’ is aimed at democratising an end-to-end ecosystem for women business owners. HerStore is a unique platform to list both products and services for Indian consumers at no additional cost to sellers and a zero-perc ent commission model. The platform will soon be available in several Indian languages such as Hindi, Kannada, Bengali, Tamil and many more. Currently, over 50 businesses have already been listed on the HerStore marketplace.
Commenting on the launch, Britannia Industries chief marketing officer Amit Doshi said, “At Britannia Marie Gold, our unwavering commitment lies in empowering women entrepreneurs and nurturing their growth. This year, we decided to solidify our commitment by choosing not to do a brand advertisement, but by launching a digital ecosystem which will truly empower women – every single day of the year.
With the launch of the marketplace as the first step, we are hopeful that the ease of managing a business on HerStore along with the extensive Britannia Marie Gold community in India will truly democratise the ecosystem for women entrepreneurs.”
HerStore is conceptualised by MullenLowe Lintas group and the digital ecosystem has been built by Hash Connect.
Subramanyeswar S. (Subbu), Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group & Chief Strategy Officer – APAC, MullenLowe Global exclaimed, “Britannia Marie Gold has a strong emotional resonance among its audience – the Homemakers or as the brand believes them to be – Everyday Athletes. Led by an inspiring purpose to make them “Do more. Be more”, the new idea “HerStore” is a movement to empower and support womenpreneurs. ‘HerStore’ is also special to us as it’s the very first initiative from Lowe Lintas DX, our digital creative unit set up in collaboration with Meta. Their offering of advanced strategic and creative services, specifically designed for long-term brand building in the digital domain, was a perfect fit for this particular drive from Britannia.
I do not doubt that ‘HerStore’ will help revolutionize the digital landscape on the web. It embodies the spirit of the brand to enable entrepreneurship and drive meaningful change in the lives of the Everyday Athlete!”
Hash Connect chief strategy officer Vinod Kumar emphasised the project’s unique challenges. “Creating HerStore posed distinct challenges – our goal was to build a robust technology platform empowering women entrepreneurs as sellers. Simultaneously, we aimed to ensure a simple yet sophisticated user experience. Another element of uniqueness is that HerStore caters to not just e-commerce businesses with products, but services and local businesses as well. Leveraging our e-commerce knowledge and insights into Indian consumer behaviour, we’ve built a platform promising an excellent experience for sellers, buyers, and the brand.”
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.
