Bisleri eyes hygiene segment, launches hand purifiers

Bisleri’s new range of hand sanitisers, called hand purifiers, has a premium packaging and comes in three flavours such as aloe vera, glycerin and floral fragrance and gel and spray variants

Bottled-water company Bisleri is the latest entrant in the hand-sanitisers market, a segment that has witnessed a host of new launches since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country last year.

Bisleri, however, is eying a larger play in the hygiene segment and claims to be “not just another player which is trying to ride the hygiene wave” and is counting on the increased penetration of the category.

“The product has become a permanent fixture at the urban households and the trend is going to sustain even in a post-pandemic era,” Angelo George, CEO, Bisleri International, told Moneycontrol.

Recent data from Kantar shows the penetration for sanitisers in the country has risen from 1.2 percent between March 2019 – February 2020 to 50 percent during the first 12 months of the pandemic.

Bisleri’s new range of hand sanitisers, called hand purifiers, has a premium packaging and comes in three flavours -- By The Bay, Lovely and Hello Sunshine  and gel and spray variants.

“We had to launch a differentiated product to compete with the products already present in the market and hence we decided against launching a plain sanitiser,” George added.

The company has priced the product in Rs 25-120 range. A 50 ml bottle of the gel variant is priced at Rs 25.

Bisleri plans to tap its reach for bottled water to launch the product, which will initially be available in about half of its 5 lakh outlets across the country. It is focussing on urban areas for the product and will introduce them in large kirana stores, online channels, and modern trade.

“We have increased our presence in pharmacies in the last 12-14 months and will leverage them too for sanitisers,” informed George.

Though the company will mostly rely on digital activations for the product, it also plans to roll out a TVC on July 17.

“About 60 percent of the spending will go towards digital marketing. We have tied up with Rocky and Mayur and will be rolling out campaigns on social media and also OTT platforms,” shared George.

Bisleri plans to launch more products in the hygiene category.

Last year, several brands had entered the category to rake in out of the ‘sanitiser gold rush”. As per data from Kantar, as many as 350 brands of sanitisers were launched in the first three months of the pandemic. However, several of these companies are de-prioritising the product as the demand for the product subsides. Marico for instance does not plan to make any fresh investments in the category. Raymond Consumer Care, too, plans to maintain a strategic position in the category but it will not be a priority for the company.

Experts say that strong legacy brands, which have built their presence in the hygiene category over the years, will command the larger share of it in the long run.