Amazon Looks To Brazil To Expand Its Hold On Beauty

Grupo Boticário and Natura Cosmeticos — two rising brands in Brazilian beauty — are both being heavily recruited by Amazon to sell via its Brazil platform, according to recently sourced reports in Reuters. The move represents an early play by Amazon on the world’s fourth-largest market for beauty products.

As of 2018, Brazilians spend roughly $30 billion a year on make-up, hair treatments and other wellness and self-care products. The only nations that see more beauty sales are the U.S., China and Japan.

It is one of many recent plays by Amazon to consolidate and expand its gains in South America. Amazon has already been online for books and video streaming, but in what has been called a flip of its usual script, it s moving in on beauty almost a year later. Amazon usually moves on things like electronics and toys in a market, before going after areas like health, wellness and beauty.

When asked about the expansion, Amazon told Reuters that, in the last half decade, it has “held hundreds of meetings with potential sellers and suppliers about its Brazil business and possible future plans,” adding that the company would not “speculate about future plans.”

Natura and Boticario did not respond to requests for comment.

Overall, eCommerce has not ignited explosively among beauty sellers in Brazil, which have tread cautiously around the segment for fear of cannibalizing their profit margins in their traditional sales channels. However, sources cite having knowledge of the brand’s thinking confirmed to Reuters, that Natura had, in fact, taken meetings with Amazon as recently as last week, but was still considering its options.

Privately-held Boticário is rumored to be considering selling non-proprietary products via Amazon platforms in Brazil, such as make-up from Revlon, said one of the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations.

The person said talks between the companies are still very early, having begun “quite recently.” They also noted that Boticário was not looking to sell proprietary brands on Amazon platforms “for now.”