Working Up A Lather
If
you thought soaps were a mundane daily routine product - think again!
Are people devoting more research to
soaps than anywhere else? Certainly looks that way folks! After all, when even
celebrity dress designers begin leaving their imprint on a soap bar - of all
things - you know that this category has really become fashionable.
Okay, so this designer label is
something I can't really flaunt around. But I just bought a glistening gel of
Brazilian orange ginseng from the Fiama Di Wills Couture Spa range
designed by Wendell Rodricks. Dunno if the anti-ageing ginseng made
me look younger or not, but it certainly was an exotic feel-good soap --
for all of the five days it lasted. Oh, well, who said this bubble would last!
But you can’t blame the soap -–
these days the way manufacturers are unleashing exotica, you could end up
spending more time bathing than doing anything else.
So what if water is scarce and you
foam at the mouth when the shower is an irritating trickle? Marketers appear to
be living in a soap bubble as they raise the bar on fragrances, lining up
retail store shelves with an abundance of brands.
These days at the retail store I
find myself standing forever at the soap section (which incidentally is
occupying more and more shelf space) mulling over whether to go for the
medicated bar, the anti-ageing one, the one that comes with a moisturiser,
the one with antioxidants or the one with coconut oil and lauric acid. Should I
go for the soap that promises to leave me feeling "awesome" or
the one that makes me feel like a star? Tough choices here.
Sometimes, I even have to pinch
myself to believe I am not standing in the food section as from orange to
cherry to vetiver to peach and citrus, there’s some pretty fruity stuff
here. There are soaps concocted out of green tea and there are even
bars proclaiming their vegetarianism!
Okay, I can understand the Unilevers
of this world playing around with soaps and suds – a large part of their
fortune after all rides on Lifebuoy, Lux and Dove. But even our humble
Khadi has got into the game. From minty blues to peaches and aloe vera to
orange, Khadi seems to have used every colour in nature's palette – there’s
even a rainbow hued soap.
A couple of years ago we heard that
liquid soaps were trending – but if I go by the store shelves, it’s bars that
are the suds of choice today, and very much back in fashion. After all,
you cannot make liquid soaps in lamb or duck shapes, but bars - well, you
get some astonishing shapes now.
A quick look at sales growth of
soaps among key FMCG firms belies the fact that this category is pretty frothy.
Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) has posted a 13 per cent growth in soaps
(and this in the height of slowdown) while HUL’s sales this quarter have
been propped up totally by its soaps and detergents category. Soaps and
detergent together contributed 58 per cent of incremental increase in
sales during the April-June 2013 quarter. And you just have to see ITC's
relentless campaigns on Vivel and Fiama di Wills soaps to know that it's
really focussing on this category.
Perhaps this soapy overabundance
explains why people have taken to gifting them to each other now. Last Diwali
for
instance, I think I barely got a
couple of dry fruit and sweets packs. But basket fulls of bathing products
arrived - from citron gels, to sea salt infused aqua marvels to fancy
loofahs. Confession: they look so pretty that I can't bring myself to use
them.
Now I am waiting for organic,
home-made artisan crafted soaps to hit the market. Oh, hang on, they are
already there - at the luxury boutiques!
But I shouldn’t complain about the
soap explosion really – it gives writers like me a great opportunity. I find
that a host of soap review websites are mushrooming all over the internet.
Honest! Not the television serial variety soaps but the bubbly bath
product variety! If you thought soaps were a mundane daily routine product -
think again!
-
Chitra Narayanan
See more at: http://www.businessworld.in/news/opinion/columnists/working-up-a-lather-2/1037255/page-1.html#sthash.TdE3fFv0.dpuf
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