Digital brands are coming hard and fast at consumer goods majors

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Marico have acknowledged the increasing competition from local manufacturers of products such as tea, spices and noodles, as well as from new-age direct-to-consumer brands. “The days of mass-manufactured products are over," said Pakhi Saxena, practice head, retail and consumer products, at Wazir Advisors, adding that new-age companies are catering to greater demand for specialised, niche products. “Product innovation and category creation is truly helping drive demand, especially across beauty and personal care categories," she said.

Competition is especially strong across categories such as apparel, home products, and beauty and personal care, she said. Kirat Gill, 23, for instance, largely discovers new brands via Youtube and Instagram. Gill, who shops online frequently, said she is also ditching brands such as Lakme and Maybelline for American brand Elf Cosmetics.

Young shoppers such as Gill are shuffling up the consumer goods market, said Vineeta Singh, CEO and co-founder of Sugar Cosmetics, founded in 2012 selling directly to consumers via online channels. It ventured into traditional offline retail in 2017. “Ten years ago, everybody would buy the same product.

However, today, younger consumers are willing to express their needs more openly. This is driving creation of brands and categories that did not exist before," Singh said. “While multinational companies are still ahead of us, over the last four-to-five years, we have eaten into their market share," she added.