"India is a continent and not a country for us"

SCA India, the Rs 85,000 crore personal hygiene and baby care products manufacturing company, started rolling out their hygiene and baby care products in India with a mission to improve the country’s hygiene condition.

 

In an exclusive conversation, Cecilia Edebo, Managing Director, SCA India, highlights the company’s plans of lowering Infant Mortality rate in India and the bottlenecks that prevail in this segment.

 

What has been your operational model in the country?

We started our journey in India three years back and since then have been selling our products- Libero and Tempo mostly through Kirana shops, online players and also through some shop-in shop formats. We sell through distributors and we are present in over 1, 00 000 retail shops, including modern trade and online. 

 

What was the rationale behind entering Indian market?

We are selling personal care products in India, including baby care products, tissue etc. For us and many FMCG companies, India is a very promising market. If we look at our product categories, the market is quite underdeveloped and small, as of now, but going forward, this is going to be a big market for us. For that matter, we will observe what others have done and then we will combine with the knowledge and expertise from across the world and implement the best practices in our business execution. In fact, we have done this already and launched our baby care product Libero and tissue and hand sanitiser brand Tempo in November 2013. We see India as a continent and not as a country and so we have been carefully rolling out, as every market is different. We started rolling out in Maharashtra and Goa in 2013 Nov- Dec and then gradually expanded to other states. 

 

How do you find the personal hygiene and baby care market in India?

The market is good and I’m very fortunate that I’m here in India because with the line of personal care products we have, these directly contribute to the Swachh Bharat campaign. Aside, there are plenty of health problems in India caused due to dirty hands and our products are surely going to make a difference to fight these diseases. In a way, that is going to contribute in eradicating Infant Mortality rate too. We have special dedicated team to educate the pregnant women of India on products to choose along with nutritional benefits as well. Additionally, we provide training to midwives, doctors, including to-be mothers about personal hygiene matters. 

 

What is the size of baby care market in India and what is the percentage of growth of this segment?

Baby care market in India stands at Rs 4, 500 crore and among the various segments it has, the diaper segment is growing at a constant rate of 30 per cent in India. 

 

How retailing is different in India than in Sweden?

Sanitation is very bad in India as in the country the per capita tissue paper consumption is 15 grams per individual, whereas in England it is 23 kg. However, the country is seeing massive change in this segment and people are waking up to this call of personal hygiene. In Sweden, people are educated and aware, whereas in India, largely people are not educated about keeping personal hygiene. In terms of retailing, in India, 90 per cent retailers are traditional kirana shops, whereas in UK, 90 per cent of retailing is modern. 

 

What makes retailing in India unique and challenging at the same time?

The kiranas and their trading make India different than other countries as they don’t understand what to keep in their stores. The fact is that a disease like loose motion is not caused by bad food in India, but due to dirty hands, and therefore, we have tied up with CCD and Mc Donald’s to provide hand sanitisers and tissue. 

 

How is eCommerce helping you?

eCommerce is a good step as people can access a lot of products through online using their mobile phones. 

 

You are the 2nd largest baby diaper manufacturer of the world, what’s your brand positioning for India?

We have similar positioning all over the world; we are high quality baby care product and a world-class hygiene company.

 

What product innovation you are aiming at in near future?

Wait and watch. Only time will reveal that soon!