RESEARCH PAPER

BRAND PREFERENCE IN FAIRNESS

CREAMS-STUDY IN COIMBATORE

Abstract
Fairness creams have become a vital product
for the Indian FMCG companies in increasing
their overall sales due to the importance given
by Indian consumers towards fairness. As
India is a country known for its diversity
different consumers from different parts of the
country prefer different brands. Hence, this
paper aims to identify the brand preference of
consumers towards fairness creams. The
paper also examines the factors influencing
consumers in preferring various brands of
fairness creams. The data was collected in
Coimbatore city of Tamilnadu, India among
150 survey respondents. Keywords: Fairness
creams; Brand Preference; Coimbatore.

Full Paper
Introduction
The market size for fairness cream in India was
estimated to be Rs.800 crore. The market
growth rate ranges between 15 – 20% on a
year-to-year basis. The leading players in the
market includes Hindustan Lever Ltd., (HLL's)
'Fair & Lovely' with 76 percent of the market
share and Cavin Kare's 'Fairever' with 15
percent of the market share. Other important
players like Godrej's 'Fairglow', Emami's 'Fair
and Handsome', Vicco and Himalaya share the
rest of the market share. It has been
estimated that males constitute 20 percent of
the total sales for fairness creams in India.
The existing players are focusing upon
improving the quality and ingredients and new
players are also invading the Indian market.
As India is a country known for its diversity
different brands are used in different parts of
the country. The brands which are very
successful in northern part of the country may
not find a place in South India. Similarly some
brands are successful in rural areas and tier II
cities whereas not in cities and metros. Here
arises the need for a study on brand
preference. Hence, this research survey has
been conducted in Coimbatore city of
Tamilnadu (an important tier II city in India) to
identify the brand preference for fairness
creams in this locality.
Objectives
i. To find out the brand preference for fairness
creams in Coimbatore city
ii. To study the factors influencing brand
preference for fairness creams
iii. To identify the source of awareness for
fairness creams
Research Methodology
Primary data has been collected for the
research study in Coimbatore city of
Tamilnadu, India. The major reason for
choosing Coimbatore is its demographic
outlook (which includes both educated and
uneducated, peoples from different parts of the
country particularly from Kerala and changing
income level) and Coimbatore being considered
as one of the important Tier II cities of India.
The research design involves descriptive style.
Consumers of various age groups have been
conducted with the research survey. The
sample size was 150 and the sampling
technique used is convenience sampling. The
research instrument used was questionnaire
and it comprises both open and close-ended
questions. Personal interview has been
conducted among the target respondents.
Limitations
Chances of respondents' bias are involved in
the research. As the research is restricted with
Coimbatore city of Tamilnadu, India the results
are not applicable to other parts of the State or
country. Limited number of respondents has
been chosen due to time constraint and this
could affect the accuracy of result to certain
extent.
Analysis and Interpretation
Table No: 1 Brand Preference and Top of
the Mind Awareness (TOMA) for fairness
creams*

Brand No. of % of Rank

Preferred Respondents Respondents
Fair & 45 30 1
Lovely 89 59.33 2
Fairever 3 2 3
Vicco 2 1.33 4
No marks 1 .67 5
Fair & 10 6.67
Handsome
Others**
Total 150

* Since Brand Preference and Top of the Mind

Awareness results are same both have been
included in the same table.
** Others include 'Fem', Godrej's 'Fairglow',
Samay's 'Fair & Fresh', 'All Fair', Oriflame's
'Love A Fair' and other regional brands.
Interpretation: From the above table it can
be inferred that nearly 60 percent of the
respondents prefer HLL's 'Fair & Lovely' when
comparing with any other brand. Top of the
mind awareness is also same for 'Fair &
Lovely'. It can also be inferred that 30 percent
of the respondents prefer Cavin Kare's
'Fairever' and are aware of them. Emami's
'Fair & Handsome' has been preferred by very
few when comparing with others and the
awareness is also poor.

Table No:2 Factors influencing brand

preference

Factors No. of % of
Respondents Respondents
Fairness 69 46
Sunscreen 42 28
Fragrance 39 26
Total 150

Interpretation: It can be inferred from the

above table that nearly 50 percent of the
respondents use fairness creams in order to
get 'fairness'

Table No: 3 Source of Awareness for

fairness creams

Source of No. of % of
Awareness Respondents Respondents
Friends and/or 13 8.67
relatives 15 10
Family members 4 2.67
Retailers 80 53.33
recommendation 8 5.33
Television 30 20
Commercials
(TVCs)
Newspaper Ads
Magazine Ads
Total 150
 Interpretation: From the above table it can
be inferred that more than 50 percent of the
respondents are aware of fairness creams
through TVCs.

Table No:4 Consumer intention towards

replacing their existing brand of fairness
creams

Consumer No. of % of
Intention Respondents Respondents
To replace 4 2.67
Not to replace 146 97.33
Total 150

Interpretation: From the above table it can

be inferred that more than 95 percent of the
respondents are not interested in replacing
their existing brand of fairness creams. This
shows their 'brand loyalty' towards existing
brand of fairness creams.
Table No: 5 Classification of fairness
cream users based on Age

No. of % of
Age
Respondents Respondents
Less than 25 45 30
25 – 35 64 42.67
35 – 45 17 11.33
More than 45 24 16
Total 150

Interpretation: From the above table it can

be inferred that most of the respondents who
use fairness creams are youngsters as it was
clear from the table that 42.67 percent of them
belong to the age group of '25 – 35' and 30
percent of them belong to the age group of
'Less than 25'

Table No: 6 Classification of fairness

cream users based on Sex

No. of % of
Sex
Respondents Respondents
Male 35 23.33
Female 115 76.67
Total 150

Interpretation: From the above table it can

be inferred that more than 75 percent of the
respondents who use fairness creams were
'females'.

Table No:7 Classification of fairness cream

users based on Education

Education No. of % of
Respondents Respondents
School 86 57.33
Under 52 34.67
graduation 6 4
Post graduation 2 1.33
Professional 4 2.67
Diploma
Total 150

Interpretation: From the above table it can

be inferred that nearly 60 percent of the
 fairness cream users have school level
education. It can also be inferred that nearly
35 percent of them have under graduation.

Table No:8 Classification of fairness cream

users based on Annual Income

Annual No. of % of
Income Respondents Respondents
Less than Rs. 128 85.33
1lakh 22 14.67`
Rs. 1 – 3 lakhs
Total 150

Interpretation: From the above table it can

be inferred that around 85 percent of the
fairness cream users have an annual income of
less than Rs.1 lakh.

Findings
It has been found out that most of the
consumers prefer HLL's 'Fair & Lovely' fairness
cream. The awareness level of it was also
higher for this brand. Consistent portion of
them also prefer Cavin Kare's 'Fairever' and
were aware of it. Only very few consumers
prefer brands like Vicco, No marks, Fair and
Handsome and Fair glow. Most of the
consumers buy fairness creams in order to get
'fairness'. TVCs play an important role in
creating awareness towards various brands of
fairness creams.
Suggestions
As the market has been dominated by few
players a new entrant or an existing player
interested in improving the market share has
to focus on 'fairness' as HLL's USP – Fairness
in Six Weeks has worked better for it. The
companies have to give importance for TVCs as
most of the consumers were remembering the
ad of Fair & Lovely television ad and the recent
Fairever celebrity ad. Awareness can easily be
created with these kinds of celebrity ad
appeals.
Conclusion
Fairness creams constitute a consistent
proportion of income for the FMCG companies
in India. As most of the Indians are very much
bothered about their colour complexion the
fairness creams enjoy very good market
growth rate when compared with other related
product categories. As Fair & Lovely's USP has
done wonders, other players in the market can
also follow their philosophy of 'fairness'. It is
not sufficient if a company has the right
product with right quality. It has to be
communicated properly to the target
audience. Hence, TVCs which were widely
remembered and recognized by Indian
consumers for fairness creams can be made
use for creating the awareness for various
brands of fairness creams.
Bibliography
1. Big Brands Big Trouble – Lessons Learned
the Hard Why, Jack Trout, East West Books
(Madras) Pvt. Ltd.
2. Brand Management – The Indian Context,
YLR Moorthi, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd.
3. Black, White and Various Shades of Brown",
Man from , Penguin India
4. "Men playing the fairness cream game",
Ratna Bhushan, Times of India