Wipro Consumer Care to sharpen focus on home care, go slow on hygienics

Move follows tapering demand for hand-wash and sanitisers

As demand for sanitisers and hand wash tapers, Wipro Consumer Care Ltd (WCCL) is planning to focus on expanding its homecare portfolio over hygienics.

“For sanitisers, we will now have a single brand. We have hand wipes under Santoor and Yardley so we are likely to continue only with Yardley. As far as surface sanitisers are concerned, we will cut down SKUs there too,” said Vineet Agrawal, CEO at WCCL and Executive Director at Wipro Enterprises. The company has seen a decline in demand for these products for the past 5-6 months.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company had fast-tracked the launch of several offerings such as hand sanitisers and anti-germ soaps and deo sprays as demand shot up. It had also started manufacturing sanitisers and hand wash at all its India factories when the pandemic was announced.

In homecare, the company has presence in fabric conditioner, liquid detergents, and floor cleaners. “We are evaluating more categories in this segment depending on our market tests,” said Aggarwal. The company is open to acquire homecare companies outside of India to expand its offerings.

Known for an aggressive acquisition strategy, WCCL had taken a step back in inorganic growth plans last year. “This slowdown happened because some companies withdrew their plan to sell off as they were not getting the right valuation. In a couple of months, we will pick up on acquisition,” said Aggarwal. The last acquisition it made was in December 2019 of Africa-based  personal care company Canway, a 12th acquisition for WCCL in 16 years. It has spent close to $950 million in acquisitions so far.

In India, the company has seen a growth rate of 15 per cent for Q2 and Q3 of FY21 as compared with the previous financial year, much higher than international markets growth in countries such as China, the Philippines, and Malaysia which overall account for 54 per cent revenue of the $1-billion company.

Stepping up its presence in the ecommerce space, WCCL is also planning to launch skincare and haircare brands exclusively in the online space. The company has seen its ecommerce sales double during the pandemic with online now generating about 10 per cent revenue of the Azim Premji-owned company.

Its flagship products Santoor, Yardley and Chandrika are available on ecommerce websites such as Amazon, Flipkart and Nykaa. The company would be leveraging some of its  international brands to be launched online in India.

“We expect ecommerce channels will open up options and it will be viable enough to reach the end consumer,” said Aggarwal.

Going forward

WCCL looking to enter new categories in home care

Open to acquisitions in the space for expansion

Rationalising hygiene category products such as sanitisers

Launch beauty brands exclusively on ecommerce websites