Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance takes FMCG war to HUL’s doorsteps

Reliance Consumer Products (RCPL), Mukesh Ambani’s fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) arm has forayed into the beauty, personal care (BPC) and home care space with a nation-wide ambition. The move comes weeks after the company launched an array of products in the consumer food & beverages staples space with its brand Independence.

Reliance, known for its track record of disrupting the market dynamics after venturing to a new space, is now betting heavily on the country’s Rs 5 lakh crore branded FMCG market. Having the largest network of modern retail outlets and 3 million kirana partners plays an important role in its product strategy.

But its latest move places it in direct competition with India’s largest full range FMCG player Hindustan Unilever (HUL) that, incidentally, is the market leader in the BPC and home care space. HUL owns the country the largest beauty soap and dishwasher brands - an area where RCPL has made its foray. HUL’s Lux, Dove, Pears and Lifebuoy dominate the beauty soaps market. While in the dishwasher space, it leads the market with Vim. 

RCPL, on the other hand, has come up with three brands - Glimmer in the beauty soap bar category, Get Real in the herbal-natural space and Puric in the anti-septic market. While like HUL, its dishwasher brand Dozo has been introduced to the general trade with liquid and bars. Additionally, it has introduced HomeGuard toilet and floor cleaners and Enzo laundry detergent powder, liquid and bars.

According to an RCPL spokesperson, it plans to aggressively scale up these launches through omni-channel distribution across India in the coming months. “Our ambition is to help every Indian household get access to quality products at reasonable price points. This range of home and personal care products boasts high efficacy with superior formulation. These have been developed keeping “Real India” consumer problems at their core,” the spokesperson added.

Abneesh Roy, Executive Director at Nuvama Institutional Securities said like previous new launches Ambani’s RCPL will be offering these products at “competitive prices”. However, building its brand, gaining consumers’ trust and cornering market share from established players like HUL & P&G won’t be easy.

“Will be challenging for RIL as there are well entrenched players like HUL, P&G, Reckitt, Godrej Consumer at 1 end and regional price warriors like Ghadi etc. These categories have high entry barriers of sourcing benefit in terms of scale, high advertising spends, limited shelf space in kirana and efficient supply chains,” he said.

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