Godrej Consumer Products plans Protekt facelift

To infuse new life into its hand hygiene brand Protekt, Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) is set to relaunch the product in the next few months, said Managing Director A Mahendran.

The hand hygiene market, which includes products such as hand sanitisers, hand wash, wet wipes, etc, is estimated at about Rs 100 crore and has been growing at 25-30 per cent a year. GCPL had first launched Protekt in 2009, following the outbreak of the H1N1 epidemic that year. While the brand initially made some headway into the market, competition, primarily from companies such as Reckitt Benckiser and Hindustan Unilever (HUL), also increased. Mahendran admits the product needs a facelift to withstand competition from rivals.

To offer a more holistic healthcare solution to consumers, both Reckitt and HUL have extended their Dettol and Lifebuoy soap brands into the hand hygiene segment. In the last few years, companies such as Dabur, Wipro Consumer Care and Himalaya have also forayed into the space.

Ankur Bisen, associate director (retail and consumer products), Technopak, says, “As lifestyles improve, consumers are increasingly looking at various options to maintain hygiene levels. This is part of the drive to be healthy, and different companies are approaching the issue differently.”

Mahendran refuses to comment on whether Protekt would pave the way for GCPL to enter the core health soaps category, in which it has no significant presence as of now.

Apart from Cinthol, Godrej No.1, Fairglow and Shikakai, GCPL also has the Vigil brand in its portfolio. However, analysts say if the company considers foraying into the health soaps domain, Protekt would offer greater brand equity than Vigil.

At Rs 3,000 crore, the health space is the second-largest category in the Rs 10,000-crore soaps market, dominated by Lifebuoy and Dettol. While the beauty soap market, at Rs 5,000 crore, is the largest, analysts say it is the health space that is growing faster.

Dettol, which is growing 20-25 per cent a year, has extended the germ-kill proposition from the core antiseptic liquids to soaps, hand wash and hand sanitisers. In recent months, HUL has also upped the ante in the healthcare space, focusing on the germ-kill proposition.