With competition entering the hair colour category, Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) has decided to hike the price of its Godrej Expert Rich Hair Crème to ₹35 from ₹30 for a single sachet.

Inching closer with its price points, the Godrej product continues to be a notch lower than its nearest competitor, in a clear preference to price-savvy consumers. Its main competitors are Marico with its Livon brand, and L’Oreal, with its Garnier Black Naturals, in the hair colours category. “We entered the crème category to have a premium offering. All the new variants of Godrej Expert Crème will now be pegged at ₹35. We are counting on more users to move from powders to crème,’’ said Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Group, during an analyst meet for the quarter results.

With multinationals like L’Oreal willing to drop prices to enter the mass segment in the ₹1,500-crore hair colour segment, GCPL is intensifying its efforts to remain a market leader. “Our distribution in hair crèmes and colours is still stronger than any competitor,’’ added Godrej.

Growth potential

With a new campaign ‘Best ever hair colour’, Godrej will be extending its hair colour range over the next two years. “We see huge growth potential,’’ said Vivek Gambir, Managing Director, GCPL.

Unlike the hair colour category, which has witnessed significant growth for GCPL at 16 per cent during the quarter, the FMCG player faced almost stagnant growth in its soaps portfolio. “Since our soaps portfolio is reliant on the northern markets, the extended winter months did not help in garnering sales. Also, we did not have a strong winter-care based moisturising soap in our portfolio,’’ said Gambhir.

With brands like Godrej No. 1 and Cinthol, GCPL had increased prices of its soaps by almost 4 per cent in the early part of this quarter. “Price increases would depend on how the rupee behaves. If it appreciates, then vegetable oil prices will come down, which will impact soap prices in the future,’’ said Godrej.

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