Why the ₹10,000 crore baby care market is starved of brands

Sonepur Mela, held in the outskirts of Patna during the winter months of November-December is Asia’s largest cattle fair. Apart from buying and selling cattle, people from adjoining villages also visit the mela to shop and entertain themselves. For FMCG companies setting up stalls at the mela is imperative. At Reckitt Benckiser’s Vicks counter, we observed an interesting trend – consumers were buying more Vicks BabyRub than the flagship Vicks VapoRub. And, they were happy to pay a premium for the former. At the adjoining Emami BoroPlus stall, there were more takers for BoroPlus moisturiser. A significant number of consumers were also buying BoroPlus antiseptic cream to use as a nappy rash cream.

Is there a spurt in demand for baby care products? Or, are Indian consumers finally growing out of their dependence on Johnson’s Baby? After all, generations of Indians have grown up using Johnson’s Baby products. Ever since the company has faced lawsuits about its talc products its market share has plummeted. But despite that, there aren’t too many choices of brands for consumers at the mass end. India’s Rs 10,000 crore Baby care products market has always been a two-player category – Johnson’s Baby and Himalaya. Emami’s recent foray into baby care with BoroPlus From Maa, seeks to fill the imminent gap in the market. But the likes of Reckitt Benckiser or even Dabur are happy with having just one-two baby products in their portfolio.

“Our master brand, BoroPlus, is amongst the most highly recalled and trusted skincare brand in India. We are known for the last 45 years for high quality, herbal, natural products. The fact that BoroPlus antiseptic cream is already used as a diaper rash cream for babies because of zinc-oxide as an ingredient, put us in a unique position to enter the baby care segment,” explains Vikas Srivastava, AVP (marketing), Emami.

The Kolkata-headquartered FMCG major claims it has designed the BoroPlus From Maa portfolio around traditional nourishing elements combined with clinical backing. The initial rollout includes seven products - baby lotion, baby cream, baby soap, baby shampoo, baby massage oil, baby powder and baby diaper rash cream. “We are an organisation that is deeply rooted in ayurveda. So, we said we will definitely kind of go back to the wisdom ayurveda. But we also made sure we deployed the best of science to understand what's exactly the precise dose we need to offer to baby skin which is extremely sensitive and delicate,” says Punita Kalra, CEO (R&D), Emami.

Not Too Many Takers

The baby care FMCG market over the past decade has seen action mostly in the premium and D2C space. Brands such as Mamaearth, Baby Sparsh and Baby Forest have been dominating conversations. There are a few global brands such as Cetaphil and Chicco, but they cater to a niche. Why aren’t there enough contenders when the market is growing by 15%-16% year-on-year? Even Emami has chosen to first roll out its products on ecommerce and quick commerce platforms and launch in general trade eventually. “The category has remained small because it runs on trust. The entry barriers of trust are extremely high, therefore not too many players have been able to sustain at scale,” says Srivastava.

The restrictions on the use of a number of ingredients and formulations on baby skin is also a reason why most skincare care brands hesitate from the entering the baby segment. Around 60%-70% ingredients permitted for adult skin or hair aren’t allowed for baby products. No wonder the likes of Mamaearth has forayed into adult skincare as focusing just on baby care would have made them a niche. Building a baby care brand at scale isn’t easy.

However, premium D2C brands, says Avantika Gupta, category head (Baby), Mamaearth, Honasa Consumer, have played a role in challenging the status quo in the industry. “If you walked into a baby-care aisle ten years ago, it was, in many ways, a category built on inherited trust. Parents often chose the brands their families had grown up with, and the decision was less about comparing formulations or reading labels and more about familiarity: “this is what we have always used.” The category was not dormant because there was a lack of interest. It was dormant because there was very little reason to question the status quo. There was limited choice, limited information and not much conversation around what went into everyday baby-care products.”

Questioning Status Quo

In a category like baby care, the back of the pack is as important as the front. Earlier mothers went to a paediatrician for consultation as to what they should apply on their baby’s skin, today the Internet gives them all the information. “Ingredients are being read, unfamiliar names are being searched, products are compared and reviews are checked before a purchase is made,” points out Mamaearth’s Gupta.  

“When Mamaearth entered the category in 2016, it came from a very personal problem that Varun (Alagh) and Ghazal (Alagh) experienced as new parents. They were looking for products for their child and found themselves questioning what went into everyday baby-care products. That question became the starting point for Mamaearth: can we build baby products around the concerns of today's parents rather than simply around the conventions of yesterday,” she adds.

The category has moved from reassurance to evidence. Instead of looking at a lotion, shampoo or wash as a generic product, consumers are looking for solutions around specific needs, age groups and skin concerns. The focus on specific solutions has also led to the launch of prestige baby care brands such as Baby Forest, which are priced 25%-30% higher than Mamaearth or Mother Sparsh.

For Gagan Agarwal, founder, Baby Forest, the definition of natural transcends beyond regulator-approved norms. “All baby care brands in India abide the norms laid down by the regulators. However, for me, it wasn't 100% natural because to be 100% natural, there are many other certifications required, where each and every ingredient has to be natural.”

Agarwal says just following the regulator specified norms of being natural was a route that he could have opted for. “I chose to painstakingly chose my ingredients and give the highest quality product.” Being 100% natural obviously comes at a cost!