At the recently concluded seminar by the Indian Beauty & Hygiene Association, Sandeep Kohli, Executive Director, Personal care, HUL, admitted that ayurveda and naturals as a category was here to stay.
“We are determined to be real, authentic and efficacious since even globally the personal care segment is going the ayurvedic and natural way,’’ he said.
HUL has been been dabbling in the natural personal care segment with its Ayush brand for more than a decade, but without much success. It has now re-launched Lever Ayush, and at the same time, extending the equity of its big ticket brands like Clinic Plus (Ayurveda Care Triphala Shampoo) and even acquired a herbal hair oil brand like Indulekha, to ward off competition from the domestic majors such as Patanjali, Himalaya and Dabur.
However, the small home-grown players have been challenging MNCs, which include HUL in the ₹18,500 crore natural segment which is 41 per cent of the total personal care segment, according to Nielsen in its latest report on the category ‘But Naturally’.
According to the report, the natural segment is growing at almost 1.7 times that of the overall personal care segment. Indian consumers are now seeking solutions from brands that are both safe for them as well as the environment. They want products that are devoid of harmful chemicals and side effects.
While hair oils is the largest category which has been contributing to the naturals segment (5 per cent), others like toothpaste (20.1 per cent), face care (12.9 per cent) and shampoo (13.2 percent) have been increasing their presence into the naturals platform.
But it is Indian companies like Dabur and Patanjali which dominate the natural segment with a 79 per cent share, while the balance is from the MNC brands in the same segment, says the Nielsen report.
According to Himanshu Bajaj, Partner, ATKearney, “While HUL has been in the naturals segment since early 2000, but it did not have a focussed approach. Now, after seeing the numbers from domestic players like Patanjali, it has realised that it has not done enough in the category. MNCs, which include players like Colgate, have also felt their shares eroding, now believe it is time to scale up in this segment.”
Patanjali, Himalaya and Dabur have products with propositions that are ayurvedic and herbal. However, there are non- core brands that have some natural variants in a larger portfolio like HUL’s Lifebuoy, which has a natural lemon fresh variant even though the main variant is non-natural, says the Nielsen report.
Innovation may take timeWhile HUL has the advantage of bringing brands from its global portfolio into the naturals segment (it recently has got in skincare brand of Citra), innovation may take time for such MNCs to quickly make a mark in naturals.
As Bajaj of ATKearney observes, “While MNCs can catch up, globally it is start-ups who are known for innovation. Even in the naturals category, MNCs have not done enough and are looking to someone who has already done work in this segment.’’
Meanwhile, there are a slew of hopeful Indian start-ups who are have ready ‘naturals’ based products and want to ride on the MNC’s distribution network.
For instance, the three-year-old start-up, Joy by Nature, is already in talks to raise money from big FMCG majors who want to enhance their ‘naturals’ product portfolio.
Rahul Kumar, COO, Joy by Nature, said: “We are already seeking investments from MNCs who want to enhance their ‘naturals’ portfolio, while we can ride on their extensive distribution.’’