Gen Z drives India’s beauty boom, half from small cities: Myntra report

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Gen Z allocates a 75% higher share of its wallet to beauty and personal care compared with millennials: Report

By Anupama Ghosh

Updated - October 21, 2026 at 10:07 AM.

Repeat orders from Gen Z customers on Myntra are up approximately 70% this year

Gen Z shoppers are reshaping India’s beauty and personal care market, with the cohort now accounting for 60 per cent of Myntra’s beauty buyers and spending 1.2 times more on the category year-on-year per customer, according to a report released by the fashion and lifestyle platform on Monday.

The report, titled Beauty in the Age of Gen Z, covers platform data, buying behaviour and search trends from August 2025 to August 2026. It found that Gen Z allocates a 75 per cent higher share of its wallet to beauty and personal care, while both generations are growing the category on the platform.

Half of Myntra’s Gen Z beauty shoppers are based in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, which also account for half of the platform’s international beauty demand. Cities including Ludhiana, Patna, Bhopal, Indore, Guwahati, Surat, Varanasi and Imphal are among those driving growth. Baskets in these cities include serums, toners, sunscreens and hair masks alongside everyday staples, indicating established routines rather than one-off purchases.

Sun protection products grew 60 per cent year-on-year among Gen Z shoppers, with searches for spray sunscreens up 80 per cent, ingredient-led sunscreens up 70 per cent and tinted sunscreens up 60 per cent. K-Beauty demand rose 200 per cent year-on-year and search queries for Korean beauty products climbed over 300 per cent. Myntra now stocks over 1,000 SKUs from more than 90 K-Beauty brands. Hair mask demand grew 110 per cent, outpacing conditioners at 59 per cent, and men’s skincare orders rose 78 per cent year-on-year, led by Gen Z.

Minis, smaller-format products, account for 14 per cent of luxury units sold on the platform, with 53 per cent of luxury makeup orders including a mini. Brands such as MAC, Kayali, Smashbox and Salvatore Ferragamo acquire more than half their new customers through the format.

Repeat orders from Gen Z customers on Myntra are up approximately 70 per cent this year. The platform brought in nearly half a million new beauty customers in May 2026 alone. India’s per-capita beauty spend stands at roughly $15, against $38 in China and $383 in the United States, according to estimates from Redseer cited in the report. The overall Indian beauty market is projected to grow from approximately $23 billion to $40 billion.

Published on October 19, 2026

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