MUMBAI: It has ambitions to hand its rivals a beating. HUL‘s Lifebuoy Hand Santiser had been launched in select markets last year. The company is now launching the product nationally at all leading medical and departmental stores at a price of Rs 50 for a 55 ml bottle.
The Lifebuoy Hand Sanitizer is a convenient, accessible and easy-to-use way to keep ones hands germ-free, even in the absence of water, making it almost unique. For those interested in its contents, it is an ethyl-alcohol based hand sanitizer (95% v/v), which kills 99.99%of germs, including the deadly H1N1 virus. Moisturisers and vitamin E, make it tough on germs, yet gentle on hands, keeping the skin healthy and supple.
Since it does not need to be washed off with water, Lifebuoy‘s hand sanitizer can be used anywhere and protects one against both direct (for example, shaking hands with a person with cold, flu, eye infection or a stomach infection etc.) and indirect contact (for example, touching a doorknob handled by an infected person) with the disease causing viruses.
Godrej Consumer Products, Paras Pharmaceuticals, Wipro Consumer Care and Himalya Herbal Healthcare are already established players in the Indian hand sanitizer market. All the three sold a record number of hand sanitizers during the H1N1 scare, almost 300% of their normal sales, and since then their product popularity has soared.
Wipro Consumer Care‘s Chandrika hand sanitizer, Godrej Protekt Instant Hand Sanitizer, Paras Pharaceutical‘s DermiCool Skin Defense Instant Hand Sanitizer, Himalya Herbal Healthcare‘s Pure Hands and Clarus Instant Hand Sanitizer are the current big brands within the Indian hand sanitizer market of the India.
According to a Nielsen study, sales of hand sanitizers in the US soared 245% on reports of the H1N1 flu strain. In the UK, hand sanitizers have grown three-folds since the HINI scare broke. This sudden surge in demand around the world has brought alive an almost non-existent market, where the only available hand sanitizers were expensive imported brands.
