Elder in fray for male grooming pie

As the nascent male grooming market evolves, a number of companies are launching products to garner a larger share of the over Rs 350 crore market. And the latest company to join this bandwagon is the Mumbai-based Elder group.

Anuj Saxena, director, Elder group, said the company was planning to introduce a slew of new products in this category. These include face scrubs, post shaving healers and face washes.

He added that the company may also look to tap the higher end of the market with specialised products like under-eye creams for men. These, he said could be developed in house or in partnership with existing international brands.

The company has just launched a men's variant of its fairness cream, joining others such as Emami and Hindustan Lever who launched their brands last year. Saxena said the company was aiming for a turnover of Rs 15 crore for Fairone Men within the first year of its launch.

The overall market for fairness creams in India is pegged at Rs 1,000 crore, with an estimated 25-30 per cent male users.

While Elder may be focussing on skin care, Marico is in the process of increasing its offerings in the hair grooming market. The company recently launched a gel variant of its Parachute Advanced Aftershower hair cream.

Sameer Sathpathy, category head, Marico, said the market for hair grooming products was pegged at Rs 75 crore, and was growing at about 60 per cent at present. Garnier too has launched Hard Gel, a hair styling product.

Explaining the sudden demand for such products, Sathpathy said that as an increasing number of men opted for white collar jobs, there was an increased awareness and emphasis on being well groomed.

Also, with increased spending power among the youth, styling products like hair gels were becoming popular.

After being the first to launch a men's fairness cream, Fair & Handsome, Emami has recently introduced two hair dyes at the lower end of the market, Mr Black and Mrs Black. The rationale: as men and women had different hair, their hair care products would need to have separate attributes.

"A number of the new categories which will emerge, will be created by marketers, and not consumer needs," said a marketing consultant. This then, is just a fraction of what can be expected over the next few years.