Shut salons drive demand for grooming products by 50 pc: Paytm Mall

Following two months of continuous lockdown and complete shutdown of salons, e-commerce firm Paytm Mall on Monday said it saw a 50 percent rise in May so far in the sales of trimmers, epilators, face scrubbers and other personal grooming products from tier-II, tier-III and other smaller towns compared to March.
The home ministry on May 4 allowed e-commerce companies to deliver non-essential products in green and orange zones, and from May 18, the firms can supply all items in red zones also.
Before the government allowed deliveries of non-essential items in red, orange and green zones, Paytm Mall got over 35,000 wishlist requests for trimmers, epilators and face scrubbers, the company said in a statement.
“With hairstyling and grooming salons remaining shut due to the ongoing lockdown, we have seen a massive surge in the demand for personal care products on our platform. There has been almost a 50 percent jump in the sale of shavers, trimmers, epilators, hair straighteners and styling products, among other products,” the statement said.
Paytm Mall said looking at the high consumer demand for personal grooming products like shavers, hair clippers, straighteners, and beard trimmers, the company got in touch with brands and requested them to ramp up supplies.
“The company is now delivering personal grooming products in all red, orange and green zones across the country,” the statement said.
According to the company, there has been a steady increase in the number of female shoppers from smaller towns on the platform and some of the most popular items for grooming products for women include epilators, facial trimmers, callus removers, hair straighteners, stylers, crimpers, and facial cleansers, among other products.
Srinivas Mothey, Senior Vice-President, Paytm Mall said the lockdown has made people realise in metros as well as smaller cities that personal grooming products should always be kept handy.
“We think the demand for these products is set to rise further over the next few weeks and after that, it would remain consistently high. We believe this trend is here to stay and these products are set to be part of household essentials going forward,” Mothey said.
Paytm Mall said more people in tier-II, tier-III, and other towns are now opening up to the idea of buying personal grooming gadgets and products online.
“Cities such as Kanpur, Nagpur, Surat, Guwahati, and Cochin, which traditionally did not witness major traction on personal care products are buying almost as much as metro cities. Not only trimmers, electric shavers, epilators demand for niche personal care products such as face mist, beard oil, hair tonic, anti-aging creams from high-end brands have all gone up,” the statement said.