Brands
Sotrue partners Swiggy Instamart to expand beauty delivery across India
Quick commerce tie up aims to bring skincare and makeup to users faster
MUMBAI: Sotrue has partnered with Swiggy Instamart to expand the availability of its beauty and skincare products across India, strengthening the brand’s omnichannel retail strategy.
Through the partnership, Sotrue products will be accessible to millions of Instamart users seeking quick and convenient delivery of everyday essentials, including last minute makeup buys, skincare refills and impulse beauty purchases.
The collaboration gives Sotrue access to Instamart’s wide network across major metropolitan centres and emerging tier one markets. This reach allows the brand to connect directly with urban, digitally savvy consumers who are increasingly turning to quick commerce platforms for speed and convenience.
For Sotrue, the move also complements its existing direct to consumer and marketplace presence. The brand expects improved visibility through in app discovery, search results and category browsing on Instamart’s platform.
Sotrue founder Gautam Khosla, said the partnership marks an important step in expanding the brand’s footprint. “We are excited to launch Sotrue on Instamart. Speed, convenience and reliability are critical for today’s beauty buyer, and quick commerce is becoming a key part of that experience. Instamart allows us to deliver beauty solutions to consumers exactly when they need them,” he said.
Beyond wider reach, the partnership is also expected to drive more frequent purchases among quick commerce shoppers. Faster access to products could encourage higher trial rates for new launches, shorter repurchase cycles and larger basket sizes.
Instamart’s network of dark stores also allows the brand to reach residential clusters and urban neighbourhoods rapidly, reducing the logistical hurdles typically associated with expanding through traditional retail.
The beauty category has been gaining traction on quick commerce platforms as consumer buying habits evolve. Impulse purchases, social media driven discovery and experimental shopping are increasingly shaping how customers explore skincare and cosmetics online.
Positioned as an affordable premium brand with a focus on ingredient transparency and dermatologist inspired formulations, Sotrue aims to strengthen its presence in the quick commerce ecosystem while making high quality beauty products easier to access for consumers across India.
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.
