Tag: #HUL

Deodorant market in India

When we think about personal care products, the image of a woman comes into our minds immediately. However, in the deodorant segment in India, men have overtaken the women with a significant lead. In fact, of the Rs 1,400-crore deodorant market, the male segment contributes Rs 1,000 crores, pegging the male to female ratio at 70:30. Greater usage of deodorants among Indians can be attributed to greater awareness of hygienic practices and affluence. Deodorants are used by both men and women in the middle and upper classes and with greater disposable income in these families, more and more people are able to afford personal care products that are not considered a necessity.

Hindustan Unilever is the market leader in deodorants, with 31.5% market share. Its flagship product, Axe, is highly sought after by both middle and upper classes. Other brands under Hindustan Unilever are Rexona and Dove, whose deodorants are popular in the Indian market too. After Hindustan Lever, Marico Co Ltd. and McNroe Chemicals are the biggest industry players in the deodorant segment. Hindustan Unilever’s Axe is the leading product in this segment, garnering 25% of the market value, followed by Marico’s  Set Wet, with 10% market value, and McNroe Chemicals’ Wild Stone garnering 9% market value.    

Deodorants come in various forms, including roll-ons, sticks, and sprays. There are a number of deodorants for males but there are very few deodorants for females. This is because deodorants and antiperspirants have recently been introduced to the Indian market. For decades, the Indian market has been relying on perfumes to enhance the scent of the body. And as such, females in the country continue to use perfumes instead of deodorants and antiperspirants. Also, deodorants are used by those who are constantly outdoors, and this is dominated by males. It is only in the last few decades that there has been an increase in the number of Indian women spending ample amount of time outdoors, which is why the deodorant market for females is still in the infant stage. Some of the deodorant brands that cater to the females are Nike, Fa, Dove, and Nivea. Experts predict that the deodorant industry will grow in the next few years. In fact, the deodorant market is projected to grow at 25% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) over the next five years. As net household income increases and with more disposable income, there is ample scope for the growth of the deodorant market in India.  

An increase in the usage of deodorants can also be attributed to the Indian climate, which is hot humid, especially between the months of March and September, forcing consumers to purchase antiperspirants and deodorants to keep their bodies fresh and cool. Deodorants were introduced to the market to help people eliminate body odour. However, some of these products contain toxic chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic in nature, which can be harmful to one’s body. Not many consumers are aware of the dangers of prolonged usage of deodorants; however, manufacturers are constantly experimenting with the ingredients in deodorants to ensure minimal risk to consumers. 

India perfumes and deodorants market stood at over $ 970 million in 2019 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 13%, to surpass $ 2 billion by 2025 on the back of rapid urbanization and emergence of online retail channel. Moreover, perfumes and deodorants manufacturers are offering a wide variety of innovative products such pocket perfumes, herbal perfumes, etc., which is further stimulating market demand across India.

Additionally, manufacturers are focusing on innovative branding and marketing of products, which is further anticipated to aid the growth of India perfumes and deodorants market in the coming years. Some of the leading players in India perfumes and deodorants market are Vini Cosmetics Private Limited, ITC Limited, Nivea India Private Limited, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Emami Limited, J.K Helene Curtis Limited, McNroe Consumer Products Private Limited, Godrej Consumer Products Limited, Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting and Marico Limited.

Pocket-sized deodorants launched by brands such as Engage, Axe, Set Wet and Yardley continued to gain traction in 2019 leading to the entry of more industry players seeking to benefit from the popularity of these products. These included Marico’s Set Wet and Wipro’s Santoor brands. The Fogg brand by Vini Cosmetics led the overall category in 2019 and benefited from the strongest brand recall. The company continued to see success with this brand due to its strong value proposition.

Sales of deodorants are now expected to grow by 3% in 2020 in 2019 constant value terms in light of the impact of COVID-19. This compares to an expected 5% rise forecast for 2020 during research conducted at the end of 2019 before the spread of COVID-19. In light of the economic uncertainty caused by the global pandemic, consumers are set to reduce their spending on deodorants in 2020, with many opting for lower-priced products. Deodorant pumps, deodorant roll-ons and deodorant sprays are set to suffer from lower physical activity during lockdown while replacement demand could normalise by the end of the year.

Demand for deodorants is likely to normalise to some extent by the end of 2020 although the category will continue to be impacted by ongoing economic uncertainty and fears over a second wave of COVID-19. Price sensitivity will make consumers more cautious in their spending, with sales of deodorants likely to be limited to replacement purchases rather than products for stock at home.

Indian Detergent Market

The detergent market in India is divided into three segments – premium, mid-range, and popular. The premium segment comprises Ariel and Surf; the mid-range segment comprises Tide, Henko, and Rin; and the popular segment comprises Mr White, Wheel, Nirma and Ghari. The market share of the detergents in the premium segment is 15%, and that of the mid-range and popular are 40% and 45% respectively. These detergent brands are considered organized players in the industry and comprise 60% of the total market. The remaining 40% of the market is saturated with regional and small unorganized players. Reports show that India’s per capital consumption of detergent stands at 2.7kg – the lowest in the world.  

Before 1985, Hindustan Unilever’s Surf held the number one position in the detergent market in India. However, when Nirma Chemicals launched a detergent brand called Nirma, catering to the middle and lower middle class customers, Surf was evicted from its number one position. Soon, HLL realized that there were fragments of the market which were untouched by major detergent players in India and it came up with two low-priced detergents called Wheel and Rin to cater to the lower middle class group.  When Hindustan Lever, HLL, and Nirma Chemicals began increasing their market share, Rohit Surfactants, yet another player, launched a detergent brand called Ghari for rural customers, and middle and lower middle class customers.

Today, Ghari is the market leader in the detergent industry, with a market share of 17.3% and Wheel is tagging behind closely at 16.9%. Tide is at present at the third position with a market share of 13.5% and Nirma has less than 6% market share. Ghari has always maintained affordable pricing, which is why it has managed to become a household name in India. To increase its customer base, Rohit Surfactants has spread its distribution network for Ghari detergent to more states in India. In fact, in the last three years, the company has increased its reach to 10 more states and it sells Garhi detergent through more than 3,500 dealers.   

The detergent industry is worth Rs 13,000 crores and industry players are constantly improving their products to suit the changing needs of consumers. A few years back, liquid detergents were almost unheard of; however, today, we witness more and more companies producing liquid detergents alongside powder detergents and laundry bar soaps.    In the past, consumers in India used to wash clothes by hand but today, with the advancement of technology, more and more people are shifting to washing machines. Hence, detergent companies have tweaked their products to enable the washing of clothes in all types of washing machines – top load, front loading, fully automatic, and semi automatic washing machines.​​​​​​​ In addition, detergent companies have started manufacturing powder detergents in packs of 20 grams, 200 grams, 500 grams, 1 kg, and 2 kg to cater to the needs of those who prefer to buy in small packets and in bulk.    Today, consumers have a number of products to choose from, which is why companies are constantly upgrading their products and coming up with better and innovative advertising campaigns to increase their market share.

The Indian detergent market is largely divided into two markets of organised and unorganised players. The main products sold here are the detergent bars, detergent powder & liquid detergent. The major proportion of Indian market lies in the rural area in which people are less aware of the brands, buys from general retails and are also highly price sensitive. Moreover, they can easily switch to another product if it is being offered at lower price.

Hence, price competition is a major factor in Indian Detergent market. On the other side, urban people are educated and are aware of the trends, brands and fabric hygiene. Furthermore, they also purchase detergents from multibrand retails and e commerce. Hence, the premium detergent products such as washing machine powders and liquid detergents were developed targeting the urban audience.

The Indian Detergent market has always seen a substantial growth and is expected to reach INR 49067 crore with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 9%. The Surf brand of Hindustan Unilever Limited claims to be the first brand of the market but soon with the introduction of indigenous brands such as Nirma and Ghari, the global leader lost its shares in Indian market. The indigenous brands Nirma and Ghari pinched the empathy of Indian consumers and started making available detergent powder in Indian market.

However, Nirma lost its share over the Ghari Detergent and the brand Ghari by Rohit Surfactants is currently leading the Indian Market with highest market share. The liquid detergent was brought by HUL in the year 2013 under the brand name of Surf Excel. Other price friendly brands such as Rin, Active Wheel, Tide, etc came into the market with their pricing strategies.

The detergents are made available to the end consumer through mainly three sales channels- General retail, Multi brand retail and online retails. The rural market have only general retails which restricts the people to have only one buying option. But the urban people enjoy various discounts and festive offers given by Multibrand and online retails. The major working chain in Indian multibrand retails re Big Bazaar, D mart, Bansal, etc. and e commerce such as Amazon, Flipkart, etc. offers variety of detergents in different size and packaging.