Why premium pricing remains the biggest branding challenge for homegrown labels

There is a noticeable shift taking place across India's consumer brands. Whether it's beauty, fashion, activewear or food and beverage, the conversation has quietly moved beyond product quality. Most founders and marketers would argue that Indian brands today can make products that stand comfortably alongside the best in the market.

The challenge now is something less tangible and far more difficult to build.

Why do some global brands manage to charge several times more for products that may not be dramatically different in function from our own homegrown brands? Why are consumers happy to spend ₹6,000 on a pair of shorts, ₹3,000 on a lipstick with a foreign tag without questioning the price, while brands with equally capable products often find themselves competing on discounts?

The answer has very little to do with the product alone.

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Premium brands are rarely built on superior ingredients, fabrics or formulations. They are built over years through consistent storytelling, memorable experiences, recognisable identities and communities that consumers genuinely want to be part of. Those are the things that eventually give a brand pricing power.

For many homegrown companies, they have spent decades solving a different set of problems. They built manufacturing capabilities, figured out supply chains, expanded distribution and proved they could make products that met consumer expectations. Now, as those foundations become stronger, the conversation is naturally shifting towards something else: building brands that people don't simply buy because they're good, but because they want to be associated with them.

Ashutosh Valani, Co-Founder of Renée Cosmetics, believes consumers themselves are driving that change. "Today's Indian consumer is far more informed than ever before," he said. "They're looking beyond the logo to evaluate product performance, ingredient quality, innovation, and overall value."

That has opened the door for brands that understand local consumers deeply rather than relying on legacy alone. "Homegrown brands have made remarkable progress by creating products specifically for Indian skin tones, climate, and consumer preferences," Valani said.

That understanding has helped Renée build scale, with the company closing FY26 with an operating revenue of ₹440 crore. But Valani is careful not to reduce premium positioning to product quality alone. "Premium isn't defined by where a brand comes from," he said. "It's defined by the experience it delivers."

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Experience is one of those words marketers use so often that it almost loses meaning. But speak to enough people building brands and a pattern begins to emerge. It isn't packaging alone. It isn't influencer marketing alone. It isn't a flagship store in a premium mall. It's the accumulation of hundreds of decisions made consistently over time. The visual identity that becomes instantly recognisable. The tone of voice consumers associate with the brand. The retail environment. The communities that form around it. The confidence with which a brand keeps telling the same story until consumers begin repeating it themselves.

None of that happens quickly.

Nisha Khatri, Chief Marketing Officer at Libas, sees that playing out in fashion and lifestyle. "Western activewear brands have built premium appeal because they do not sell activewear purely as apparel," she said. "They sell a lifestyle, a community, and a certain global cultural code."

Her point isn't that the products themselves are necessarily better. It's that consumers are buying into something bigger than the garment. Khatri believes Indian brands already have many of the fundamentals in place. "Many homegrown brands have strong product capability, pricing and distribution," she said. What still needs attention is everything that surrounds the product. "Consistent storytelling, distinctive brand codes, community building and a clear point of view."

Designer Ravi Gupta arrives at a similar conclusion. According to him, the premium attached to many established brands is "the result of decades of consistent brand building," not evidence that they make inherently superior products. "Many Indian brands are already offering world-class quality, design, and that careful craftsmanship you can actually feel," he said.

Where the difference still exists, Gupta believes, is in the investment made beyond the product itself. "The difference lies in storytelling, retail experience, community building, and basically consistent brand communication every season."

What's interesting is that people across beauty, fashion and design are all describing the same shift. Nobody points to manufacturing as the problem. Nobody says Indian companies lack design capability or product innovation. Instead, they keep returning to the slower work of building familiarity and meaning around a brand.

That also explains why simply raising prices rarely works. Consumers don't pay more because a company decides to reposition itself. They pay more when they believe they're getting something beyond the product. Sometimes that's status. Sometimes it's community. Sometimes it's trust. Often it's a combination of all three.

"The opportunity is not missing. What needs to evolve is brand-building ambition," said Khatri.

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Food and beverage perhaps offers the clearest example that consumers are already willing to pay for experiences they value. A marketing executive at a leading international coffeehouse chain, speaking off the record, said: "In India, consumers are willing to pay a premium if it's tied to the overall experience. We've seen that particularly in the food and beverage industry, especially since the pandemic."

That willingness to spend says something important. Consumers are no longer evaluating purchases only through functionality or price. Increasingly, they're buying into brands that make them feel something!

This is not to conclude that every Indian company needs to chase premium positioning. Many brands will continue to thrive by offering value and accessibility. But for those aiming to command higher prices and build enduring consumer franchises, the playbook is becoming clearer.

As Khatri puts it, the opportunity is "not just making activewear in India, but making Indian activewear desirable." Well, this thought extends well beyond activewear. Indian brands have shown that they can build products consumers trust. The next stage is building brands that don't just solve a problem, but create desire!