The Hindu Business Line : Swedish co to market incontinence products

Mr Samir Prasad, Commercial Director and Branch Manager, SCA Hygiene Products, told Business Line that Tena is a major incontinence care brand with a 26-per cent share in the 4.5-billion euro market.

Kimberley Clark is its closest competitor with a 11-per cent share.

SCA is an international paper company that produces and sells absorbent hygiene products and packaging solutions in 88 countries.

Tena is a Rs 6,000-crore brand. The world over, the market is split between retail and institutional sales though light incontinence products are sold mostly through retail channels, said Mr Hans Bergh, Category Marketing Director (Asia, Australia and India). In India though, only products for immobile people would be sold first, he added.

J.K. Ansell, which owns the Kama Sutra brand of condoms and markets imported surgical gloves, will market Tena in pharmacies and directly to hospitals, said the company's General Manager (Sales & Marketing), Mr Vinayak Sukthankar.

Awareness about adult incontinence is low as it is a subject kept largely under wraps in the country, though 12-15 per cent are affected by it, said Mr Prasad.

SCA's strategy now is to raise awareness about incontinence through a print campaign, while talking about Tena. The ad agency in charge is percept/H.

The company is also setting up a toll-free helpline on the subject, which will be operational from mid-September.

The price of the product is about Rs 60 a piece, which is at an 8 per cent premium to the choices available now. It will be sold in packs of two, five and ten.

Even in the category that can afford this product, awareness is extremely low, said Mr Prasad, adding that demand was met by imports, which were largely unbranded. The market is estimated at four million pieces.

Mr Sukthankar said Tena would be marketed in the metros initially. The target this year is to market it in the top 20 cities and achieve sales of Rs 8 crore.

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