Indian Beauty & Hygiene Association (IBHA) launches a report on the future of Beauty & Personal Care

by Shrutee K/DNS

Mumbai : Indian Beauty & Hygiene Association (IBHA), the voice of beauty and personal care industry in India, hosted an industry conference themed “Redefining Beauty: The Changing Indian Scenario’. The key highlight of the event was the launch of an IBHA – A.T. Kearney knowledge report ‘Demystifying the future of Beauty and Personal Care’ by Mr. Adi Godrej along with leading members from the industry.

The report, launched in association with A.T. Kearney and Nielsen, unearths 8 key consumer trends, along 3 broad dimensions - “who is consuming”, “what is being consumed and where”, “why is it being consumed”. As per the findings, Indian Beauty and personal care market (“BPC”) is estimated at 8$ bn in 2016, expected to grow at 5-6% during 2016- 21. 

The report brings in focus a paradigm shift in consumer preference from ‘looking good’ to ‘feeling good’, and how the industry is innovating to address the evolving consumer awareness and aspirations. The report further added light on how rapidly evolving consumer trends necessitate industry stakeholders to focus on innovation across multiple dimensions to “win the future”: product portfolio (tapping into growing product categories), supply chain (flexibility to enable traceability and personalization), go-to-market (business model and channel innovation to reach consumer in different ways) and consumer engagement (digital innovation to track and manage complex consumer journeys.

The event also witnessed three interesting panel discussions, wherein speakers discussed the changing face of the BPC industry and defined trends and imperatives for tomorrow. The first panel discussion, themed ‘Beauty knows no bounds’ witnessed experts from Godrej Consumer Product Ltd. Hindustan Unilever, Wipro, L’Oréal, Himalaya and A.T. Kearney discuss about the market currently being predominantly urban centric; however going forward, growth is expected to be spearheaded by rural markets.

The second panel discussion brought to light interesting understandings on new age marketing, emphasizing the shift in messaging from focus on product qualities to product experience and how peer- to-peer models are increasingly gaining traction. 

The third and the last panel shared eye opening insights on the future of beauty products wherein the panelists strongly believed that the market for Color cosmetics, Men’s grooming range, and Bridal care focused products have tremendous potential.

Mr. Dinesh Dayal, President, Indian Beauty & Hygiene Association (IBHA), further shared light on the seminar, “The personal care industry is an exciting and vibrant one, and we are working to accelerate its development by partnering with key leaders and innovators in the market. Hosting an industry seminar with frontrunners from the beauty industry was an effort in the same direction. In the recent years, we have witnessed an evolution in the market; trends of which have been incorporated in the knowledge report launched by us today in association with A.T. Kearney.”

Mr. Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Group added about evolution of the Beauty and personal care market, ‘’I have enjoyed a long association with IBHA in its erstwhile avatar as the Indian Soaps & Toiletries Makers’ Association and served as the President for two terms. I am very glad that as a trade association, IBHA ensures focus on relevant policy, self-regulation & knowledge dissemination for the beauty & personal care industry. These are of course subjects close to my heart; I have seen the Industry grow over the years but behind the growth headlines is an even more important story - consumer behaviors and spending patterns that have shifted & continue to shift as incomes rise and Indian society evolves. I would like to congratulate IBHA for organizing this seminar and launching a knowledge report that the entire industry can benefit from.’’

Other Key Insights from the IBHA Knowledge Report:

Overall the Beauty and Personal care market is moving towards premiumization, with premium segment growing at 6.3%, as compared to 1.1% for mass market over ’15-’16. 

Among distribution channels for Beauty and Personal care, chemist channel grew at 14.6% over ’14-’16. 

Penetrated categories like home and personal care will see a steep increase in e-tail penetration (100% and 200% respectively) in 2020. 

Rural markets have witnessed the fastest growth, 7.4% over 14-‘16, but are still largely untapped contributing to only one third of the total personal care and beauty sales.

The all-natural market is one third of the personal care market, growing at 2.5x rate of the non-natural market

As a trade association, IBHA plays a pivotal role in regulating public policy through regular government interface thereby protecting the industry interests. Currently, IBHA has on its roster members representing big, medium and small-scale organizations like Godrej, P&G, Johnson & Johnson, Wipro, Marico, Hindustan Unilever, L’Oréal India, among others. 

About Indian Beauty & Hygiene association (IBHA) : Indian Beauty & Hygiene Association (IBHA) is the voice of beauty and personal care industry in India. As a trade association, IBHA plays a pivotal role in regulating public policy through regular government interface thereby protecting the industry interests. It is one of the oldest trade associations in India and is registered under Section 8 of Companies Act 2013.  The association has on its roster several small, medium and large organizations. Formerly known as ISTMA (Indian Soaps and Toiletries Makers’ Association), it was rechristened as IBHA in October 2012. Established in Kolkata in 1937, the Association shifted its operations to Mumbai in 1973.  IBHA has brought into focus issues of critical importance to the industry starting with the government during the pre-liberalization era. As an apex trade body, they represent the industry in several policy issues with major statutory authorities. http://ibhaindia.com/

About A.T. Kearney: A.T. Kearney is a leading global management consulting firm with offices in more than 40 countries. Since 1926, we have been trusted advisors to the world’s foremost organizations. A.T. Kearney is a partner-owned firm, committed to helping clients achieve immediate impact and growing advantage on their most mission-critical issues. We have 61 offices in major business centers in more than 40 countries. For more information, visit www.atkearney.com