Anchor Health & Beauty Care, which has given MNCs like Colgate some competition with its first ‘vegetarian’ toothpaste, is refurbishing its FMCG portfolio.
Hiring professionals from bigger FMCG companies like Dabur, HUL and Godrej Consumer Products, its new team has now been entrusted with the job of reworking each of its personal care categories with innovative formulations and technology.
With brands like Dyna (soaps) and Anchor, the Mumbai-based FMCG company with revenues of less than ₹500 crore is hoping to grow its market share in categories such as toothpastes, soaps and toothbrushes. It is hoping that its brand recognition in the electrical space will help it gain consumers in the FMCG segment as well, even though Anchor Electricals was sold to Panasonic in 2007.
“Being a small player, we will take the FMCG battle one State at a time. We feel there is some amount of residual equity of the Anchor brand which can be leveraged in the FMCG categories even though it has exited the electricals and switches category by selling out to Panasonic. We have set internal goals for the business and will be refreshing all our personal care segments,” said George Angelo, CEO, Anchor Health. Angelo was earlier with Dabur.
For instance, in the saturated ₹15,000-crore soaps category, it has innovated with new ingredients under its two brands, Dyna (beauty soaps) and Anchor (health soaps).
While it has close to a 2 per cent value share in soaps in the national market, Anchor’s stronghold in western States like Rajasthan and Gujarat have given it healthier shares in the region. About 55 per cent of Anchor’s turnover is contributed by soaps.
Next on the cards is refreshing its toothpaste portfolio, where it is pitted against big MNCs like Colgate and HUL. “There was a time when Anchor enjoyed a 8 per cent share and was a threat to Colgate. In fact, it was at the time of Anchor’s launch in the year 2000, when Colgate was forced to launch Cibaca to counter it,’’ reminisces Angelo.
Today, toothpastes contribute about 40 per cent of the company’s turnover. But the ₹9,000-crore category has been slowing down, so Anchor is now working upon a differentiated offering to make a mark again in the segment.
But in a low penetrated category like toothbrushes, Anchor has recently made a comeback with new technology from American company Dupont for making nylon bristles in its toothbrushes.
“Toothbrushes are a ₹2,500-crore category with low penetration at 20 per cent. Today, it is about 6-7 per cent of our business but we plan to take it up to 10 per cent,” added Angelo.