Beiersdorf East Africa Limited, manufacturer of the NIVEA range of skincare products has out a new generation petroleum jelly for the local market.
Dubbed NIVEA Petroleum Jelly Essence, the product, which has already hit shelves, is retailing at Sh120 for 100 grams and Sh260 for the 250 grams. It targets to give Procter and Gamble’s Vaseline Petroleum Jelly a run for its money.
According to the firm’s managing director for East, Central and West Africa, Mathieu Levasseur, the company noticed that consumers used multiple skincare products to achieve their desired level of care.
''The new product is the result of detailed market research to understand the habits of Kenyan consumers and their unmet needs in their daily skincare routines,'' Levasseur said.
He added that the move to invest in the new African product range was part of the firm’s diversification plan, aimed at addressing a wide range of personal and skincare needs of a unique, yet rapidly growing multi-million-dollar African market.
Speaking at the launch, Beiersdorf marketing director Francis Afulani said the African skin is unique in its character, with a stronger tendency to lose moisture, dry out and turn ashy-looking.
''While petroleum jelly remains a versatile product in most African homes, more than half of the consumers surveyed did not like the sticky, greasy feeling that it leaves,'' Afulani said.
