Beauty market now to cash men

With an increasing number of men thronging saloons for variety of beauty treatments such as manicures, pedicures and getting facials among other beauty enhancing techniques, cosmetic companies are now targeting the ‘untapped’ market for their products, men.

“We started out because as per our research, there was indeed a great demand for male fairness cream. The market share of our cream is about 20 per cent. Since, the overall fairness cream market is about Rs 275 crore, it means that a large amount of men are still using the fairness cream meant for girls,” says Mohan Goenka, Director, Emami Group, who were the first to launch an exclusive fairness cream for men.

“The market for men cosmetics is growing in India,” he adds while pointing out the company is all set to launch 18 new products in the next one year. But, a growing segment of men are buying all products ranging from body lotions to wrinkle free creams.
“According to industry estimates, the skincare market in India has been growing at 16 per cent annually and is currently valued at Rs 2,100 crore”.

The latest entrant to this sector is an international brand of skincare product, which has signed up a former beauty queen to promote it. “Our target is not just the women but also men,” said a senior executive of the company. So, are Indian men really becoming more conscious of their looks or is it just a hype since, products mean exclusively for men are just limited to fairness creams?”