COVID-19 fallout | Personal care products witness 33% drop in April sales; sanitisers, soaps buck the trend

Sale of sanitisers and handwashes grew 22 percent in April, revealed data from Bizom.

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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State and local-level lockdowns across the country have hit the sales of personal care products such as shampoos, conditioners and face washes. The products in the essential bucket such as soaps and sanitisers, however, have witnessed a spike in demand.

According to data from market intelligence platform Bizom, the sales of overall personal care products declined 33.8 percent month-on-month (MoM) in April.

“Most discretionary products in the personal care category have witnessed a big drop due to restrictions across the country,” said Akshay D’souza, Chief Marketing Officer, Bizom.

With the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the consumers are restricted to their homes again and hence are using less of these products resulting in the sales drop, informed D’souza.

The essential products such as sanitisers and soaps, meanwhile, witnessed double-digit growth in April over March. Bathing soaps registered an 11 percent MoM growth in April, while sanitisers and handwashes grew 22 percent MoM during the period, revealed data from Bizom.

As per the findings of the market intelligence platform, the sale of products such as surface cleaners and vegetable cleaners is yet to take off in the Indian market. Several companies such as Marico, Dabur India, and RB had introduced products under the home care category which promised protection from the COVID-19 virus.

“These products seem to be just a fad and there is almost no uplift seen in sales of these products even with the recent wave,” said D’souza.

Though most FMCG companies have reported robust earnings for the fourth quarter ended March, they have cautioned an impact on sales due to lockdowns in various going ahead. The companies might not witness an impact as drastic as the last year when FMCG sales contracted by 19 percent in the second quarter of the calendar year 2020. The analysts still expect a dent in their earnings for the current quarter.