Kiko Milano is hardly a new, viral, or digital-first brand. Walk into one of its flagship stores and you’ll barely be able to move. Born in 1997, the brand has now grown into a global beauty powerhouse with more than 1,400 stores across 75 countries. With revenues surpassing $1 billion in 2025 and double-digit growth projected for 2026 and beyond, the Italian brand is entering its next phase of global expansion, with India becoming an increasingly important part of that story.
In 2024, Reliance Retail bought Kiko Milano’s existing India business. The retailer now has 11 exclusive brand outlets in the country, including its most recently opened flagship at Jio World Drive, Mumbai’s premier retail and luxury hub. Alongside its digital presence on Tira, Reliance’s beauty platform, Kiko currently has 19 points of sale across Mumbai, Delhi/NCR, Pune, Lucknow, Kochi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Bengaluru.
Ahead of the flagship launch at Jio World Drive, BeautyMatter spoke with CEO Simone Dominici. In this exclusive interview, Dominici shares why India is emerging as such an important market for the Italian brand, and how supply chain optimization, localization, and a razor-sharp focus on understanding its customers have helped build its competitive edge.
“International expansion has always been part of our story, but our approach is not simply about adding stores. We look for markets where the consumer, the beauty culture, and the retail environment gives us the opportunity to build a meaningful business over the long term, and India has all three,” said Dominici.
According to Dominici, India has an extraordinary relationship with color cosmetics and self-expression, and Kiko's philosophy has always been about giving consumers the freedom to experiment with beauty. This is strengthened further by a consumer who is increasingly knowledgeable, digitally connected, and willing to experiment. “India is a market where we see considerable long-term potential, and our partnership with Reliance Retail gives us the foundation to approach that opportunity with the right combination of global brand strength and local market expertise,” he said.
While the new flagship store marks a milestone in the partnership with Reliance Retail, Kiko already had a well-established business in India before the partnership began in 2024. The decision therefore wasn’t just about entering the market; it was about making India a more important market for the brand, allowing it to reach its true potential. However, doing so required scale, retail capability, and a strong understanding of the evolving Indian consumer. “They understand how India shops, how retail is developing across different cities and formats, and through Tira they have built an ecosystem specifically around beauty," he added.
Although Kiko brought the brand, product experience, and international retail model to the table, what was missing to scale was local knowledge, infrastructure, and reach. Dominici believes that in a market as large and diverse as India, partnering with Reliance allows Kiko to build reach without treating every consumer or city exactly the same way.
Every brand knows that adapting to a market is integral to resonating with consumers. For many, partnering with a local influencer or translating marketing campaigns into the local language is enough, but for Kiko, localization goes deeper. While bestselling global icons like the 3D Hydra Lipgloss, Water Eyeshadow, and Unlimited Double Touch are some of their most recognizable products, understanding how they perform alongside local preferences is central to the brand’s strategy in India. By not prescribing one single definition of beauty, and with more than 1,200 products globally, the brand’s strength lies in giving consumers choice and allowing them to build their own unique relationship with the brand.
“There is a confidence, curiosity, and boldness emerging in the Indian beauty consumer that I find particularly interesting. Consumers are more informed, they have access to global beauty conversations in real time, and they are increasingly comfortable experimenting with color, texture, and different formats,” said Dominici. This aligns particularly well with Kiko’s emphasis on experimentation. For the brand, true localization means understanding which products, shades, categories, and formats from its global portfolio are most relevant to Indian consumers. This flexibility and ability to understand how global icons perform alongside local tastes in a particular market drives assortment decisions and helps the brand more accurately match supply with demand.
"The identity of Kiko Milano remains consistent globally, but that does not mean every market should have an identical assortment; local relevance begins with understanding what consumers actually want,” he added. This commitment to localization has also expanded beyond their bestselling assortment into collections such as the new limited-edition Sparkle Stories Diwali, which brings together Kiko Milano icons curated specifically for the important Indian festival, with packaging inspired by patterns found in Indian architecture. “For us, the right approach is to retain the strength and integrity of a global brand while finding meaningful ways to speak to the consumer locally,” Dominici added.
Localization, however, can only take a brand so far. At the end of the day, the ability to deliver high-quality products at prices that feel justified and accessible is what truly gives a brand a competitive edge and helps build brand loyalty. For Kiko, this goes back to its supply chain, where a super-tight operation combined with proximity to suppliers and vendors allows them to deliver on price in a crowded market.
“All our products are designed in Milan, and almost all of them are produced in Europe to the highest quality standards. Keeping design and production close allows us to combine the quality of prestige with the speed of mass,” said Dominici. This geographically optimized supply chain allows Kiko to capture trends and bring them to consumers quickly, at an accessible price, but with premium quality. Additionally, the brand’s “unified e-commerce platform” has integrated stores, e-commerce, delivery, and stock management in one system. “We combine creativity with performance and choice with accessibility,” he said.
While the Indian and global beauty market seems to be getting more flooded with new, innovative brands every day, Dominici believes that competition is healthy because it raises expectations. Particularly in a market like India, where the Indian beauty consumer has an extraordinary amount of choice, the answer is not to try to be everything to everyone, but, instead, to be very clear about what your brand stands for.
“We are building for the long term. As our footprint expands, our priority is to strengthen the foundations of the brand in India by making it more accessible, expanding the ways consumers can discover us, and ensuring that the experience remains consistent as we grow, especially with our partnership with Reliance Retail,” said Dominici. From a distribution perspective, Kiko has hopes of nearly doubling its current points of sale by the end of 2026, through a mix of standalone stores and Tira shop-in-shops, alongside a growing e-commerce presence. But beyond numbers, the goal is to make the brand a natural part of how Indian consumers express themselves through beauty.
