Himalaya Drug Company to expand retail presence

Chennai: Himalaya Drug Company plans to expand its retail presence over the next two years, focusing on "differentiated products that will marry science with cosmetics," according to Saket Gore, business head for Himalaya''s consumer products division.

The company plans to ramp up the count of its exclusive stores to 300 by the end of 2009, from the present 150. it also reports success in experimenting with 60-70 sq ft self-contained shop-in-shop model in large retail format departmental stores. It now plans to will set up more of them.

According to the company, the shop-in-shop model worked really well in the South, which has seen a proliferation of 30 such shops.

Himalaya markets 130 products across various divisions, including pharmaceuticals and consumer products. The consumer products division''s focus at the present time is on skin, hair and oral care segments. The company reportedly has several launches in the offing over the coming months, and is capitalising on the ''neem'' category by developing a complete range around it.

The ''neem'' category includes a face wash, face pack, neem supplement, with the company planning the launch of a soap and a face wash in a different delivery format sometime soon. The neem face wash is the largest independently selling product in the category with a 16 per cent market share, even though Garnier has a larger 18.5 per cent share of the market in the category, on account of a larger number of variants.

Himalaya''s consumer products division reports the skincare segment growing at 30-35 per cent annually, accounting for 50 per cent of the turnover. The hair care segment bring in 32 per cent of turnover. The company has launched a new TVC, which urges consumers make Himalaya their first option, not the last resort.

In a shift in its advertising strategy, the company has done away with the grandmother synonymous with its erstwhile campaigns, choosing to go in for a youth appeal now. The older campaign was hugely successful in establishing the brand, by communicating the relevance and efficacy of Ayurveda, and now the company wants to address the youth directly.