Hygiene as a category has seen a huge growth in the last one and a half years due to the ongoing pandemic. Piramal Pharma Limited’s consumer healthcare business, whose brands include Saridon, Lacto Calamine, I-Pill, Supradyn, Polycrol, among others, launched its Tri-Activ portfolio to include sanitizers, disinfectant liquid, mask, hand rub and sprays, as part of its response to Covid-19. “There were two months of high business impact during the first wave of the pandemic. We started pivoting around new pipelines as the pandemic was also throwing opportunities for new products to be launched. We entered the disinfectants category for the first time under the brand name Tri-Activ and witnessed a good response. As we were quick to launch products around this segment, we were able to recover a large portion of the loss in sales through the new portfolio,” Nitish Bajaj, CEO, consumer products division, Piramal Enterprises Limited, told BrandWagon Online.
The company further claims that today these pandemic-specific products account for about two-three percent of the turnover of the consumer healthcare business. To further build on this, it aims to expand the Tri-Activ portfolio to include other hygiene products such as floor cleaners, liquid hand wash and soaps in the next financial year.
According to the financial reports accessed on the company’s website, Piramal Enterprises posted net sales of Rs 12,809 in FY21 compared to Rs 13,068 crore in FY20. Of this, the pharma business (including the consumer products division) accounted for about 45% of the net sales at Rs 5,776 crore. The share of Piramal’s consumer healthcare business stood at about Rs 520 crore, as per the reports. In FY21, the consumer healthcare business spent close to Rs 80-100 crore on marketing, Bajaj stated.
Going forward, the aim is to continue its investment of 15-20% of gross revenue on marketing the consumer healthcare division. “We are also foraying into our own direct-to-consumer website to be able to sell our products directly. As part of this, digital platforms such as social media (Facebook, Instagram) will be used significantly to drive the traffic towards our website. While this varies by brand, 20% of our marketing investments will be in the space of digital,” he added. It also aims to continue investing in marketing on e-commerce marketplaces where the products are available.
Interestingly, in Q1 FY22 the India consumer healthcare business recorded revenue growth of 73% to Rs 181 crore. The company claims that the Covid care portfolio exhibited strong growth during the quarter. It also launched the home Covid detection kit (Covifind) in July 2021. Furthermore, it also claims that e-commerce accounts for about 10-12% of the overall business compared to about 6-7% in the pre-pandemic period for the consumer healthcare division. The company’s products are available across 22 e-commerce portals such as Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, among others. Besides, it also covers about 2,00,000 chemists and 50,000 non-chemist stores.
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