• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

The dragon tempts the Indian Eve

Ratna Bhushan

Nithya Subramanian

NEW DELHI, July 25

LIPSTICK for Rs 40, eye pencil for Rs 20, a 12-shade eyeshadow set for Rs 130 and much more! All snazzily packaged. No, this is not a roadside shop selling sub-standard stuff. This is the dragon spitting more fire -- this time targeted directly at the fa irer sex.

The latest Chinese onslaught to hit domestic shop counters is a series of colour and skin cosmetics. Davis, BR and Arezia are just three among the several obscure Chinese cosmetics brands doing the rounds, at least in the metros.

While marketers of organised cosmetics are brushing aside the onslaught as a serious threat to their bottomlines, offtake of the stuff from across the border is good, and gradually on the rise.

Retailers, too, seem to be going the extra mile to push these products. ``The quality of the products is good and the prices are much lower than brands like Revlon, Maybelline and even Lakme. Therefore, Chinese cosmetics are proving to be a hit, especial ly among the college going crowd,'' said a Delhi-based retailer.

While Lakme-Lever's Elle 18 brand also targets teenagers and could be hit by the Chinese attack, Hindustan Lever's official spokesperson denied that the latter was a threat. ``Our brand is very competitively placed against any kind of imports. We benchma rk against the best international brands in terms of quality and costing. So we do not see these brands as a threat.''

The HLL spokesperson also added that with most Lakme-Lever products now available in sachets and mini packs, the umbrella brand has managed to break the high price barrier.

In fact, most cosmetics brands such as Revlon and Oriflame have either already forayed into the sachets segment, or are planning to shortly.

``The spread of Chinese cosmetics does not impact us, as the brand has international credentials,'' said a Revlon official.

Marketers of organised cosmetic brands also question the safety aspect of these cheap products. ``While our products undergo stringent quality control and have been tried and tested over the years, the quality aspect of the Chinese products is suspect,'' said the HLL official.

All the same, branded players are not really on a roll. The size of the colour cosmetics market, which was estimated at Rs 270 crore early this year, has been near-stagnant especially in urban areas. Even last year, this market registered a growth of onl y 10 per cent. And the attack from the Chinese frontier is only going to make matters worse.