Organic Harvest is India’s only homegrown brand with an entire range of organic skin care products which speak of nature in its purest form. The brand embraces the organic power of plants and its botanical extracts in abundance combined with organic and natural ingredients. The company was brought into existence in June 2013 to promote the concept of safe skin. An intelligent use of plants grown without pesticides and chemicals instigated the name ‘Organic Harvest’ where products are not just natural, but organic.
Organic Harvest specializes in hair care, body care and skin care products that are safe and highly effective. To keep the skin miles away from damage, no harsh chemicals are used; instead, the raw materials that are used are certified by Global organizations like EcoCert, OneCert & Natrue. The certification is evidence that the raw materials used for manufacturing Organic Harvest products are derived from plants that have been grown without chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Their products range from daily day cream, anti-wrinkle cream, anti-pigmentation cream, scrubs, sunscreen lotion, toners, face wash to shampoos and 24 varieties of essential oils. The brand also has an Active Range with special treatment products for every skin type. Every product is carefully conceived using eco-friendly practices and going the extra miles of being respectful of the earth.
Sujata Sangwan Interacts With Rahul Agarwal, CEO, Organic HarvestAnd Spoke To Him
How did the idea came to start? What are the unique key features/services?I have always been a believer of the nature and purity and I wanted to do something in consumer products industry with my belief. Few years back, when I started tracking this industry, I discovered that there is big push among the consumers for Organic products and there is a gap for organic beauty products. We explored that there was a huge scope in this space; however, we always aimed to deliver best to the consumers. I observed that people had tried all kinds of products - synthetic products, herbal & even natural products but no Organic products. 2011 was the time when people had started recognizing the concept of Organic and understood its importance. I realized that the time was right to introduce organic personal care products.
Although nature has been my inspiration throughout but on a serious note, Organic Harvest came into existence after we witnessed an increase in the shift from regular to organic products in India. Everyone desires their skin to stay beautiful naturally. In the recent times, there has been a drastic increase in the number of beauty conscious consumers who are moving towards an organic skincare regime. We then observed that the market is either flooded with mainstream beauty products that carry harmful skin damaging chemicals or international organic skincare brands which are not affordable. Keeping this fact in mind, we thought of introducing our brand which is packed with the goodness of nature and the innovation of science and is also priced keeping in mind the sensitivities of the consumer.
We introduced Organic Harvest in the year 2013. When we started working on this project, we were discouraged by stalwarts of the industry, but I knew one thing, that if we could make good quality products, which are reasonably priced, there has been & will always be a big market for it. And that’s how our journey started.
Although the personal care industry is overcrowded with a horde of domestic and international players vying for the market share, there are a very few brands in the organic personal care segment. And we are filling this gap with our quality products. We apart from the excellent quality of our products, our competitive pricing have resulted in a steady increase. Some of the best-selling products of Organic Harvest include 3-in-1 Face Wash, Exfoliating Face Scrub, Sunscreen SPF 60 and Anti Pigmentation Cream. The brand has a vast range of Cleansers, Sunscreens, Toners, Shower Gels, Shampoos, Conditioners, Treatment Creams and serums, Lip Balms to name a few.
Funding status & monetization modelOrganic Harvest is currently self-funded. We work under three distribution channels:
General & Modern Trade - For general retail stores, we have a super stockiest at the state level, distributor at the city level & retail channel partners. We reach out to more than 5000 retail stores in general trade. We have also tied up with the organized retail chains such as Health & Glow, Auchan and Pothy’s.
Exclusive Brand outlets - We have started opening up Organic Harvest stores, in prominent malls and high streets. Currently we operate 9 stores across India (Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Surat, Dehradun and Bareilly).
Export - We have started exporting products to Dubai, Nepal and Bangladesh and we will soon be expanding in all GCC countries along with Malaysia and Singapore.
Traction details, future plans and marketing plansWe have seen both repeat & referral customers. More than 70% of our customers are repeat customers. Some customers have completely shifted to using only Organic Harvest products.
With its unmatchable quality and competitive pricing of products in the beauty industry, Organic Harvest is growing rapidly with repeat and referral customers since its launch in June 2013. The brand is currently available in 5,000 outlets and we plan to increase the presence to 50,000 in India within a span of one year. We are exporting our products to 3 countries and in the forthcoming year and gradually want to increase the number to 10. Also, in terms of our exclusive brand outlets, currently we have 11 EBOs across all major cities in India (Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Bareilly and Dehradun) and plan to have 25 in a span of one year. Internationally, we have recently debuted in the UAE market. Organic Harvest is already present in Bangladesh and Nepal with its extensive range of organic beauty products. The brand is targeting a tremendous growth and is poised to enter in the GCC countries -the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman, Kuwait and Qatar next month followed by Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia in the South East by the next quarter.
Challenges faced since inceptionMy biggest challenge was that I never had any prior experience of the personal care industry. Coming from the finance background, when I thought of starting this venture, I was strongly discouraged by several industry stalwarts owing to the hugely competitive nature of the beauty segment in India. But I was determined to develop a good quality product with a reasonable pricing. We had to do a thorough research about the organic beauty segment in India and abroad for two years before entering this industry.
Our problems did not just end here. Being a small startup enterprise, we had limited funds for marketing that could help in the brand awareness. We had to rely on our products to speak. It was a tough task to persuade the retailers about our product to reach out to our target consumers but our products managed to satisfy the consumers and today when we see our brand being accepted and referred by repeat customers, it’s all because of what our products have to offer.
Market size & opportunity According to a report by Transparency Market Research “Organic Personal Care Products Market for Skin Care, Hair Care, Oral Care and Cosmetics – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2012–2018,” the global demand for organic personal care products was over $7.6 billion (approx Rs 50,000 crore) in 2012 and is expected to reach $13.2 billion (approx Rs 80,000 crore) by 2018, growing at a CAGR of 9.6 per cent from 2012 to 2018. Indian consumers are nowadays quite conscious of the link between beauty and health. It all started with organic food and now organic skincare products. Consequently, there is a growing demand for chemical free skincare products and our brand caters to the needs of this health conscious segment. Consumers have started appreciating the Organic Harvest products and we have been receiving tremendous response from the end consumers with both repeat and referral customers. This clearly shows our potential of growth in near future.
