Rs 2,000 for a 70-gm soap bar! Yes that’s the price for a beer-based bathing bar available on Flipkart. Browse a little more and you will find a range of products from shampoos to face-masks, which have beer as a major ingredient.
While Indian textile and consumer goods maker Raymond is the first to have launched a beer shampoo under its Park Avenue brand, products from Czech brand Manufaktura, US-based Cythia Sylvia and Duffy’s are flooding the online market.
“Beer is a natural conditioner and the tradition goes down about several centuries. After conducting a small survey in some major market, we came out with this product. We launched the beer shampoo as a pilot project in some major metros and have got rave reviews. We have not been able to meet the demand so far,” said Anil Kulkarni, Business Director, J K Helene Curtis, a division of Raymond and owner of the Park Avenue brand.
Park Avenue beer shampoo is available at major modern retail outlets such as Hypercity and Star Bazaar and is priced at a more affordable Rs 160 for 100 ml compared to the foreign brands where the range starts from Rs 960 for a similar quantity. However, are people really buying?
A Flipkart spokesperson said, “There are over 40 beer-related products on our site and most of these are performing pretty well. The leading product is the Park Avenue beer shampoo that constitutes nearly 50 per cent of the sales within this category.”
Beer is said to contain proteins such as ‘malt and hop’, which can nourish and strengthen hair and helps in the softening and regeneration of the skin, according to a research report.
Kulkarni observes that the Indian consumers have evolved in the last one decade, as the exposure to international brands and culture has increased. They are getting more adventurous and want to try different products and brands. The overall grooming market in India is pegged at Rs 3,000 crore and is growing at 20 per cent annually.
Other e-commerce firms such as Healthkart, fashionandyou, Amazon, and homeshop18, among others also sell these beer-based hair-care and skin-care products.