Go big or go home: Wiz Care’s strategy to balance sustainability and affordability in India’s personal care mass market

Cossmic Products is an India-based fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturer established in 1978 that produces products under private labelling.

Additionally, it also develops and distributes its own personal hygiene brand Wiz Care which was founded in 2001.

The massive surge in demand for personal hygiene products in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic saw the company’s overall sales soar in 2020, growing three times over the year by March to reach INR 12Cr (U$1.64m). According to the firm, it is currently on a similar growth trajectory for 2021.

With sales of Wiz growing in India’s biggest cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bangalore, the company is looking towards expanding the brand’s footprint across India.

Speaking to CosmeticsDesign-Asia​, Reetesh Dhingra, CEO of Cossmic Products and co-founder of Wiz, said the local industry is in a midst of a massive shift and the company is aiming to stay on top by staying ahead of the new consumer behaviours.

He added that like the world at large, India was moving towards more sustainable consumption across industries, including personal care.

Over the past year, the company has noticed that its consumers have moved beyond buying standard bottles of hand soaps and refill packs and are instead opting to buy larger five litre cans.

“Our consumers are getting smarter so they tend to pick up a larger five-litre can and invest in a ceramic or stainless-steel dispenser rather than a using the regular PET bottle. We’re selling hand wash, body wash and shampoos in five litre bottles and they are doing very well,” ​said Dhingra.

The success of the brand’s jumbo-sized products has helped it to secure a spot among Amazon India’s top 10 bestseller rankings among the big multinationals.

In turn, the popularity of products in larger quantities are benefiting the manufacturer as well.

“The more you buy, the more you use. A person who buys a 250ml or 500ml bottle with ration and use much less, while a person who buys five litres is more likely to use it more freely. In the long time, it benefits the manufacture because the volume is going up,”​ said Dhingra.

The company is encouraging its consumers down a more sustainable path by also developing more conscious products.

One of its latest developments is a cleanser that can be used as a hand and a body wash. The multifunctional product will allow consumers to buy one less product without compromising on their needs.

‘Betting big’ on wet wipes

In the hygiene space, the company has observed that wet wipes are beginning to replace sanitisers as the hand hygiene product of choice.

“Sanitisers don’t offer the same cleaning properties as washing your hands, so we’re betting big on wet wipes coming up in a big way as they can remove the dirt and grime sanitisers can’t,” ​said Dhingra.

He added that coming is doing its best to ensure the wet wipes follow the same sustainable development process as its other products.

For the wipes themselves, Dhingra assured the company is staying away from polyester mixes and is working with a material made from 100% viscous fibre that is completely biodegradable.

He admitted that the pack itself is not up to the sustainable standards that the company would like, noting that the firm has the responsibility to ensure its products are affordable enough for the mass market.

To offset this, it will release larger pack sizes to help consumers reduce waste.

Aside from product development, Dhingra said the company is working to ease its impact across the entire manufacturing and supply chain.

“We look at sustainability on three levels. First is the process of manufacturing, that’s where it starts. We are moving towards core processes that don’t utilise too much heating for instance. During product development we are careful not to use too many unfriendly materials like plastic. ​

“Furthermore, we also look at distribution. We’re careful about how we choose to ship the products because we don’t want to develop a sustainable product to have it shipped all over with bubble wrap.”​