Contrary to the popular perception that Jyothy Laboratories will aggresively push Henkel’s fabricare portfolio given the synergy quotient, the Mumbai-based FMCJ major has set its sights on the personal-care and home-care brands of the company it bought six months ago.
Jyothy deputy managing director Ulhas Kamath says Henkel’s personal-care brands — Margo, Neem and Fa — as well its dish-washer Pril offer a market potential that is bigger than its detergents business.
“There is a lot that we can do with these brands,” he told Business Standard. “Margo is a soap brand that is 92 years old; Neem is a toothpaste. Both are popular in the East, and can thus be taken as all-India products.”
As for Fa, Kamath said the deo category was growing in India. “There is also the possibility of leveraging Fa’s international equity,” he notes. “As far as Pril is concerned, it’s a great complement to our dish-washing portfolio, which includes Exo.”
While Jyothy looks to harness the potential of these brands, analysts opine that it is the stiff competition in detergents that is preventing the firm from going the whole hog in the segment.
Besides Ujala, the liquid fabric whitener, Jyothy has two detergents — Ujala Washing Powder and Ujala Techno Bright — as well as a starch called Stiff & Shine. Together, with Henkel’s brands — Henko Stain Champion, Mr White and Chek — Jyothy now straddles the wash and post-wash segments with a total of five detergent powders, one starch and one blue. Of this, Ujala fabric blue is well-entrenched with a share of over 71 per cent. Stiff & Shine, on the other hand, has been gaining much traction after only two years of launch.
Despite this, Kamath admits that his 1983-founded firm will be cautious especially when it comes to detergents. “Yes, the competition is intense there. Waging a protracted battle with players such as HUL (Hindustan Unilever) and P&G (Procter & Gamble) is not going to be easy,” he says.
In the last few years, both HUL and P&G, which have shares of about 37 per cent and 16 per cent respectively in detergents, have not hesitated to drop or raise prices in a bid to outdo each other. This war has even spilt onto its advertising & promotions with the two taking each other to court last year for disparaging each other's brands.
In the midst of this, finding a comfortable zone is hardly going to be easy for Jyothy, despite it sticking to key brand strengths. For instance, Jyothy’s Ujala Washing Powder and Ujala Techno Bright alongwith Henkel’s Mr White are mostly south-centric brands. Chek is strong in the east, while Henko is more urban-centric, found mostly in modern trade outlets mainly in the south.
Kamath says the firm will attempt to now extend the presence of some brands to other parts of the country — especially the North and the West. “But first we will have to ramp up distribution in these areas,” he says.
