In recent years, fragrance products have gained popularity as important personal care products in the form of perfumes, colognes, and deodorants. The fragrance market in India is projected to cross INR 139.44 Bn by 2024, growing from its 2019 size of INR 66.58 Bn at a compound annual growth rate ( CAGR) of ~15.93 percent over the forecast period.
Recently, pocket perfumes have risen to prominence as they are easy to bring around and can be used on the go, thereby serving as one of the market’s main drivers. CavinKare, the FMCG giant, recently launched its first-of-its-kind sachet perfume under its brand, Spinz.
The market for fragrances is segmented into perfumes, deodorants, and other fragrance items based on nature. Deodorants held the largest share of sales in 2019 (~60.65 percent), followed by perfumes (32.14 percent). Due to their affordability, deodorant is the most commonly used fragrant product in the world.
Major Indian fragrance brands include Fogg, Nivea, Engage, Park Avenue, Axe, Wild Stone, and Denver. The largest market share (~15.8 percent) was held by Fogg in 2019, followed by Nivea (~11.6 percent) and Engage (~10.8 percent).
With a rise in disposable income and an enhanced knowledge of personal hygiene, people do not hesitate to splurge on fragrance products, thus driving market development.
Increased adoption of smartphones and the Internet has made e-commerce websites accessible to customers, particularly in Tier II and Tier III cities, thus facilitating online shopping. In addition, Indians have been introduced to worldwide trends in recent years, contributing to greater demand for international fragrance brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Hugo Boss, and Montblanc.
Here are the top 5 deodorant brands in India:-
- Fogg– The flagship product of Indian homegrown brand Vini cosmetics, Fogg is the leader of the Indian deodorant market with 15.8 percent shares.
- Nivea- The German body care and sports giants have been around for more than decades and boasts an 11.6 percent market share of the Indian market.
- Engage- Engage belongs to te FMCG to Hotel to Tobacco giant ITC and holds a commanding 10.8 percent share of the Indian deodorant market,
- Park Avenue- Another Indian brand on the list, Park Avenue belongs to the prestigious Raymond Group and stands strong with huge popularity among the youth.
- Axe- Axe belongs to one of the FMCG giants Unilever and it has seen a fall in market share as Axe was one fo the largest deo brands in 2016 and 2017 in India.
ITC made the first big disruption to the deo industry with the launch in 2017 of a pocket deo, followed later by others such as Park Avenue, Wild Stone and Axe.
Sameer Satpathy, Chief Executive (personal care), ITC, pointed out that for the past three years, Engage has been rising at 17-18 percent, including the deodorant market, and its key growth driver is the pocket perfume segment. The pocket perfume category now accounts for 4% of the overall deodorant market. The ITC top brass is optimistic that Fogg will be eventually taken over by Engage.
It will be interesting to see how this competiton in the deo market shapes up.
