Local arm of British consumer goods major Reckitt Benckiser (RB) has launched a hair removal cream for men under its popular Veet brand in a sign that India’s fairly small, but growing male grooming category is drawing more shoppers and prompting some of the world’s largest companies to offer more products than just shaving creams, and deodorants. On Tuesday, RB that sells brands such as Lizol, Moov, and Durex in India said it has expanded its Veet hair removal brand by launching a male-specific variant.
RB has roped in Bollywood celebrity Kartik Aryan to endorse the depilatory product that RB also sells in other global markets.
“Male grooming is a big trend among Indian consumers who are getting more aware about how they want to look, and that helps them draw confidence,” said Pankaj Duhan, chief marketing officer, RB Health South Asia. “The need is there, consumers have been gravitating towards it, there have always been a lot queries related to male depilatory products and addressed to Veet via queries on e-commerce and Google searches,” he said, adding that the brand drew feedback from online searches to gauge demand for such products in the market.
In India, the brand was soft launched and is available online as well as in stores. A new campaign will be rolled out soon and the brand will be made available across India in general trade, modern trade and e-commerce stores in a sign that the company plans to put both marketing and distribution muscle behind building Veet for men in India.
“The category for depilatory products here isn’t very well developed and has been under-served," said Duhan, leaving what the company thinks is a sizeable opportunity for it.
To be sure, there aren’t too many large companies that offer hair removal creams for men, unlike those that offer the same to female shoppers. Although, consumer electronics brand Philips has launched a body grooming range for men that includes trimmers.
Duhan declined to share the company’s plans to invest behind Veet but said that since it is a national roll out backed by a 360 degree marketing campaigns the brand will be backed by “substantial spends”.
“This is a serious effort from our side into male grooming as we draw a new set of shoppers. From the scale of the launch and the celebrity backing this could be among the biggest launches from the company within this year, he said.
India’s male grooming category is fairly new and estimated at Rs5,000 crore. For years men have mostly used brands marketed and targeted towards women, barring products such as shaving gels, fairness creams, and deodorants. However, over the last few years, as India’s consumer goods market has matured more companies, including established ones and start-ups, have developed the category by launching male-specific face washes, beard-grooming products, and shampoos.
RB is split into two business units in India, namely RB health and RB hygiene home. Brands under RB health portfolio in India include Dettol, Durex, Strepsils, Nurofen, Veet, among others; while its hygiene portfolio comprises of brands such as Harpic, Vanish, Lizol, among others.
The company has been on an innovation and product launch spree over the last year as it has new products to boost its laundry and home cleaning categories in India adding more premium variants to some and re-launching some of its key brands here.
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