The Hindu Business Line : Set to smell success

Increasing penetration involves educating the consumer. Seen in the file photo above is actress Simran kicking off a signature campaign organised by Hindustan Unilever’s Rexona brand.

It’s a highly under-penetrated but rapidly growing market. The fuel: the desire to be cool and simply irresistible, not to mention the rising disposable incomes, Western influences and growing young population. The deodorants category is an 220;exciting, no-risk market”, as one market player puts it.

At present, there are about 12 players actively competing in the market (estimates of size vary between Rs 105 crore and Rs 200 crore) with various brands, not to mention the several imported variants. Every summer sees a media blitz and a slew of launches by competitors old and new.

Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), which was the first to launch a deo in the Indian market, Rexona, in 1995, has moved from positioning it as a solution to combat body odour to building the category and initiating market development, says Shubhranshu Singh, Marketing Manager (Deos), HUL. That includes launching a roll-on to distinguish between deodorants and perfumes — down the years, deos’ marketing has often focused on the fragrance, and consumers considered deo sprays a cheaper form of perfume.

Amit Singh, Marketing Manager (Cosmetics & Toiletries) at Henkel India, which markets the Fa range, says the growth of the deodorant category is also due to the fact that people don’t want to face anything negative in themselves. It’s not so much how they project themselves to other people as that they want to do it for themselves.

All market players BrandLine spoke to are bullish on the category and optimistic that it will witness extremely positive growth in the near future. So what is it that’s working for this market? “There is a rise in heat i n the deodorant category with multiple brand offerings from new entrants. As people become more aware of the benefits of using a deo over conventional methods of combating body odour, the overall user base is increasing,” says Sudarshan Singh, Brand Manager, Nivea India. However, says HUL’s Subhranshu Singh, “Indian consumers, once converted into the category, tend to use the product sparingly or infrequently. So after achieving critical mass in penetration, the next growth opportunity is to increase consumption through frequency of use.” To this end, Rexona has launched a 50 ml pack, priced at Rs 70, which will also serve to widen the brand portfolio and provide more variant options. Last year, it launched two variants of roll-on for Rs 30 each.

HUL is the market leader in the category with a share of 38 per cent through its brands Axe and Rexona. Axe, launched in 1999, is the largest selling deo, with market share of over 30 per cent. Meant for men, this brand, which enjoys wide recognition in over 60 countries, has launched new variants every year after launch. Apart from its eight variants, it also has a grooming range containing after-shave lotion, shaving cream and cologne talc.

The market is skewed towards males rather than females, 60: 40 being the ratio. Sprays are the popular format as more than one person in the household can use them; contact sticks and roll-ons, popular abroad, are seen as very personal and hence, haven’t done well. They are also perceived to be sticky. However, HUL is attempting to build this category. “HUL plans to aggressively explode the market by recruiting and upgrading all relevant target groups – men, women, teens, high- and low-income groups” and by “contact applicator”, says Singh. Sprays account for 96 per cent of the market, with roll-ons and contact sticks accounting for the rest.

Initially, deos were seen as a cheaper form of perfume than a cure for body odour. Research found several mental barriers – sweating was not seen as a problem, talcum powder and bathing twice or more was seen as remedy enough and deos were perceived as an indulgence. Affordability also played an important role. Currently, there are two pack sizes available in the aerosol category – 150 ml (priced between Rs 110 and Rs 140) and 75 ml (around Rs 75/Rs 80). Prices of talcum powder vis-À-vis deodorants is a factor to consider in penetration: Talcs are much cheaper – some 400 gm packs of powder costs as much as a 75 ml deo, and with the mini packs, you need to spend only Rs 5 for a 20 gm pack — and for long, have been the core of the fragrance category. Ramesh Viswanathan, Vice-President (Marketing), CavinKare, points out that “talcum powder is a family product; deos are user-specific and very adult”.

Moreover, the South and West of India also uses talc as a make-up product, and this habit is not going to go away, bred as it has been through generations. Talcum powder is a Rs 600-crore market.

Amit Singh of Henkel says the market is moving to higher-order benefits – soon there will be varieties for sensitive skin, milder fragrances and such, as is the case abroad. The movement has already begun — Henkel has launched two variants with milder perfume and Nivea India’s deos are free of preservatives and colourants and therefore safe for the skin, says Sudarshan Singh.

A characteristic of the Indian deo market is that for long, the products have been sold on the strength of the fragrance, which is what contributed to the lack of a clear distinction between perfumes and deos in consumer perception.

Ramesh Viswanathan of CavinKare, which markets the Spinz brand of deodorant and talcum powder, points out the brands are differentiated from each other by fragrance and retentivity. According to Nivea’s Singh, the organised market is concentrated in the metros and mini-metros though more satellite towns and Tier 1 cities are seeing consumers enter the category. Modern retail is also a factor — this format contributes more to this category than to any other personal care categories, says Viswanathan.

Penetration is poor, with only 1.04 crore users (1.3 per cent) as per NRS 2005. But that only means more fertile ground for the deos to breed. Nivea’s Singh says increasing penetration would involve a combination of increasing the product’s relevance by educating the consumer and by giving them low-unit price packs to enable them to enter the category.

“Currently, deos and even anti-perspirants are used as perfumes and sprayed on the clothes rather than the body,” he adds. Nivea, which entered the category in India last year with Aqua Cool, has launched a couple more this summer. Fa’s two new variants called Lotus Dream and Cherry Passion. CavinKare’s Spinz claims to be growing above 50 per cent – in end 2006, Hip Hop and Salsa were launched, and two more will be launched before the festive season this year.

Television advertising specific to deodorants and variants is coming up, and that represents an evolution. “Earlier, deos were line extensions and rode on the advertising of flagship products such as soaps and creams,” points out CavinKare’s Viswanathan.

Some brands no longer talk about basic benefits such as preventing body odour but go on to convince consumers they will be desirable and attractive if they use them, or as in the case of Fa, show users getting their way with shy/hesitant members of the opposite sex!

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