L’Oreal Getting Real

It's a sunny afternoon outside a department store in Kalpakkam and I was searching for some regular items in the shop when this beautiful, eye catching and attractive product caught my attention. The product says ‘Garnier Fructis Fortifying Shampoo + Oil 2 in 1, Cleanses like Shampoo Cares like Oil’. This rare  combination catering to the needs of fast lifestyles with traditional values astonished me for a while and hence I picked up the bottle to further see its specifications. To my surprise, I found that the name behind this product was the famous French high end brand called ‘L’Oreal’.

 I further tried to see some other products and was amazed to see that the entire counter was full of various offerings made by L’Oreal through its brand name ‘Garnier’ along with some traditional products by ‘L’Oreal Paris’. Garnier came to India with its range of shampoos. The brand is now a mass market brand which specifically targets the middle income markets at affordable prices. It was very exciting to see that a luxury brand from France has penetrated deep into the roots of India to places such as these competing with local majors like Ayur, Chick and Himalaya.

 A very important factor that I noticed was the product range that has been offered by these two brands. It has a mix of various beauty care products which mainly includes hair care, skin care. Under these segments there is a lot of variation and innovation available at the counters both with respect to the products as well as pricing and positioning. Starting from the ‘Garnier light fairness facewash’, ‘Garnier light dry moisturizer’ to a wide variety of options available for men such as ‘Garnier Men Power Light Intensive fairness facewash’, each product has something unique that makes it a very tempting choice for the customer. It was also exciting to see the adaptations that have been made in the product range which completely suits the local environment and culture of this place.  For instance items like ‘Color Naturals’ and dry moisturizes along with variety of fairness products are available in plenty on the shelves which specifically targets customer sentiments and expectations and hence have been positioned very smartly in the market place.

Although ‘L’Oreal’ as a brand itself was not available easily in these local markets except a limited stock of regular shampoos, 'Garnier' has undoubtedly been able to get a lot of visibility in this part of country due to its focus on the local markets and diversified product line along with brand extension and competitive pricing.