India has a huge market for shaving cream which includes both domestic and international brands. While there are many international brands that enjoy a fair share of the market, there are many domestic brands that are giving tough competition to them all.
Gillette, Nivea, Old Spice are few of the International brands that have become leading names in the sector. However, India’s Vi John has emerged as a prominent name when it comes to domestic brands.
Vi John was founded in 1960 by S.Suchet Singh Kochar. He started a personal care business from his home in Delhi. It was after a few years that he decided to launch a shaving cream under the brand name.
The company is currently lead by his son, Bhupinder Singh Kochar, who is the chairman of Vi John. The irony of a Sikh family manufacturing & marketing a shaving cream was not lost on the Kochars.
In many of his statements, Bhupinder Singh Kochar has said that his whole family has dedicated their minds and hearts to make this name outrun all other competitors. He also shared how his father believed that having a brand name that sounded English will help the company grow back then. Which at the end turned out to be true in this case.
When the product was first launched, Suchet Singh Kochar would go to Sadar Bazar (Delhi) to sell his products personally. The demand for his products took off gradually and the company got registered as Kochar Cosmetics. Within the period of 1978-2002, the company had set up 4 factories on the GT Karnal road.
The retailers of Vi John products enjoy margins of up to 25 percent on the maximum retail price. This kind of pricing has helped the brand to become a more favorable choice in the distribution chain, which in turn has ensured that the brand has a turnover of over Rs 250 crores.
Extending from North to East of India, Vi John has over 3,00,000 retail outlets with 2,500 distributors. The brand manufactures over 50 lakh units of shaving cream each year and aims at reaching more than 7,00,000 retailers annually.
