It's a white world

The fairness products market grows as new variants, MNCs enter the fray

Fair & Lovely's sales agents at Big Bazaar accost women shoppers these days and invite them for a 30-second free facial massage with its brand new multi-vitamin enriched cream.

At the cosmetics counter, mention the word "fairness" and the salesman promptly displays a range of creams and lotions from brands like Garnier, Lotus, Revlon, and L'Oreal besides the good old Fair & Lovely from Hindustan Lever Ltd and Fairever from Cavin Kare.

Retailers, like the one at Big Bazaar, claim that fairness products are flying off the shelves like never before with new brands from companies like Shahnaz Hussain, L'Oreal and Garnier and Lotus Herbals entering the fray in the last one year.

Not surprisingly, the FMCG industry observers say that the Rs 850 crore fairness market is on an upswing.

"I think the fairness market is growing in a 'revolutionary' and not in an 'evolutionary' manner," remarks brand consultant Jagdeep Kapoor. "The market is growing at a compound rate of 5 per cent a year," adds Saumik Chakraborty, brand manager, Cavin Kare.

Nitin Passi, director, marketing & sales, at Lotus Herbals says "while earlier the companies were targeting the mass market, the new entrants are eyeing the premium market."

The company has a two-week fairness cream, but may roll out a new variant in a few months.

Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) first launched the fairness cream under the Fair & Lovely brand in 1975. The brand's monopoly cracked in 1998 when CavinKare launched Fairever.

Today, Fair & Lovely with its five variants (the latest being Oil Control and Perfect Radiance) commands about 40 per cent share of the skin cream market in India.

And the Rs 50 crore Fairever (Mantra, Beautiful Skin, Fruit Vitalisers) is a fairly important brand for Rs 400 crore Chennai-based CavinKare, admits Saumik Chakraborty.

Fairness is an important segment for companies as people across Asia "" from Japan to India "" have demonstrated a marked "preference for skin lightening and glow".

Companies in the business of fairness claim they are only fulfilling a need, and not making a statement about what is beauty. But if fair skin was always desirable, why the sudden boom in the number of products?

Explains Puja Modi, Revlon's brand manager for the fairness segment: "Indian women always had a fetish for fair skin. Now with their increased financial independence they are more confident of asking for it." Revlon's Touch & Glow Fairness Cream launched less than two years ago, enjoys a good consumer base, claims Modi.

And even though Revlon's equity is on colour cosmetics (read lipsticks, nail paints) the company is in the process of finding a firm footing in the fairness and skin care segment as well.

In a year's time, Revlon plans to launch a skin care range besides repositioning its 'Absolute Whitening' range of creams and lotions launched last year.

Garnier, meanwhile, has been advertising Garnier Light with its basket of products including a Fairness Face Wash, Fairness Wipe-off Lotion and an Anti-marks Fairness Concentrate that were launched in Mumbai last year.

Clearly, Indians have not had enough of the "gorepan ki cream" as companies are planning more variants.

"Our product Fair One has been disappearing from the shelves and we expect to touch Rs 20 crore worth of sales by September when it completes one year," says Manoj Khanna, vice-president sales & exports of Shahnaz products.

"It took 11 years of intense research to come out with this ayurvedic skin clearing cream which uses reasonably priced herbs unlike other Shahnaz products," points out Shahnaz Hussain.

Launched in collaboration with Elder Pharmaceuticals, Fair One will soon have some brand extensions by the year end, she claims.

Brand variants of the fairness creams are basically meant to target new consumers. "We are continuously innovating and planning newer variants to cater to every customer with different skin types. Being the market leaders in the product we've shown the way to other players," claims the HLL's spokesman.

Fair game?

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Do the fairness products work and change complexion? Most fairness products are based on the simple formula of controlling dispersion of Melanin (the pigment that controls the skin colour).

But companies add a number of other additives (such as coconut, aloe,vera, honey) to position themselves differently from others. Dermatologist Dr Sanjiv Kandhari, visiting consultant at Batra and Escorts hospitals in Delhi says that fairness products tend to work because they contain hydroquinone and kojic acid.

"But their dosage should not exceed 2 per cent. Exceeding the limit can cause whitening, contact dermatitis, eczema and allergy," warns the doctor who claims to have treated several patients with side effects of fairness products.

While hydroquinone-based skin care products have been discontinued in most countries, in India even the percentage of the chemicals is not mentioned on the product pack, he adds.

Besides high hydroquinone and kojic acid, mercury content in such products can severely damage the kidney.