For Vatika, it’s silk & shine with 39% growth

KOLKATA: It was a frothy 10 months for the domestic shampoo market. While the homegrown Dabur India’s Vatika has, for the first time, emerged as the fastest-growing normal shampoo brand, registering a 38.9% volume growth, category leader Clinic Plus saw its volumes growth dip almost half during the period.

According to the AC Nielsen data for the 10-month period between April 2006 and February 2007 for the shampoo market (excluding the anti-dandruff category), HLL’s Clinic Plus, which accounts for nearly a third of the shampoo market, grew only 12.6% during the period, as opposed to a 24.3% growth in the year-ago period between April 2005 to March 2006.

HLL’s other big shampoo brand — Sunsilk — managed only 9.4% volume growth according to the data, compared to 36% over the previous year. HLL, which is in a cooling-off period, did not comment. Dabur vice-president, marketing (personal care) Vikas Mittal attributed Vatika’s growth to aggressive push in semi-urban and rural markets through sachets, consistent communication, and its ‘natural’ positioning through variants such as root strengthening and henna cream shampoo.

Close competitor P&G’s Pantene saw significant gains during the period — its volume growth accelerating from 25% (April 2005 to March 2006) to 31.3% (April 2006 to Feb 2007). P&G’s mass-priced Rejoice brand, on the other hand, saw volume de-growth to as low as — 11.1% for the just concluded 10-month period, compared to a healthy 31.8% growth the previous year.

“We can’t comment on market shares,” a P&G spokesperson said. L’Oreal’s Garnier, meanwhile, grew 36% in volume terms for the April ’06 to Feb 2007 period. By the value parameter as well, HLL’s Clinic Plus and Sunsilk trailed behind Garnier, which grew 40.2%, followed by Pantene at 23.6% and Vatika at 17.6%.

While Clinic Plus grew 11.5% by value, Sunsilk registered value growth of 10.2% during the April 2006 to Feb 2007 period. The overall shampoo market saw volume growth of 12% during Apr to Feb ’07 period, with smaller brands like Ayur showing negative growth of 5.8% and Nyle degrowing by 15.3%.