Amway: Going herbal

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Amway India, the local arm of one of the largest direct selling companies in the US, is the latest big player to jump onto the herbal bandwagon with its toothpaste Glister.

“Glister Herbals is an expansion of our flagship brand and indigenously developed for Indian consumers,” said Sundip Shah, chief marketing officer, Amway India, in a media release. The industry for herbal oral care products, Shah added, has grown significantly in recent years, fuelled by consumers’ preference for herbal solutions.

But can Amway squeeze its way into India’s cluttered herbal toothpaste market, worth over Rs 2,000 crore and dominated by the likes of Patanjali, Colgate and Dabur? Brand strategist Harish Bijoor says herbal products have a pull factor and consumers are progressively gravitating to non-chemical products. The segment, however, is cluttered. “Amway stands a chance to stand out as its distribution and market percolation format is totally different from others,” he says.

But even if Amway stands a chance, the going might not be easy. The challenge would be to counter the arguments with which manufacturers of chemical products position themselves. Can word-of-mouth help Amway grab a bigger share of Indian consumers? It’s still early days, and it would need to muster all it can to squeeze out the biggies.