Mascara to deo: Growth of personal care items zooms

MUMBAI: Three decades ago, an urban woman's handbag carried a few basic set of cosmetics: a small-sized talc, a tub of a local kajal brand and may be an old lipstick running into its third year of usage.

Those were the days when channels of communication were less complicated and consumer spends need-based. In the last five-10 years, however, there has been a rapid and significant shift in the consumer buying behaviour.

Cut to the present and a woman's handbag would in all probability contain a host of items ranging from a branded kajal stick to a lip gloss, a couple of lipsticks, face wash, compact, mascara, deodorant, what have you. Penetration levels of these personal products, which were till not so long ago considered to be "emerging categories" in marketing parlance, have jumped multi-fold in a short span of time.
The penetration of mascaras, for instance, has grown from 17per cent in 2004 to 60per cent in 2013, according to a study by L' Oreal India. Lip gloss, on the other hand, has shown a huge spike from 6per cent to 50per cent during the same period. Clearly, these products are witnessing quick adaptation by consumers.

Earlier, while it took a lot of effort and easily a couple of decades for consumer product companies to take the penetration of a regularly used item like shampoo to 50per cent, a category like lip gloss achieved the same feat in nine years. Growing on a large base of target consumers using talcs on their face, L'Oreal sees penetration of pressed powders or what are generally known as compacts to increase from 36per cent (2004) to 65per cent as of today.

"When we look at internal Maybelline New York data, we actually see these shifts. Example, in Maybelline's compacts we have grown by 75per cent in the last two years (from 2011 to 2013) and in mascaras the growth is 83per cent," said Satyaki Ghosh, director, consumer products division, L'Oreal India.

While categories like face washes, body lotions and lip care have seen an explosive growth in the last few years, the face wash category today is close to Rs 1,000 crore with 20per cent penetration in urban areas, up from a mere 2per cent a decade ago, according to industry data.

Body lotions stand at Rs 800 crore, a growth of eight times in eight years. Still relatively small, but clocking rapid growth rates of 30per cent per annum, the lip care segment currently stands at Rs 150 crore.

"Over the last decade, consumers have begun to pay more attention to personal grooming. Multiple factors have contributed to this shift. Taking the example of face washes, we've seen brands invest in high-decibel media campaigns to build awareness and create a need and relevance for the product in the daily life of the consumer," said Rajesh Krishnamurthy, business head (consumer product division), The Himalaya Drug Company.