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Raymond, textile major has carved out a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) group to extend the eponymous apparel brand to over a dozen personal and home care products. The company already has JK Helene Curtis, which sells Park Avenue deodorants and JK Ansell, the maker of Kama Sutra condoms, with combined annual revenue of Rs 800 crore. The new division will house Raymond products, along with new brands spread across skin and hair care segments.
The 90-year-old company has roped in ITC Foods COO Giriraj Bagri as president. Rajeev Bakshi, former MD of Metro Cash & Carry, Pepsi and Cadbury, will be an exofficio chairman to advice on the new segment. Gautam Hari Singhania, chairman of Raymond vision is to be player of choice amongst the emerging and enterprising India for their daily, personal and home care needs. They are a premium lifestyle products group, committed to offer innovative products to the rising youth of India.
The country's beauty and personal care market is worth Rs 75,000 crore and registered a 16 per cent growth over the past five years, according to Euromonitor. Growth tapered off last year due to sluggish consumer demand for mass products, which account for the majority of the segment's sales.
Bagri pointed that they plan to build great brands, take significant innovation, make new categories entry, explore the market and create a robust supply chain. He also added that as a brand, Raymond cuts across generations and starts with a great advantage. There is enough evidence of global premium brands expanding into FMCG successfully.
Raymond is clear that it will have premium positioning so that it doesn't cannibalise other brands in its portfolio such as Park Avenue, which is present in almost a dozen categories such as beer shampoo and deodorants.
Demand remains high for premium brands as urban consumers with higher disposable incomes are choosing pricier brands. On the same note, Devendra Chawla, president - fast moving consumer goods and brands, Future Group said that while this extension is into personal care allows the brand to expand, the challenge is to be innovative as the space is overcrowded with hardly any differentiation.
The portfolio expansion could also mean tweaking its distribution model, which thrives on selling the bulk of its wares from more than 1,000 exclusive Raymond stores, among other multibrand outlets. While the company will add new outlets to expand reach, they will mostly be restricted to urban areas, added the company.
