Boom in men’s grooming, category valued upwards of Rs 10,000 cr: Experts

For decades, the beauty and grooming market has been targetting women consumers, with a cursory nod to men. Products have been specifically made for women and there was hardly any product aimed at men, barring shaving creams, aftershave lotions, shaving razors, colognes and fragrances.

Times have changed now, with more and more men are taking care about their looks and following a more elaborate grooming ritual. For long, men have had to use products meant for women. Parlour visits were limited to haircuts and shaves. Now men are not hesitant to go for face and skin treatments, experiment with hair colour, pedicure and manicure, waxing, applying moisturisers and even fairness creams. Even men with beards are now using products to groom their facial hair.

All-in-all, it is a booming market. The Indian and global men’s grooming industry is expected to grow between 7-9% CAGR between 2023 and 2030 than what it is now. Men today are more open to experiment with holistic regimens, spend more time pampering themselves with excellent personal care items. They go to salons more frequently, indulge in activities that they would normally avoid.

“Today, the Men’s Grooming and Personal Care category is valued upwards of Rs 10,000 crore,” says Rohit Taneja, Director Consumer Insights and Consumer Delight at Bombay Shaving Company. He further noted, “With a more self-conscious generation of men, more informative content and proliferation of platforms like D2C, Social commerce and quick commerce, personal care is closer to men than ever before.”

For a long time men’s grooming meant basic shaving kits and aftershaves in Musk, Lime or Classic fragrance. Only in recent years have companies begun to address the needs of the newly emerging male customer. There is now a wealth of products for men, ranging from fresh fragrances, face washes and creams, soaps to hair care products that are specially tailored to the needs of the male scalp.

Manscaping, once considered a taboo, is another opportunistic area for market participants. Today, most men opt for hair removal creams or sprays that are specially made for them. Also, numerous brands add men's intimate hygiene products to their products.

Rajat Tuli, Co Founder, Ustraa, noted, “The growth is being driven by the desire of the Indian male to look good, he is no longer shy to groom himself to look better. This is attributed to multiple factors like social media apps like Instagram, selfie culture and role models like Virat Kohli.”

With the increasing adoption of the Internet, and social media, online sales channels have gained traction, particularly since the pandemic. In order to extend their online presence and reach a larger audience, more and more firms are engaging in targeted marketing and forming collaborations with top e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart. Furthermore, features such as significant discounts, speedy doorstep deliveries, and simple financing choices provided by online portals are fueling the expansion of the men's grooming business in India.

When asked about what works best while marketing products for men’s grooming, Bombay Shaving’s Rohit Taneja said, “We have gradually transitioned from performance marketing to brand marketing. Three levers have worked well: 1) Build a strong emotional brand to connect with consumers; 2) Creating always-on informative content to help men make better grooming decisions; and 3) Engage ‘cultural-game changers’ as faces of the brand to influence communities for the better. R Ashwin, Alaya F, Rannvijay Singh, Shakti Kapoor, Rajat Kapoor, Karthik Aaryan, and a host of Mumbai Indians stars have represented the BSC brand in its journey so far.”

Ustraa’s Rajat Tulli added here, “Till you attain a certain scale, online advertising still remains the best way to promote your brand, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube remain the most viable channels till the brand is big enough to go mass media. We use influencers mainly to review our products, often in the case of products that have a lot of explanations, influencers are a big help. Big influencers with huge following are a media channel in themselves and they are used to amplify our ad messaging as well as for paid promotion of products.”

Adgully also reached out to various other men’s grooming brands for this story, however we did not get any revert from them at the time of filing this story.