How India Shops For Beauty & Wellness

New Delhi [India], October 28: India’s beauty and wellness shoppers discover products on social media but buy on trust. Built on the voices of 7,783 verified Indian consumers across metros and Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, and deepened by one-on-one interviews, Hercules’ new outlook shows what drives their choices: authenticity over speed, performance over prestige, and sleep as the new health goal. Click to Download the Full Report Free.

01 · Trust

Indians discover beauty on social media, but buy on trust

Young shoppers find skincare on social media but rarely buy because of it. 40% of Gen Z skincare buyers look to Instagram creators first for a new skin concern, yet only 8% bought their last product because they saw it there; 44% bought on brand reputation and 36% on a dermatologist’s advice (100 buyers, an early signal). In fragrance, only 2.3% choose on the brand name, while 42.7% choose by the scent itself (1,500 users). Every shopper we interviewed checked reviews from real buyers before buying.

02 · Authenticity

Fast isn’t enough: Indians want proof their 5-minute beauty order is genuine

Need is not the problem: 80.9% of 3,000 quick-commerce shoppers need a beauty essential or grocery item urgently at least once a week. But 55.5% say genuine products matter most in a 5-minute delivery service, twice the share of those who pick speed (27.8%). Two in three (66.0%) would use such a service if it launched tomorrow, led by 25–35-year-olds, and only 4.2% would cancel if their exact shade were out of stock.

03 · Wellness

Sleep, not six-packs: India’s wellness goal shifts to rest

Better sleep is now the health goal urban Indians pick most for the year ahead (14.3%), ahead of building strength (12.1%) and losing weight (10.7%), according to a survey of 2,268 urban adults. Most are beginners –59.3% started their wellness journey less than a year ago -and 91.8% say an important health need is still unmet. When choosing products, safe and trusted ingredients (22.7%) edge out proven results (21.5%) and price (20.9%).

04 · Skincare

Hide the logo and most Indian shoppers can’t tell skincare brands apart

In a blind test with 265 skincare shoppers, the average person named fewer than two of five popular brands from their packs alone (1.8 of 5). Only The Derma Co (51%) and Minimalist (48%) were recognised by about half, even though all five packs scored the same on appeal. Routines also break after purchase: only 37.5% of 200 daily sunscreen users re-apply as recommended, and 64.5% dislike the white cast.

How we did the research

We asked 7,783 people across India who regularly buy these products through online surveys on the SuperJ app in 2026. Each number comes from one survey, and we show how many people answered it. We also spoke to shoppers one-on-one to understand the “why”. Surveys of 100 people are early signals, not final answers. Full report free at Hercules

https://hercules.works/ – Hercules is an Agentic Consumer Intelligence platform connected to 2 crore Verified Indian Consumers.

Full Report Link – https://hercules.works/send-me-report

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