Birla Cellulose carves category for disposable natural wipes

Tag : natural fibre


The disposable wipes market is
estimated at Rs 50 crore. The sector in India is currentlyfragmented and unorganised, with a couple of national brands suchas Fresh Ones.
Purvita Chatterjee
Mumbai, June 23 With a forward integration strategy, BirlaCellulose (the fibre division of the Aditya Birla group) hasentered the disposable natural wipes category, taking the onus ofcreating a new FMCG segment in the country.
Segmenting its disposable wipes under brands such as Kara(skincare), Purreta (Baby care), Prim (homecare) and Handy (handsantizers), the fibre maker will now sport its branded wipes withvalue-added ingredients.
With a special focus on the institutional segment, Birla Celluloseis planning to tie up with airlines, travel agencies, pharmacompanies and schools to promote and build this sector. Turnover target
Mr Vijay Kaul, Chief Marketing Officer, Birla Cellulose, said,“We are targeting a turnover of between Rs 30-40 crore in thefirst year of launch and have the onus of creating the disposablewipes segment in the country.”
Focussing on institutional sales, the fibre maker is also planningto tie up with Kingfisher Airlines to promote its range ofdisposable wipes and with travel agencies like Akbar travelsbesides reaching out to doctors and students.
“For our hand sanitizing wipes, we are planning to promote itto pharma companies and doctors and even take the product toschools,” says Mr Kaul. Instead of using the product from abottle, the value-added wipes are being positioned as an easier andconvenient way of using the product.
“Our pricing for the wipes is significantly cheaper than theprice charged for a bottle of the same product, be it handsanitizer or a sunblock wipe,” adds Mr Kaul. Market watch
The disposable wipes market is estimated at Rs 50 crore. The sectorin India is currently fragmented and unorganised, with a couple ofnational brands like Fresh Ones.
“Most of the wipes made are synthetic while ours would be thefirst natural wipe in the category. In fact, we now have to createa segment for natural wipes as it is forward integration of ourcurrent business,” says Mr Kaul.
Birla Cellulose has appointed Contract Advertising in Mumbai tocreate a campaign for its new wipes, and has assigned an ad budgetof Rs 10-12 crore for the same.
“Wipes is a $9-billion market worldwide. We have the job ofeducating consumers about the segment and depending on how itgrows, we will tap into new areas,” says Mr Kaul.
At the same time, there are plans to take the branded wipes toneighboring countries of South Asia such as Nepal and Bangladesh.
“There are plans to take the brands abroad to the South Asiancountries and there would be local distributors for thesemarkets,” said Mr Kaul.
More Stories on : New Products & Services | Personal Products
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page