Indian Lipstick Market! Surprising! Shocking!

which i find as a really an odd market to discuss in my blog but when i did my MBA in 2003 i happened to study lipstick market of Bangalore ( bangalooru - guys lets do something better than changing names of cities)

after a gap of 5 years i still like to see what is happening with lipstick market of india

wait for surprises

according to U. K. Modi, Chairman & CEO, Modi Revlon in 2003 ( EVERY CEO is influenced by AC Nielson/ ORG MARG when it comes to numbers)

total Indian Lipstick Market size accounts for Rs.116 crore

Organised Sector - Rs.78 crore
UnOrganised sector - Rs. 38 crore

Market Leader Lakme - 40 %
Maybelling - 14%
Revlon - 19%

but a study done on 2004 says Revlon now occupies 28.6% of lipstick market


but a website "http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/how-to-buy-lipstick-656.html" says there are this much of brands available what is their share i couldnt find out but just the names will help atleast a student who is looking for this information

• Avon
• Bobbi Brown
• Clinique
• Cover Girl
• Elle 18
• Estee Lauder
• Lakme
• MAC
• Max Factor
• Maybelline
• Oriflame
• Revlon

Price

‘The mass market for lipsticks (price range between Rs 30 to Rs 100) forms 43 per cent of the total lipsticks market. The price range below Rs 30 forms roughly 48 per cent of the market. The mass premium segment (price range Rs 100 plus) is just nine per cent of the total lipsticks market, where Revlon has a market share of 80 per cent, according to ORG, with the balance held by Chambor and Lakme's Orchid.’
Lakme’s product range consists of the Elle range (priced at around Rs 30) and the medium-priced Ultra range (at around Rs 60) to the premium Orchid range of colour cosmetics priced in the range of Rs 120 to Rs 187.
French multinational L'Oreal India prices range from Rs.300 to Rs 1,500. By the end of 2001, it expects nearly 50 cities to be selling the products.
Maybelline has now introduced an Express MakeUp priced at Rs 299. L'Oreal's product of makeup currently available in the market is priced at the premium end at Rs 599. The brand is currently available in 4,000 outlets. Maybelline New York globally has 900 SKUs in colour cosmetics.
In competition with L'Oreal's Maybelline range of `transfer-resistant' lipsticks, Revlon has rolled out `ColorStay' lipsticks priced at Rs 239. The lipsticks are thus at a high premium to the Maybelline range priced at Rs 185.

amazing information that i came across in a website says this

"Did you know that 11% of rural women use lipsticks compared to just 22% of urban Indians? The Rural to Urban ratio? 3:1. Therefore more rural women uses lipsticks than urban. And the biggest selling lipstick brand in India? No, its not Lakme or Revlon. Its Raja Lipsticks." This brand has 79% of the Rural market. International brands would kill to get that kind of a penetration in the 1 billion population!"

and to make it more interesting here comes the next BOMB
"Apart from this, here are some other aspects of this lipstick market. The application factor of lipsticks by Urban women is 1.1 (that is.. on an average, they apply 1.1 layers on their lips). Rural women on the other hand have an application factor of 2.5 (2.5 layers on their lips). This number directly translates into higher usage of lipsticks."

what that means to me is Real Market is Rural Market,
so after sitting in a computer searching for information about indian Lipstick after 5 years also i am confused i think i need to handle an lipstick client and apply what ever i learnt is negligible.