Mortein To Be Flagship Brand For Reckitt
Mortein might soon replace Dettol as the flagship brand of Reckitt Benckiser India, a 51 per cent subsidiary of Reckitt Benckiser Plc. "We see a huge opportunity in the pest category, where we have the Mortein barnd," Reckitt Benckiser India chairman & managing director Pranab Barua said.
Over the next three four years, while the turnover of Dettol products, currently at Rs 230 crore, is expected to grow at 10-15 per cent per annum, that of Mortein products, currently at Rs 200 crore, is expected to grow at 20-25 per cent. If both grow at their peak projections, after three years, while Dettol will do a turnover of around Rs 360 crore, Mortein's turnover will have touched Rs 390 crore.
The products under the Mortein brand include mosquito repellant coil, vapouriser, aerosol and the recently introduced rat-kill tablets. "We are planning to extend the brand to new products as well as looking at adding value to the existing products," Barua said.
The lower growth projections for Dettol have resulted from the sluggish sales in the soap market as soap is the main product under the Dettol umbrella brand. "Between January and June this year, there has been a degrowth of 8 per cent in the soap market, though our share of the premium segment of the market has gone up by 0.2 per cent during the period," Barua said. Citing the reasons for the degrowth in the market, Barua said that there has been increased stocking of the product in homes due to various marketing schemes launched by companies offering free soaps.
The growth projections of the company for other brands are lower. Brands in various categories like Lizol, Harpic and Colin in surface care, Robin in fabric care, Cherry Blossom in shoe care and Haze incence sticks in air care are all expected to grow at 5-10 per cent per annum. While Robin does a turnover of Rs 60-65 crore, Cherry Blossom's turnover is Rs 50-60 crore, Harpic's Rs 45-50 crore and Disprin's Rs 20 crore. The company has done an extension of the Disprin brand to Disprin Plus for pain relief, Disprin Cold & Flu for decongestion and Disprin CV for the cardiovascular market.
Barua also disclosed that Reckitt Benckiser India derives almost 25 per cent of its turnover from the rural markets. In the case of Dettol, almost 50 per cent of the turnover comes from the rural market, while 40 per cent Mortein sales are in the rural market.