Hindustan Unilever's Vim brand to cross Rs 3,000 cr in sales

Expanding its reach, HUL has introduced Vim in the floor cleaning category.

The company now has 19 brands with revenues exceeding Rs 1,000 crore.

"Vim should cross Rs 3,000 crores anytime now," said Srinandan Sundaram, executive director of home care at HUL, in an interview with Business Standard.

“We are going with the brand… with the superior product story, but we are very mindful and humble enough to accept that the competition is strong,” Sundaram stated.

He acknowledged that the competition has been instrumental in building this category, tempering expectations for rapid success.

“We will invest in building the category. Our approach to floors is that when you look at the penetration of floors over a long period of time, it remains where it is. It hasn’t increased, which means the people who are still using phenyl or proxies, continue to use them,” he added.

Discussing the homecare segment  which contributes the most to HUL’s revenue, Sundaram noted that growth will primarily be driven by volume.

“We are not seeing much pricing, and as far as our portfolio is concerned, we will maintain our competitiveness in the subsequent quarter,” he said.

“Now, a lot is going up and down, so will we sustain the same volume momentum? It is very difficult to predict but suffice to say that it will be volume-led, and we will be competitive like we were in the last quarter,” Sundaram further explained.

On the laundry segment, where HUL owns prominent brands like Surf Excel and Rin, Sundaram highlighted a shift in consumer preferences, particularly in urban areas, where users are moving from powders to liquids at a faster pace.

“When a consumer moves from powder to liquid, the price per wash also goes up as the dosage is higher than that of powder, which makes it easier to realise more money for the same tonnage sold,” Sundaram explained.

He also emphasized the impact of efforts to drive trials and expand Tier-II market penetration with Rin liquid, introduced last quarter.

“One part that is certainly benefiting us is all the market-making that we are doing by investing in trial generation and by making a Tier-II presence with Rin liquid, which we did the previous quarter. So, this is helping accelerate heavy powder users to move to liquid, and in total, they end up paying you more, so you realise more revenue, which is predominantly an urban phenomenon,” he said.