These categories include talcum powders, toothpowders, hair oils or even shikakai soaps. While consumers are moving away from talcum powders towards deodorants, they are taking a break from the traditional Shikakai soaps to opt for shampoo sachets. As for hair oils, gels have made a dent.
But these categories have far from given up as players plan interesting twists to traditional products to give them relevance in the current context.
According to FMCG analysts, the Rs 600 crore organised talcum powder market has been stagnant for the last two years now. That's because deodorants are fast replacing talcum powders, at least in the major metros. "People are opting for deodorants more, therefore this stagnation," said H V Agarwal, director, Emami group.
According to industry estimates, the organised deodorant market was growing at 15 per cent annually.
In the case of Shikakai soaps, shampoo satchets have proven to be the bete noire. The segment has been flat for the last three years. "Our assessment is that the entry of low-priced shampoo sachets in price points of 50 paise and Re 1 have impacted sales of shikakai soaps," said Kumar Chander, vice-president, marketing, Wipro Consumer Care.
The company has a presence in the segment. He added that a survey by the company indicated that customers have not necessarily shifted to herbal shampoos and they are not even using shampoos for all their hair wash needs.
For instance, if housewives wash hair thrice a week, they use shampoos once or twice and on the other occasions natural products or even her regular toilet soap brand."
Wipro feels it is an opportunity that shikakai soaps can exploit. "Today, experimentation on hair has taken off in a big way in India as hair colours, gels, styling waters and donning different hairstyles have become commonplace. This has also raised consumer anxiety over the health of hair, since it gets exposed to many products," Kumar elaborated.
To showcase the goodness of shikakai, the company has relaunched Wipro Shikakai, the category market leader, and is running promotions in its large markets such as Maharashtra, which contributes more than 50 per cent to its national sales.
The company has also made some intrinsic improvements in its shikakai soap adding herbal extracts and almond oil.
Even other companies are putting together resources to revive the older categories. Cholayil, the south-based personal care company that has popular brands like Cuticura, has launched several variants pitching on fragrances, to push sales.
To not miss out on emerging opportunities, Cholayil also extended into deodorants this year.In talcum powder, however, certain sub-segments like the baby talcum powder market are still registering five per cent growth.
"It is, therefore, necessary to plan different consumer promos and brand variants to revive sales of talcum powder," Agarwal added.
Emami has plans to extend their "cool" oil brand, Navratna into talcs and introduce variants based on coolness, sunscreen and fairness. Analysts however say to revive these categories might take sustained efforts, and effort might not translate to immediate results.
