 "Tresemme")
'Get side braids, salon-style hair at home, everyday,' scream advertorials for Hindustan Unilever's haircare brand Tresemme. A link to DIYs (do-it-yourself) tutorials for low buns, ponytails and bouffants beckon consumers, albeit with a bit of help from Tresemme. You have to apply the brand's hair gels or serums to get started; once done, the rest follows smoothly, the advertorials claim.
HUL has been doing all it takes to draw the attention of urban women consumers to one of its newer entrants in haircare. It seems to be paying off.
In a recent presentation to analysts, HUL has said that Tresemme had crossed Rs 100 crore in terms of turnover. It had achieved this within a year of launch, the company has claimed. Analysts see HUL's move of launching Tresemme - many believed it would eat into sales of brands such as Dove, also positioned on the premium platform - as a calculated risk. The milestone could be seen as an affirmation that differentiated products could work even in a crowded space.
Positioned as a product for the salon-going consumer, analysts believe, Tresemme has managed to strike a chord with its audience with its affordable price-points. Tresemme is available between Rs 68 to Rs 1,000 at beauty stores , pharmacies and modern-trade outlets.
Traditionally priced high in India, salon-style products have always been perceived to be efficacious by consumers, a belief that Tresemme looks to tap into.
Typically, specialised products for salons are available within parlours and are recommended by beauticians or hairstylists to treat hair problems or for extra care as part of everyday maintenance.
Tresemme has managed to grow in an environment marked by custoers cutting back on discretionary spends due to its positoning, analysts feel.
Tresemme is not the first such brand though. Salon-ready haircare products have found their way to store shelves before as well through grey channels. L'Oreal's Matrix and H2O Plus can be found in mid- to top-end general stores and online stores. However, these brands have not been officially launched in retail channels and hence, have not been marketed on the scale of HUL's Tresemme.
HUL has used actor and model Diana Penty alongwith international hair stylist Marcus Francis in ads to drive home the brand's association with style and fashion. HUL has also backed this up with an aggressive digital marketing push in a bid to tap the urban consumer.
At the launch of Tresemme, during the company's second-quarter results in October, 2012, HUL's then MD Nitin Paranjpe, who is now the president of homecare, Unilever, had said, "It has been a few weeks since we launched the range (Tresemme) in India and the best part is wherever Tresemme has been taken, whether Brazil or the United Kingdom, consumers have appreciated it."
While Sanjiv Mehta, HUL's current MD has not indicated the company's specific plans for Tresemme at the analysts meet in Mumbai recently, he has pointed out that the emphasis for the Rs 28,019-crore firm would be on products that generate high turnover. The company has eleven brands that has sales beyond Rs 1,000 crore and eight brands that has sales in excess of Rs 500 crore. Tresemme, while comparatively smaller in turnover, is expected to be a key part of Mehta's topline ramp-up plans, owing to the initial promise it has shown, analysts say.
Betting big
Tresemme, alongwith other brands belonging to the US-based personal care company, Alberto Culver, was acquired in 2010 by Unilever in a $3.7 billion all-cash deal - its second-largest acquisition after Best Foods in 2000 - that the Anglo-Dutch major had bought for a whopping $24.3 billion.
The Alberto Culver acquisition was expected to boost Unilever's professional haircare portfolio, which the company had stepped into the year before (in 2009) with the acquisition of TIGI salon brands from salon experts Toni & Guy.
But while both TIGI and Alberto Culver gave Unilever access to salons - considered a high-margin, lucrative business and dominated by L'Oreal and Procter & Gamble (P&G). But Unilever did not miss out on a presence in shops with these products and Tresemme is playing that role, say market experts.
Analysts say that Tresemme is a rung above brands such as Dove, given that it targets specific requirements. This is in line with HUL's premiumisation agenda. "Consumers in urban markets are exposed to international trends and are looking for products that can address these needs," Gautam Duggad, vice-president, research, Motilal Oswal, says.
HUL in the last few years has tried to quickly identify the aspirational needs in personal care to uptrade consumers, which gives it 30 per cent of its revenues; it has done so with Dove and Pears. Even mid-segment brands such as Sunsilk have undergone a transformation with the company tying up with international stylists and experts to design the product.
