Organic India broadens portfolio with organic staples

Organic India's tulsi teas and infusions resonate well with consumers and they are also reasonably well distributed across kirana stores in tier-1 and tier-2 cities. The brand has now forayed into organic staples and has launched rice, pulses, jaggery, salt and a variety of spices. "Post Covid-19, the trend has been to become healthy in one's lifestyle. The timing has helped us as we are entering the space when people are wanting to eat more healthy food," says Subrata Dutta, Group MD, Organic India.

The 25-year-old brand consumes almost 90% of the organic tulsi produced in India and is better known in the traditional trade as the tulsi company. It works with 2,500 farmers across 10,000 acres of land to grow organic tulsi, yet it is a late entrant in staples and has to fight well-entrenched brands such as Tata Sampann. Dutta says that despite having the farmer network, it didn't want to jump into the business of staples till it got its supply chain and distribution in place. "We now have a reach of 30,000-odd outlets."

Though distribution through kirana stores is mandatory for a brand that aspires to reach out to the masses, direct-to-consumer sales (both on e-commerce as well as brick-and-mortar) is key to Organic India's growth, says Dutta. "In an evolving category where consumers are making a shift, they would like to know more about the category. The best way to know more is through a direct to consumer channel. Therefore, D2C is part of our sales as well as our marketing strategy." While 30% of the company's sales come from e-commerce, 10% of its e-commerce revenue is contributed by its D2C platform and it is likely to go up by 4% year-on-year. The company also retails through Fabindia stores as well as its own Organic India stores. "Consumers like to touch and feel the products and that's where our offline D2C stores play an important role," Dutta adds.

Apart from staples, Organic India is also foraying into personal care. The company has been test-marketing its range of skin, hair and body care products at its stores and in Fabindia for a while under the Kure brand name.