The hair colorants market has two distinct segmentsthe professional coloring service offered by

salons and the DIY at-home hair color market. LOral Professionnel, followed by Schwarzkopf and
Wella, dominate the professional market. This segment has seen steady growth, predominantly in
the metropolitan market since the tier two market consumers are slower to warm up to the
relatively higher pricing of these color services.
However, it is the at-home hair color market that has really excited the big marketers. It is the
market that is generating the highest volumes for most of them, but it is also the segment that is
facing stiff competition as many national and international brands compete for consumers share of
mind, heart and wallet. Some key brands in this market have been indicated below
Brand Shares - The at-home market:

Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) is the overall market leader in the hair colour category
deriving nearly 15 per cent of its domestic revenues from hair colour. Though it has dominated the
powder hair colour segment in India with a market share of 33 per cent in this segment (Source: AC
Nielsen), however it has yet to obtain a firm footing in the cream hair colour format.
Currently, the top end of the hair colour market in the cream segment is dominated by L'Oreal (60
per cent) followed by Streax (9 per cent). The colour cream category is skewed towards the urban
metros while the powders are being used mostly by Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Vasmol from HRIPL
(Hygienic Research Institute Pvt. Ltd.) tops the emulsion-based segment with a 91 per cent share by
value. Indian hair colour brands such as Godrej Kali Mehandi, Black Rose Kali Mehandi (Henna Export
Corporation), and Indica (CavinKare) contain natural colouring agents such as henna/mehandi and
thus are perceived to provide a more natural way to colour hair.


Hair colour in India is just one-tenth of the soap market by value. This is in sharp contrast to the rest
of the world where hair colour is actually twice its size. Industry research attributes this to the fact
that only 20% of Indian women use hair colour as compared to 90% in developed markets.
Players in Indian hair colour industry are:
Godrej, Loreal, HENNA EXPORT CORPORATION, HYGIENIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Vasmol, Streax,
PROCTLER & GAMBLE, CAVINKARE

Following are the strategies they follow:

Various competitive strategies that have been being adopted by the players to gain competitive
advantage over the other are identified below.
Godrej Consumer Products Limited
Industry: Hair Dye Market
Products: Expert Powder Hair Dye & Expert Liquid Hair Dye6
Target Market: People with grey hair (usually 35+)
Competitors: LOreal- Casting crme Gloss (Glossy Black Collection), Colour Mate
Competitive Strategies: Market Leader Strategy- Being the dominant firm in the hair dye industry the
Godrej tends to control the prices and the product features. Imitating it the LOreal has recently
launched the Glossy Black collection specifically serving the people with grey hair.
Counteroffensive Defence- Godrej decision to expand its product range by coming up with hair
colour in addition to hair dyes in the powder, liquid and cream form is a clear indication of it trying
to attack LOreal for the damage being so caused due to introduction of such hair colours.
Differentiation Focus Strategy- Godrej was the first company to introduce the concept of sachets
where by hair dyes were made available in sachets.
Cost Leadership Strategy- Such sachets were being provided throughout the industry at 10 rupees
each.
Industry: Hair Colour Market
Products: Expert Powder Hair Colour & Expert Liquid Hair Colour
Target Market: Young Generation
Competitors: LOreal, Streax
Competitive Strategies: Market Follower Strategy- Godrej has launched its hair colour range
following the footsteps of LOreal. It has come up with exactly the similar product range as of
LOreal.
Initiator- Godrej is almost providing the replica of LOreals and Streaxs hair colour range but by
altering the packaging, promotion and price.

LOreal:
Industry: Hair Colour Cream Market
Products: Casting crme Gloss, Excellence Creme, Professional Series7
Target Market: Young Generation
Competitors: Wella, Schwarzkopf, Godrej Renew (Cream Based Hair Colour)
Competitive Strategies: Market Leader Strategy- Controlling the 60% share in the hair cream industry
the LOreal tends satisfy the needs of young generation by providing them with a wide variety of
colours and premium quality.
Position Defence- LOreal subsequent to its introduction has been endorsed by big guns. Ashwariya
Rai has been the brand ambassador of its hair colour products. This technique symbolises the
manoeuvred approach of LOreal to lure more customers and to create a brand image that is
impregnable by others.
Differentiation Strategy- LOreal charges premium prices for the cream based hair colours making
itself unique in terms of quality over the others.
Differentiation Focus Strategy- LOreal was the first brand to come up with the Professional Series
basically to cater to the needs of hair experts and this professional series is only available in saloons.

Indica:
Industry: Henna Based Hair Colour Market
Products: Indica 10 minutes Herbal Hair Colour8
Target Market: People preferring henna based products
Competitors: Super Vasmol Aamla Herbal Powder Hair Colour, Black Rose Kali Mehndi
Competitive Strategies: Market Challenger- Though being a new entrant as the henna based
colourants Indica has offered a competition to the market leader Vasmol because of it being
supported by a brand name CavinKare so there is no dearth of resources.
Flank Attack- It has targeting the segmental weakness of the market leader by providing a hair
colourant to the masses that only requires 10 minutes to do the colouring work whereas the
conventional brands take around 30-45 minutes to do the same.