India is in the limelight with the success of several Indian beauties as winning the Miss Universe and Miss World contests, one after the other, in a short span of a few years:

1. Sushmita Sen (Miss Universe)

2. Aishwarya Rai (Miss World)

3. Yukta Mookhey (Miss World)

4. Lara Dutta (Miss Universe)

5. Diya Mirza (Miss Asia Pacific)

6. Priyanka Chopra (Miss World)

This has put India in the centre stage, and many producers of beauty products and marketers, are trying to find out the reason for success of beauty pageants, and also how to promote their beauty products in the market. These products naturally are targeted at the beauty conscious, aspiring, upwardly mobile, outgoing ladies and girls, who want to make a mark in life, and believe that their face is their fortune. India Times has through interviews come out with some information:

1. India's beauty product market is growing at the rate of 30 per cent.

2. The MNCs are also trying to penetrate the market deeper. Revlon for one, is feeling the pulse of the Indian market, and is making suitable changes in their products.

3. The beauty products are being targeted in the developing countries, where women what to look their best and want to keep abreast of the international trends.

4. While targeting the products at the consumer, the price strategy is also considered along with the moods, the occasion, the shades, classic shades for longer use, colour stay for longer use, colour stay for lipsticks.

5. The Indian climate is hot, and in manufacturing the product, care is to be taken for it not to melt. Cleansing, moisturizing and applying sun screen to avoid blemishes and discoloration when outdoors, are required.

6. Further, the Indian women are educated to use the right colours. This is done by beauty advisors and continuous learning programmes imparted through various media. Page 2 of 4

7. There is a lot of response of beauty products from the cities of Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, etc.

8. MNCs like Revlon, Lakme, and L'Oreal are competing with each other to win customers. Continuous research is also going on, and the Indian market in beauty products is growing at a much faster pace.

9. Another product that is making inroads into the beauty product market, is herbal products. Many beauticians of east and west are recommending herbal beauty products, as they are natural and harmless. They are mild, and suit soft skin well.

10. Many consumers are switching over to herbal products, which is increasing the share of the herbal beauty market as well.

task:

a. As a marketer do you see this as an opportunity, and how can you cash on it?

b. What strategy is to be adopted to enlarge the market and make consumers of lower and middle class more conscious about beauty products?