Consumers bought mostly Head&Shoulders, Wash&Go, Elseve and Nivea and the total shampoo spending stands at RON395 million to RON400 million a year, according to the data provided by the companies in this business, quoting Nielsen research.
The local shampoo market is dominated by multinationals, the most important of which are Procter&Gamble, L’Oreal, Henkel and Unilever.
L’Oreal, whose revenue on the local market stood at EUR51.8 million last year, sells eight shampoo brands in different versions. These brands target three different market segments, that is retail, dermo-cosmetics (sales through drugstores) and professional products.
L’Oreal’s best-selling shampoo is, according to Nielsen research, Elseve, available in 13 versions in Romania. The company’s portfolio also includes Garnier, L’Oreal Professionnel, Kerastase, Matrix, Vichy, La Roche Posay.
“Besides shampoos, there is also a market of related products, such as hair conditioners, hair masks and treatments, which is still low but has been constantly increasing,” the L’Oreal officials said without providing any figures.
The companies selling shampoo usually sell such related products, too.
The representatives of Unilever, whose brands include Dove and Clear, merely say that the shampoos sold through retailers account for 83% of the hair care product category sales. Such shampoo sales are estimated at about EUR62 million in the last twelve months.
Retail sales account for the bulk of the hair care product sales, 65%-70%, followed by drugstores, hair saloons and direct sales.
According to ZF’s calculations based on Unilever data, the related hair care product market amounts to about EUR20 million. Shampoos generate the biggest sales, though.
Sales are expected to reach 30 million shampoo bottles this year, which means every Romanian will have bought only a bottle and half in 2012. Consumption of shampoo, like consumption of detergent, toothpaste or soap in Romania is much lower than in other countries in Western Europe or even in the region.
A potential explanation for this might be that half of Romania’s population lives in rural areas, where many homes do not have running water.
“The shampoo market has gone up 1.7% in the past twelve months compared with the previous year (…) It is still lower than it was two years ago,” says Oana Davidoglu, marketing manager personal care with Unilever.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)