L'Oreal now 3rd in personal care market

HUL and Colgate remain top two but French major moved past Godrej Consumer and Dabur in past year

The Rs 81,000-crore beauty and personal care market, a most competitive category in consumer goods, is seeing new trends as companies fight. 
 
Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Colgate-Palmolive haven’t budged from their number one and two positions in the past five years. However, their shares have come down, show data from Euromonitor, the research entity on consumer markets (see chart).
 
From 27.1 per cent of market share by value in 2012, HUL had 25.2 per cent at the end of 2016. Figures for the March 2017 quarter were not available.
 
Colgate-Palmolive saw value market share come down a bit, to seven per cent from 7.1 per cent over these five years. The big gainer was French major L’Oreal. It moved past Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) and Dabur in 2016, to emerge number three, with a value market share of 3.8 per cent. GCPL and Dabur had 3.7 per cent and 3.6 per cent, respectively, both having lost share over five years.
 
In 2012, Dabur was the third, with 4.9 per cent share; GCPL was fourth, with 4.3 per cent, Euromonitor data shows.
 
Some others which saw share gains between 2012 and 2016 were Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Marico and Vini Cosmetics, J&J inched up from 2.5 per cent in 2012 to three per cent in 2016, Marico from 2.2 per cent to 2.6 per cent and Vini from 0.2 per cent to 0.8 per cent. 
 
ITC grew its share between 2012 and 2014 but remained stagnant in 2015 and 2016. Patanjali, which has pushed most beauty and personal care majors to increase their focus on ayurvedic products, couldn’t raise its share in 2016, indicating that competition in the herbal category is growing.
 
Between 2012 and 2015, its value market share grew from 0.4 per cent to one per cent, remaining flat in 2016.

 
L’Oreal’s share gains come as the beauty products maker identifies India as a key market. The company has said in the past it is looking at annual revenue of Rs 7,000 crore from India by 2020, focusing on the growing middle class through affordable and mass-market products. It has also increased its thrust on smaller pack sizes, to push growth beyond cities into smaller towns as it expands distribution.
 
The India revenue of L’Oreal, according to industry estimates, is currently Rs 3,000-Rs 3,500 crore a year. The company has  consistently added new products to its portfolio. That included a professional makeup range called NYX last year, as well as hair care products with natural ingredients called Garnier Ultra Blends. 
 
HUL and Colgate-Palmolive have also responded to the herbal revolution with ayurvedic lines and variants. HUL acquired ayurvedic hair care brand Indulekha in December 2015, for Rs 330 crore.
 
Emami acquired herbal hair care brand Kesh King for Rs 1,651 crore in June 2015. It saw its share inch up from 1.7 per cent in 2012 to 1.8 per cent in 2015; its market share remained flat in 2016.