The Orchid range of colour cosmetics, which was launched three years ago, will undergo substantial changes during the relaunch process, Lakme Lever managing director Anil Chopra said.

Lakme's premium range has not undergone any change since its launch in 1995. "The range will be upgraded to the international specification with the assistance of Unilever," Chopra said. The Orchid range basically caters to the export market with 90 per cent of the turnover coming from exports and the balance 10 per cent is sold in the domestic market.

The change to be brought about in the Orchid range will mainly be for the international market.However, these products will also be available in the domestic market. The Orchid range is exported to CIS countries and to the Gulf.

As compared to the other Lakme ranges like Elle 18 and Ultra, the Orchid volumes were moving slow at the retail end in the domestic market. Lakme has marked its presence at all the price points of the affordable range with the Elle 18 range, the medium-priced Ultra range and the premium-priced Orchid range.

While Elle 18 has surpassed its performance expectations by increasing its market share by 2 per cent to 3 per cent to around 20 per cent, the Orchid range has not been performing to its optimum, industry sources said.

The Orchid range of lipsticks and nail enamels are priced in the range of Rs 120 and Rs 190. Orchid was launched by Lakme to compete with international names like Revlon which was launched in India at the same time and was said to be a major threat to Lakme's dominance on the domestic turf.

While Revlon has clearly fallen short of grabbing a massivechunk of the colour cosmetics market in the country, other premium cosmetics ranges including Lakme's Orchid too failed to shine at the market place.

This is largely because of a visible slowdown in the industry with consumer purchase levels dipping and `affordability' being the key to the success of brands like Elle 18. Growth in the Elle 18 range has in fact surpassed that of Ultra, admits Chopra.

The product portfolio of Lakme Lever, now a Hindustan Lever subsidiary after the buyout of Lakme Ltd's 50 per cent stake by HLL this year, consists of skin care, colour cosmetics and fragrances. The skin-care range was relaunched this year with a major change in its packaging and product profile. For Lakme Lever this year, the turnover from colour cosmetics will outshine that from the skin-care range.