The demand for grooming and body care products for men have been witnessing a significant growth since the last few years in India. Both, Indian as well as global brands, are vying with each other to capitalize on this growing opportunity, resulting in the availability of a variety of product options for men
Leveraging the growing demand in the men’s body care market segment, Mumbai-based Shabis Marketing, which specializes in the manufacture and marketing of personal care products, is set to launch in India the Manchester City range of perfumery products. The brand is an offshoot of a licensing agreement with the famous Manchester City Football Club (FC), which has a rich history of collaborating with sports brands.
With the new Manchester City range, Shabis Marketing will be venturing into men’s body care products for the first time. The prices of the products in the series will range from ₹ 299 to ₹ 500. The company is targeting a sale of three lakh units per month by 2020.
The company is already an established name in the children’s body care segment with the Doraemon range of shampoos.
Distribution plans
The company sells its children’s range of products through over 25000 outlets. For the Manchester City range of products, it aims at having a strong retail presence by setting up a wide distribution network by January 2019. Additionally, the company has set a target of 10 SKUs from the current set up before looking for large format retail chains such as Shoppers Stop and Central. Setting up a base in the big format retail chain is the company’s present day challenge because of the strong competition from a number of brands selling similar products, informs Biswajeet Sarkar, partner, Shabis Marketing LLP, in a recent media interview.
The company’s distribution plans for the Manchester City range includes working with retail showroom partners who are already active in showcasing and selling deodorant brands. To start with, Shabis Marketing will concentrate on retail stores that are primarily engaged in selling imported perfumes, sourced especially from Dubai. The company will start inducting showroom partners in the main metropolitan cities and gradually expand into the other parts of the country for the distribution of its newly launched and upcoming products.
Leveraging the licensee route
Shabis Marketing hopes to leverage the fast-growing demand for men’s grooming products in India, especially in the personal care segment. Due to the growing health consciousness amongst consumers, the company also anticipates a gigantic upcoming opportunity for wellness products brands. The company will explore the licensing route to expand this business. After acquiring a sizable market share in the perfumery product range, Shabis will also introduce other products such as shower gels and body wash. These products, it claims, will mark its foray also into the gifting segment given the growing trend amongst consumers to gift these products to their near and dear ones.
However, the company believes that the biggest challenge in the licensee route is of having the right market-oriented R&D of the product range – with a focus on its unique selling propositions. In this context, the body wash line that Shabis Marketing plans to introduce shortly will have soap-like features. The company claims to have created a special formation that makes sure that its products do not leave a damp and wet feel after their application on the human body.
Shabis Marketing aims at offering a unique brand experience, especially for modern kids and teenagers, in the body care segment, according to its website. It claims expertise in marketing insights and addressing the market gap to bring innovative products to the aforementioned market segments. The company aspires to grow into the most sought-after Indian partner of International personal care brands in body care products for young consumers.
References