Raymond group company to ramp up male grooming category

Raymond group company J.K Helene Curtis, armed with its deos and shampoos, is gearing up to fight MNCs such as Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and P&G in the male grooming segment. Despite feeling the slowdown pinch in these categories, the FMCG company is now using a flanking strategy with two deo brands (Raymonds and Park Avenue) to stay on top of the league in the cluttered deo category. It will also unleash new shampoo variants under its Park Avenue beer shampoo franchise.

Anil Kulkarni, Business Head, JK Helene Curtis, says that they have a 7 per cent share in the deo category just behind the market leader HUL’s Axe which has a 10 per cent share. He added that they are also testing the Raymond brand in the same category.

The Rs 1400-crore deo market has more than 200 brands and is growing at 15 per cent. “The deo category is still small but the number of brands is high, unlike bigger categories such as shampoos where there are fewer players,” says Kulkarni.

At present, J.K Helene Curtis intends ramping up distribution for both these categories to stay ahead in the race with the MNCs and also to beat slowdown pressures. The market has slowed down in the deo category from growth rates at 25 per cent last year to 15 per cent today but it is more of a discretionary category and far more fragmented than shampoos.

While it has differentiated between its deos with Raymond adopting a more premium stance than Park Avenue in the same category, there continue to be overlapping price points between its two deo brands currently. Initially, Raymond deos had been restricted to the Raymond stores, but now it has been rolled out into the general trade as well.

JK Helene Curtis has been steadily increasing distribution. “We are at 2.2 lakh outlets already with our deos while HUL is at 3 lakh outlets with Axe. Deo continues to be our largest category and we are the number two brand after Axe,” adds Kulkarni

Meanwhile unlike deos, categories such as soaps and shampoos have slowed down considerably. “Shampoo is a larger and penetrated category unlike deos and growing at 8 per cent and there are different degrees of competition between the categories. Last year we re-entered the category with our beer shampoo and are planning more variants,” said Kulkarni, claiming to have only male grooming shampoo brand in the country with Park Avenue.

The Raymond personal care franchise would also get extended in the male grooming category much like Park Avenue. “We are testing out new categories for Raymond in the FMCG space and going beyond deos and fragrances. Raymond has a different positioning from Park Avenue as it is for the ‘Complete Man’ while Park Avenue is targeted at the ‘Working Man’,” adds Kulkarni.