Bold & Beautiful

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: Vikram Chaudhary sweats out in the gym next to his office three evenings a week and avoids junk food like the plague. The 27-year-old journalist also follows a well-planned regimen for his skin: he washes his face first thing in the morning and again before retiring for the night with a deep-pore soap-free cleanser, and never ventures out without a dab of sunscreen on his face, neck and arms. And come what may,

he will not skip his aroma-scalp-massage and ion-cleanse-footbath scheduled for Saturdays. “First appearance matters a lot—both in your personal and professional lives,” says the New Delhi

resident. “I just don’t want to lose out in the rat race.”

Chaudhary is echoing what most men seem to feel today: There is simply more pressure on them to look good.

And as men become more particular about how they look, sales of male grooming products pick up in India even as new lines of products queue up on shop shelves. Ever heard of an anti-fatigue moisturising lotion? Yes, L’Oreal Men Expert offers you just that for about Rs 600. And if you are worried about your wrinkles, Clarins for Men has an answer in

Total Wrinkle Control that will set you back by Rs 2,350.

Of course, the overall size of the market is still very small—at close to Rs 100 crore it represents just about 5% of the total skincare market in India (which is about Rs 2,000 crore). But it is growing fast

and the scope for companies to pitch their products is enormous. Look how Hindustan Unilever (HUL) fought back with Fair & Lovely Menz Active last year, when it saw Emami tap into the growing market for men’s fairness creams with

its Fair & Handsome.

In fact, Emami had taken a cue from HUL’s own Fair & Lovely to launch its product in the first place. Research showed at almost 30-40% of the users of Fair & Lovely, which is a women’s fairness cream, were men. It made ample sense

for Emami to step in with an exclusive men’s product.

Emami and HUL’s Menz Active in a sense galvanised other players—among them Nivea and Elder Healthcare—into action. “There are players such as CavinKare, for instance, who have a formidable women’s range. Foraying into the men’s market is the logical next

step,” says an executive with a Mumbai-based skincare company. Industry insiders also suggest that Godrej Consumer Products may be a likely candidate to step into the men’s fairness cream segment since it operates in the men’s toiletries space with shaving creams, after-shaves, deodorants etc.

Traditionally, the men’s space in India has mainly constituted shaving products, after-shaves and deodorants. “These segments are huge,” points Kunal Jamuar, vice-president, Media Direction, the media arm of ad agency RK Swamy/BBDO. According to round 1 of the IRS 2007, men, above the age of 12 years, who shave at home are 14.55 crore, while those who use deodorants are 0.93 crore. This is out of a total male population of 41.86 crore, above the age of 12 years. Now male users of fairness creams is 3.1 crore, according to round 1 of the IRS 2007, which puts the spotlight firmly on the latter.

Though a cross-spectrum of players have operated in the deodorants, shaving products and after-shaves segments such as HUL with its Axe deodorant, Godrej and Gillette among others, with the evolution of the men’s fairness cream segment in India, the possibility of males including lip balms, creams, moisturisers and cleansers in their skincare routine has grown over the years.

A couple of things are driving growth in the men’s personal grooming market. Spiffed-up men do not raise eyebrows; they are everywhere—from magazine covers to sports television. In a sense, this also represents a change in cultural attitudes—looking pretty is no longer the exclusive preserve of women.

The result: a trend that was dismissed initially as a metrosexual fad has now become acceptable. There is clearly room for more. Players are drawing up plans to target new segments with exclusive products for men.

Emami, for instance, plans to launch a range of deodorants, after-shaves, skincare and haircare products for men. Aditya Agarwal, director, Emami Group says that some six products will be launched in the first phase. Needless to say, the second phase will be more rapid-fire. While not opening its cards just yet, Ashok Venkatramani, vice-president, skincare, HUL, says that the possibility of a men’s skincare range from the company cannot be ruled out. “But the market has to pick up,” he adds.

“The men’s skincare category can be addressed via the emotional and rational routes only. For a segment that is growing and evolving that is the only possible

way one can go. Either you educate, which is imperative or you play on emotions, which is easy. In this case, both would be required,” says Sundeep Nagpal, managing director of Mumbai-based Stratagem Media.

Worldwide, moisturisers are a key element in a man’s skincare routine coming right after shaving and after-shaving products in terms of their importance, says Dr Maria Langhals, corporate director and head of product development for face, lip, hair, colour cosmetics and fragrance management at Beiersdorf, the parent company of Nivea. Of the total men’s facecare market of $8.5 billion in 2006, for the record, 50% comprised shaving products, 35% were after-shaves and 15% were care and cleansing routine products, which includes moisturisers, says Euromonitor, a leading provider of global market research.

Gillette and Wilkinson are some of the key players in the shaving products segment in the world, but the skincare space is a bit more fragmented, dominated by the likes of Nivea, L’Oreal and Johnson & Johnson, though niche players such as designers labels Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace also exist. “The men’s segment is evolving. So it’s not surprising that you have so many players operating there,” says Anuj Saxena, managing director,

Elder Healthcare.