FirstClub, a quality-focused consumer app, is entering beauty and personal care after nearly 18 months of building a grocery business around ingredient transparency. The company, which has banned more than 200 ingredients from packaged foods, including artificial colours, preservatives and palm oil, is extending its approach to the new category under its “Filtered for Good” label. The move aims to help shoppers navigate ingredient lists and product claims.
FirstClub, which began with quality-focused groceries, has since expanded into pet care and home and kitchen products. Its entry into beauty and personal care follows a consumer poll asking shoppers what the platform should address next, with the category receiving the most votes.
Over the past year, FirstClub has developed an ingredient-first framework for shampoos, cleansers, moisturisers and sunscreens. The company assesses ingredients against global benchmarks, including the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database, EU regulations and Indian standards. Its proprietary framework also sets category-specific requirements, including pH testing for every cleanser, in vivo testing for sunscreens and a ban on mineral oil in hair oils. FirstClub also applies a customer-rating threshold, listing only products rated at least four stars. For instance, it has shortlisted a select group from the roughly 500 moisturiser brands in India.
“While the industry focuses on offering more choices, we believe in offering better ones,” said Ayyappan R, founder and CEO of FirstClub. “At FirstClub, curation and quality have always come before catalogue size. It’s not your job to figure out what goes into your products; it’s our job at FirstClub.”
FirstClub’s beauty and personal care range launches with more than 80 brands across skincare, haircare, body care and personal care, with products priced between ₹300 and ₹3,500. It includes FirstClub exclusives such as Chosen by Dermatology, Flout and LNGVTY, alongside labels such as The Bare Bar, &Done, Sereko and Manetain.
FirstClub’s beauty product pages offer full ingredient disclosure in plain language, explaining what each ingredient does. They also highlight hero ingredients, the skin concerns a product addresses, suitable skin types and customer reviews, helping shoppers assess products without looking elsewhere. For instance, a moisturiser’s page can show its suitability for dry skin, vitamin B5 as a key ingredient and customer feedback.
The experience extends beyond product discovery. FirstClub will offer a Samples Selector. This allows customers to try products before buying full-size products. Its “Complete the Regime” feature recommends complementary products to help shoppers build a full skincare routine.