Fairness Wars

BACKGROUND NOTE

In 1975, HLL launched its first fairness cream under the F&L brand . With the launch of F&L, the market, which was dominated by Ponds (Vanishing Cream and Cold Cream) and Lakme (Sunscreen Lotion), lost their dominant position. The dominance of HLL's F&L continued till 1998, when CavinKare launched its Fairever cream in direct competition with F&L.

Within six months of its launch, Fairever captured more than 6% of market share. The success of Fairever attracted other players. Every product in this segment was witnessing growth higher than the overall personal care product category growth. The fairness cream market was growing at 25% p.a., as compared to the overall cosmetic products market's growth of 15% p.a. In 2000, there were 7 main brands in the fairness product market across the country.

TABLE I
MAJOR PLAYERS IN THE FAIRNESS PRODUCTS MARKET

Company	Brand	Product Category
HLL	Fair & Lovely	Cream, Soap
Emami	Naturally Fair	Cream
CavinKare	Fairever	Cream
Paras	Freshia	Cream
Godrej	FairGlow	Soap, Cream
Ponds	Ponds fairness cream, Ponds cold cream	Cream, Lotion
Lakme	Lakme Sunscreen lotion, Lakme Sunscreen cream	Cream, Lotion

	Continued....


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