Kenvue India seeing rural demand uptick, lower input costs; to invest more in advtg

Mumbai, Jun 27 (PTI) Consumer health focused Kenvue India is witnessing an uptick in rural demand and lower input costs and will invest the benefits from this back into the company to grow the business, a top official has said.

The company, which was earlier known as Johnson and Johnson Consumer Health, will be investing the benefits of the lower input costs in doing more advertising, its managing director Manish Anandani told PTI.

“We are already seeing an uptick in rural demand as we are going into the quarters. So, we are seeing some greenshoots already of the rural demand reviving in our product portfolio. We are hoping that this should help the overall economy to come back,” Anandani said.

On inflation, he said the input prices soared post-Ukraine invasion by Russia and the company opted to take a part of the hit on its profits and passed on some to the consumers. It, however, did not resort to shrinkflation, he made it clear. “The costs are coming down now, we will invest it back in the business to grow the business,” he said.

The investments will largely be in advertising spends, he said, declining to quantify the spends or the percentage increase in them. Kenvue India has an advertising strategy under which it chooses a digital first approach for the premium range of brands like Aveeno, which are sold through e-commerce platforms or in large stores, he said.

Brands like female hygiene-focused Stayfree are sold across all the segments of the economy, starting from the affluent and down to the middle income and also the aspirational, Anandani said, adding that the company prefers traditional media to advertise such products.

Stayfree is also the most active brand which is sold in the rural areas along with other products focused on babies for Kenvue, he said, pointing to estimates showing a large section of women not using such essential products which makes it an untapped opportunity for such brands.

He also said that Kenvue has some brands like Stayfree only in India, while others like digestive health-focused Orsl have grown in India. As the instances of rising temperatures increase, Anandani said 2022 alone saw 280 days of heat waves and the company sees more traction for its dehydration segment.

Also, with data showing that 50 per cent of kids have sensitive skin at birth, it also sees this as a good opportunity. At present, its products are manufactured at company-owned facilities in Himachal Pradesh’s Baddi and at Mulund in Maharashtra, he said, adding a part of the goods is also contract manufactured.

Additionally, a small portion of the premium products sold in India is imported from other markets, he said.

Anandani said India is a very important, focus market for Kenvue and the company sees business growing in the country.