Reliance Retail to foray into salon business by acquiring Naturals: Report

With this, Reliance Retail will directly compete with Hindustan Unilever's Lakme and other brands like Geetanjali

Reliance Retail is looking to make deeper inroads into India. The company is in talks to buy a 49 per cent stake in Naturals Salon & Spa, adding the salon business to its portfolio. With this, as reported in the Economic Times (ET), the company will directly compete with Hindustan Unilever's Lakme and other brands like Geetanjali. 

An executive aware of the matter told ET that the company is in the final stages of acquiring about 49 per cent stake in Groom India Salons & Spa, the parent company of Naturals salon. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, in which the spa business was among the worst hit, the CEO of Grooms India Salon & Spa asked the government for financial aid via social media.

"Salon segment has a lot of potential and Reliance is entering the segment at a right time. Most salons run on a franchise model and this space could see more such strategic acquisitions by bigger organised companies, apart from attracting financial investors," Gaurav Marya, chairman, of Franchise India told ET. 

"The talks are at a nascent stage. Covid impacted every business and salon was probably the worst impacted. But in the last seven months, business has been robust and Covid is not the reason why we are diluting stake," said CK Kumaravel, CEO, of Naturals Salon & Spa, as quoted by ET. 

The company will aim to grow four to five times in the next few years. It has around 700 outlets in India. 

In line with many salon brands that have started their own beauty products business, Reliance Retail will also reportedly start its standalone beauty business.