Now, toilet seat sanitisers for women on the go

Women will no longer carry just a deodorant and a pepper spray in their bags to fight body odour and unscrupulous characters, respectively. The third addition will most likely be a spray that could help prevent urinary tract infection (UTI), amongst other things.

Fighting for shelf space is a new product called Elavo. The toilet seat sanitiser has been developed by Mumbai-based Asian Aerosol, which makes several health, personal and household care products such as Baygon, Mortein and Odonil for companies such as Hindustan Unilever, Godrej, JK Helene Curties, Reckitt Benckiser and Amway, amongst others. The product was launched in Mumbai today.

“We developed this product as an OTC (over the counter) product and not as a pharma product. This is a unique product in the Indian market and ensures 99.9 per cent protection from bacteria and germs found on toilet seats,” said an official at Asian Aerosol.

Asian Aerosol has a turnover of Rs 100 crore and is promoted by Bhogilal Patel. It has manufacturing units in Vapi, Daman and Kishanpura (Himachal Pradesh).

Though the category does exist in South East Asian countries, with brands such as Holy Seat in Singapore, in India there is a market waiting to be tapped with most public toilets being considered ‘unhealthy’.

The Mumbai-based emerging personal and healthcare company AMRA Remedies is marketing the product in India and has launched the same in strategic geographies across the country.

Mr Arijit Sen, GM, AMRA Remedies, told Business Line , “We are creating the toilet seat sanitiser category. We will be looking at need gaps in the market. There will be more products which are unique in the Indian market from our company going forward.”

“The idea was to enter the market with a unique and new product targeted at women, especially keeping in mind personal hygiene. So we thought of toilet seat sanitisers, as a lot of working Indian women dread using public toilets. We have the copyright for Elavo. The sanitiser market itself is a niche market and this product will be a game-changer,” the official said.

The product is clinically tested and an antibacterial formulation that kills disease-causing germs such as Staphylococcus Aureus, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa and E-coli – responsible for diarrhoea, UTI and gastroenteritis.

The company has already delivered six lakh pieces of the sanitiser spray to AMRA and another 24 lakh pieces are being manufactured at its Kishanpura unit that is to be delivered by December.

Currently pegged at Rs 99 for a 75ml aerosol can, it has three variants. AMRA Remedies is also targeting corporates and has held demonstrations for employees in companies such as Idea Cellular and Tata Sky.

AMRA Remedies predicts that the toilet seat sanitiser category will match the hand sanitiser category within a year. As Mr Sen says, “The hand sanitiser category today stands at almost Rs 40 crore and is growing between 35 and 45 per cent. We expect the toilet sanitiser category to reach the same size in a year’s time.”

But the toilet seat sanitiser will be a tough market to crack, claim marketing experts. “Women and children might be a more appropriate target segment for the category but the real challenge will be that of affordability. Most public toilets continue to be free in the country and the audience for the same may not be willing to pay for a premium toilet sanitiser,” observes Mr Jagdeep Kapoor, Managing Director, Samsika Marketing Consultants.

AMRA Remedies has already worked out the economics behind the pricing. “A 75ml aerosol caters to 150 sprays and that works out to 67 paise for each usage,” claims Mr. Sen. Roping in television personality Ms Sanjeeda Shaikh as a brand ambassador may just lure more users to try out the category.

(With inputs by Purvita Chatterjee)

priyanka.pani@thehindu.co.in

COMMENT NOW