Personal hygiene undeniably holds central importance during times of health crises like these. As such, a lot depends on the personal hygiene brands to keep up with the changing needs of the times and offer the right products. Besides the increased demand for hygiene-based products in the skincare/ body grooming category, we also see that consumers are not just demanding a new type of product from the market, their whole nature of demand has changed. Let’s analyze the entire situation in this article. 

The personal hygiene brands, having faced various challenges associated with the pandemic in the last two years, seem to have perfected their product lineup to match the ever-evolving demand. Consequently, without doing further experimentations, many brands are sticking to their existing products and categories. 

Gurugram-based personal hygiene brand Pee Safe, for instance, has witnessed 80 percent YOY growth in the year 2020-2021 and has also introduced 25+ products under 4 different brands, and currently, it intends to expand its skin-care brand - FURR with more personal care products pertaining to the category.

Vikas Bagaria, Founder, Pee Safe says, “Pee Safe introduced and launched various hygiene essentials such as hand sanitizers, surface disinfectants, and protectants under its sub-brand Raho Safe in the year 2020, at the start of the pandemic. During the first wave, these products were in high demand, and they have remained so throughout."

"We truly believe these products were created with the sole purpose of fighting Covid-19 and staying safe, as they have remained in high demand ever since. Keeping this in mind, we have decided not to produce similar products and will instead promote our existing products, such as multipurpose surface protectants, hand sanitizers, and hand-wash,” Bagaria further added. 

Another personal hygiene brand Soothe Healthcare, which witnessed 100 percent Year-on-Year growth from 2019 till date, has built on the strategies devised to counteract the first pandemic wave. 

"Within a year of the pandemic hitting us, we have reassessed, adapted, and created a hybrid work model which is a flexible way of functioning that allows us to continue manufacturing and cater to the market needs while adhering to the government protocols," said Sahil Dharia, Founder & CEO, Soothe Healthcare.

Reportedly, almost every e-commerce player is seeing a huge demand for health and wellness products over the last week, including a 34 percent increase in demand for masks. This demand is only going to increase going forward as the number of cases keeps increasing.  

Consequently, many brands, on the other hand, are going the extra mile this time to mitigate the health challenges of their consumers. 

Rajaram Consumer Care (RCC), for instance, had pre-empted the rise in cases, and to meet the demand it has expanded its general trade and distribution network to 4 states.

Rajvardhan Patil, Partner, and Managing Director, Rajaram Consumer Care said, “Through our online channels like Flipkart and Amazon, we are trying to reach consumers across India including Bihar, Haryana, Jharkhand, Odisha, Telangana, Karnataka, Assam, Kerala among other bigger states. As part of our community outreach, we have reached out to hospitals and communities in Mumbai through various NGOs to ensure basic hygiene.”

Focus on R&D

Apart from increasing their service areas, given the demand, the personal hygiene companies are also bringing in innovative products to fill the market gaps, if any. 

"Additionally, the brand is expected to expand on the Solvex Brand – a surface disinfectant aerosol was also introduced to help communities eliminate the spread of the virus. In Q4 – RCC plans to introduce a toilet seat disinfectant to ensure every public toilet seat is safe for men/ women and to reduce the spread of any germs and viruses," Patil further stated. 
 
Consequently, several of the brands also feel that this is just the right time to invest in R&D and brand awareness to capture a bigger pie in the market. 

Patil stated, “The company is in the growth stage, where maximum resources are spent on increasing distribution, brand awareness, and R&D. We see this as a crucial stage in our life cycle as a company."

With the increased health consciousness, the demand for better products in terms of quality and effectiveness is only likely to increase from here on. Looking at globally, the health and hygiene market is forecasted to reach $ 87.90 billion by 2025, witnessing growth at a CAGR of 4.50 percent, over the period 2021-2025. 

“Today's consumer is evolving and looking for time-conserving, sustainable and hygienic products, and to meet those needs consumer's evolving psyche is required, just like adaptable consumer needs, products also are also evolving,” said Harry Sehrawat, Co-Founder, Sanfe. 

The rapid growth in the sector is thus paralleled with rapid change in consumer demand. The brands are now relying on various metrics and data analytics to figure out what the consumer wants given the varied type of products available, even in a niche segment like personal hygiene, which holds massive potential in the current times.