Shahnaz Husain goes mass market

In a significant departure from her premium pricing strategy, herbal beauty products diva Shahnaz Husain will be launching a mass market range later this month.

Branded 'Shahnaz Forever', the price of this range will start at Rs 150, almost half the price of her existing range of products.

"I have been able to achieve the price cut by using cheaper herbs like tulsi instead of more expensive ones like sandalwood and almonds, with no compromise in quality," she says.

Husain claims that the realisation that her products were expensive came suddenly. "One day as I was crossing the road, a woman ran up to me and said that my products are good but she could never use them because they were too expensive," she says.

That sowed the seeds for extensive research and development in this direction.

And though Husain does no want to put a figure on the expected revenue, she is, for the first time, planning to advertise extensively -- through both electronic and print medium. Her confidence in the success of Shahnaz Forever stems from the results of other recent launches from her stable.

Professional Power Range for beauty salons raked in a business of Rs 25 million in one-and-a-half months. The range was priced at almost one-third of the cost of her other premium product line. It targets the middle-level salons that were using fake Shahnaz products.

These launches follow a spate of product launches from Husain's vanity bag over the past few months. With 350 formulations for general care and treatment of skin and scalp disorders already on the shelves, she has launched a 24 carat gold range, pearl cream, and mask, oxygen cream and an Astro-Gem collection.

Today, Husain, who has been described as Asia's Helena Rubenstein, exports products to 41 countries and has over 400 franchises globally.

Her Medispa Venture, has recently gone global following its success in Toronto and Greece. The venture incorporates holistic healing techniques such as yoga and meditation along with the spa experience. The group is also planning to launch its spa collection in the coming few months.

According to Shahnaz, there are no full stops when it comes to beauty business. In India, the total beauty business is estimated at Rs 1,800 crore (Rs 18 billion) and growing at a rate of 25 per cent, while the herbal segment is estimated at Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) and growing at a rate of 40 per cent.

"When the world was selling youth and dreams in bottles, I stood up to sell civilisation in a jar," she proclaims. India, with its 3,000-year-old history can provide the holistic answer to towards total wellness, she explains.

But that was several years ago. Today, India has arrived internationally.

"With even the Time magazine featuring yoga, this a golden age for India to cash in on western awareness. And with Ayurveda getting global recognition, the Indian government should do its bit to promote the country as a destination for herbal therapies," she adds.