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Writankar \n Mukherjee, The Economic Times<\/i><\/p>\n Writankar \n Mukherjee, The Economic Times<\/i><\/p>\n
Kolkata, \n April 23, 2012<\/i><\/p>\n
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Hair \n stylist Jawed Habib, who runs a chain of more than 300 salons \n across India, plans to take his venture global in a strategic \n partnership with Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest consumer \n goods company. <\/p>\n
Procter & Gamble will not pick up equity in the venture, \n but will provide bridge financing and help identify locations \n as well as the kind of services to offer and how, said Habib who \n has finalised plans to set up three salons in London and one in \n Singapore. <\/p>\n
"Our initial thrust will be Europe and we want a big presence \n in London and Paris," the chairman and managing director \n of Jawed Habib Hair & Beauty Ltd said. He said the company \n plans to open more than 50 salons abroad over the next two years. \n An email sent to P&G India regarding its business plans in \n this partnership remained unanswered. <\/p>\n
But why would the maker of Pantene shampoo and Gillette razors \n support Habib’s global foray? Because his salons use P&G’s \n Wella brand hair colour and hair care products-a practice that \n his international salons will follow. <\/p>\n
Experts feel it’s a good branding opportunity for P&G since \n consumers tend to show allegiance to brands that good salons use. \n <\/p>\n
"For P&G, reaching out to consumers through Habib, \n who has attained an influential status among consumers, can be \n a smart way of building the brand," Devangshu Dutta, CEO \n of retail and brand consultancy Third Eyesight, said. <\/b><\/p>\n
Habib plans to invest in his first set of salons abroad. He will \n use the franchisee route to expand. Habib says each salon will \n need an investment of Rs. 50-60 lakh. <\/p>\n
Other Indian salons brands such as VLCC, Shahnaz Hussain, Blossom \n Kochhar and Naturals Beauty Salon too are expanding their business \n overseas. VLCC, for instance, recently announced plans to invest \n Rs. 50 crore to set up salons across Africa, the Middle East and \n Asia. <\/p>\n
"The potential is much more in overseas markets, since consumers \n in matured markets like Europe spend almost 20-25% of their earning \n on grooming and beauty as compared to some 5% in urban India," \n said Habib whose salon chain reported a Rs. 50-crore turnover \n last year. <\/p>\n
Habib is also launching a range of hair care products that he \n plans to roll out in the global salons. There will be 20 products, \n manufactured under third-party arrangement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Writankar Mukherjee, The Economic Times Kolkata, April 23, 2012 Hair stylist Jawed Habib, who runs a chain of more than 300 salons across India, plans to take his venture global in a strategic partnership with Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest consumer goods company. Procter & Gamble will not pick up equity in the venture, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-quotes"],"yoast_head":"\n