The Hindu Business Line : HLL re-enters ayurvedic sector with new Fair & Lovely range

After withdrawing its Ayush brand, Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) has made a comeback in the ayurveda market with a slew of products under Fair & Lovely's (FAL) ayurvedic range. Trying its luck in the ayurvedic category once again, the FMCG major has unveiled a series of ayurvedic products under the FAL ayurvedic brand comprising face-mask, bath paste, cleansing bar and a body lotion.

Mr Ashok Venkatramani, V-P, Skincare, HLL, told Business Line, "There has been a change in our strategy. Instead of having a single product under the brand we have decided to have a range of products for everyday regime under FAL's ayurvedic range."

So while FAL's ayurvedic range would straddle the mass market with its combination of products to cover the skincare regime of consumers, its Ponds International brand would address the skincare regime at the premium end of the market.

Considering FAL's premium variant of Perfect Radiance did not take off in the market, HLL subsequently decided to bring in its international offerings under Ponds to fill the lacunae in this segment.

Meanwhile, the launch of FAL's new ayurvedic range is an attempt by HLL to re-enter the ayurvedic segment, especially after its Ayush brand failed to register significant volumes in the market. In the past, it had also test-launched`Pears naturals' range. This time, however, HLL is introducing a new category - bath paste, to get into an untapped and unorganised category.

"There is still no branding in this category and HLL is creating the category for the first time," stated an industry analyst. Pegged at Rs 72 for 100 ml, FAL's ayurvedic bath paste contains kumkumadi tailam, an ancient fairness recipe, which is also the ingredient of its existing ayurvedic cream.

In fact, HLL is promoting the use of its ayurvedic face cream for its new products such as the face pack. It has suggested using the cream post the application of the product. Besides, its ayurvedic body lotion (Rs 75 for 120 ml) is being pegged as an ayurvedic medicine lotion.

Carrying the baseline, `Discover Enlightenment', the ayurvedic products are being manufactured by Herbal Concepts Healthcare, a company based in Haridwar in Uttar Pradesh.

According to officials at HLL, the strategy behind creating the new ayurvedic segment is to create consumer clusters for its portfolio of products.

"Through the new ayurvedic range, FAL is addressing the need of consumers for ayurvedic products," said Mr Venkatramani. Besides, the creation of a new segment such as bath paste within the ayurveda range is also an attempt to create a new segment and then grow the market in that particular segment.