Reliance Industries announced the launch of a range of home and personal care products, including bathing and washing soaps, toilet and floor cleaners and laundry detergents.
While the company did not disclose the price points at which the products are being launched, sources indicated that they are at significant discounts on the existing products. For instance, a 100 gm bathing soap bar will be available at a 30 per cent discount to a comparable product in the market.
This is a pan-India launch that its subsidiary Reliance Consumer Products is undertaking through omni channels of distribution across the country over the coming months.
“Our ambition is to help every Indian household get access to quality products at reasonable price points. This range of home and personal care products boasts high efficacy with superior formulation. These have been developed keeping “Real India” consumer problems at their core,” the company said in a statement. It added that the portfolio expansion reaffirmed and supported the company’s aim to provide Indian consumers with high-quality FMCG products at affordable prices.
Disrupting factor
RIL’s entry into the over $110 billion FMCG segment - dominated by well-entrenched global players such as Hindustan Unilever, Nestle, Procter & Gamble - is being keenly watched by everyone. The company has a reputation for disrupting sectors in which it forays mostly by steep discounting in the initial stages.
Building up FMCG brands is a time-consuming process and it takes a long time to create brand recall and shift customer loyalty. The Mukesh Ambani-owned company has resorted to the strategy of ‘buying’ over ‘building’ to scale up the business and acquire brands and products that already have a presence in the market.
The company has already launched other items in the FMCG category such as cold drinks under Sosyo Hajoori, confectionaries by Lotus Chocolates, and Sri Lanka’s biscuit brand Maliban. Earlier this month it announced the re-launch of Campa Cola.
Among the portfolio of products that it intends to launch are Glimmer beauty soaps, Get Real natural soaps, Puric hygiene soaps, Dozo dishwash bars and liquids, HomeGuard toilet and floor cleaners and Enzo laundry detergent powder, liquid, and bars. Real and Puric spas are in the Grade 1 category, with a total fatty matter of 76 per cent. Higher the fatty content, the more superior the quality.
Last year in August, Isha Ambani, director of Reliance Retail Ventures announced the company’s entry into the FMCG business and. In December, the company announced the launch of packaged goods brand ‘Independence’ in Gujarat, offering a range of staples, foods, and essential items.