Urbanising Personal Care

If the world can be divided into a post and pre-pandemic era, one of the notable trends to emerge is that of the rising emphasis on self-care routines. This attitudinal shift in society is one that is expected to grow in momentum in the years to come, thanks to factors such as changing consumer preferences, an increased focus on physical appearance, and rising disposable incomes.

Estimates say that India’s male grooming products market size was estimated at USD 888.51 million in 2022, and projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.06% reaching a value of USD 1,844.65 million by 2029. Meanwhile, India’s beauty market has its discerning audience too, and the openness of customers to experimentation is leaving a lot of headroom for growth. According to Alvarez & Marsal India, the share of beauty in the $17 billion local beauty and personal care (BPC) market is under 20%, with adoption of beauty expected to increase by 14%-15% CAGR over the next few years, and the BPC market itself doubling by 2030.

In this changing milieu, Hemant Raulo set out to effect a change with a pair of brands in the personal care category: UrbanGabru and Urban Yog. While the former caters to men, the latter serves women. Their target audience is different, but if there is one thing that is common to both brands, it is their focus on creating bold, result-oriented and unique products that are suitable for all skin types.

Addressing consumer needs

UrbanGabru began its journey in 2017 to educate men on grooming and lifestyle through a YouTube channel called UrbanGabru Men’s Lifestyle. “Upon reaching a subscriber base of around 30,000, we used the platform to market and sell our first-ever product, the UrbanGabru Beard Oil, in April 2017,” shares Raulo.

“Initially, our motive was not to diversify our product range but solve our customers’ problems innovatively. Our YouTube channel would help us gather customers’ queries and understand what they are looking for. We would then address their problems through solution-oriented products,” conveys Raulo.

Today, UrbanGabru is a leading grooming brand that is reaching and inspiring men to upgrade with its innovative product range. The brand has launched over 100 SKUs (stock-keeping units) in multiple categories including hairstyle, hair care, beard care, skin care and body care. “Our products are one-of-a-kind, result-oriented, suitable for all skin types, convenient to use, and time-saving. They thus disrupt the status quo of the market, setting a benchmark for the rest,” says Raulo.

UrbanGabru’s bestsellers are its, Aqua Hair Wax, Hair Volumizing Powder Wax, Hair Removal Cream Spray — the first-ever spray that painlessly removes body hair in minutes!

Urban Yog, on the other hand, caters to women. “The women of today are bold and confident and want products that support them and match the pace of their growth. Our need to address this issue gave birth to Urban Yog in 2019,” explains Raulo. The brand makes personal care products that are bold and innovative—a far cry from the conventional solutions existing in the market.

“Our products align with our brand ethos ‘Be Bold, Be the Change’ and also the mindset of today’s women. Additionally, our products excel at what they promise as they are unique and futuristic and also the need of the hour,” says Raulo. The brand started with a product—an Acne/Pimple Patch—to help teenage girls overcome their self-esteem issues by diminishing their pimples overnight.

“Later, we diversified our product range with other innovative and bold solutions such as Period Pain Relief Heat Patch, Anti-Pigmentation Serum, Hair Removal Cream Spray, to support the women of today who wish to grow despite any challenges. Now, we have more than 10 SKUs,” explains Raulo.

Women especially love Urban Yog’s Period Pain Relief Heat Patches, which are made of carbon, clay, iron and natural salt and therefore are completely safe to use. “When a menstruating woman sticks our heat patch on her skin, it starts heating on its own to calm her uterine muscles—unlike hot water bags that are bulky and need to be reheated from time to time,” explains Raulo.

Future endeavours

For a few years, UrbanGabru and Urban Yog had been bootstrapped. “We were using our own profits to grow. But we wanted to grow exponentially and to do that funding was the right option. Recently, we took that road and became a part of GlobalBees Brands Private Limited,” explains Raulo. UrbanGabru is targeting Rs. 300-crore revenue in the next two years. The brand is looking to achieve this with offline expansion to 1 lakh+ counters PAN-India and International expansion starting from USA & UK.

As for Urban Yog, the plan for the future is simple. “We want to keep coming up with innovative yet bold products that ease the lives of women of today. Our goal is also to make the brand a household name and align our target audience with our brand ethos,” says Raulo.