We Plan To Open 3-4 Stores In India Annually: Arush Chopra, Just Herbs

Today, more than ever before, people are becoming conscious of the products they are using. The quality and source of ingredients used are thoroughly scrutinized before randomly swiping cards online or offline. People are willing to pay top dollar for good personal care products. The buzz word is "bespoke".

Just Herbs is a ‘Made in India’, international line of pure, bespoke Ayurvedic beauty and personal care products made from certified organic ingredients collected from specified farms across India. They are the first premium beauty and personal care brand in India that relies on crowd-sourcing for floating customer-oriented range of products.

It is the flagship brand of Chandigarh-based APCOS Naturals. An online-first venture, Just Herbs currently offers its products through its e-store, its retail stores in Chandigarh and Ludhiana as well as via leading beauty portals in India. Internationally, the brand sells its products across South East Asia through Sephora where it is the only Indian skincare brand available. Just Herbs products are also available on home shopping networks and at domestic and international airports.

In a short span of time, Just Herbs has made a remarkable impact in the Indian beauty industry, with an ever-increasing customer base, and has witnessed 144% growth in the last fiscal.

Another differentiator of Just Herbs products is that they are PETA-approved and vegan. For 2018 they are planning several CSR initiatives focused on animals.

In conversation with BW BusinessWorld, Arush Chopra of Just herbs shared his entrepreneurial journey and details about the venture.

“While working in Singapore a few years ago, my wife Megha and I saw the potential in Ayurvedic beauty segment as it was witnessing a growth phase internationally. However, there was a huge gap in terms of customers’ needs and the products that were available in the market. Despite being claimed safer than their chemically laden counterparts, most Ayurvedic beauty products available in the market were not very effective,” he shared.

They decided to form a brand around the Ayurvedic remedies that his mother, who is a Biochemist, had developed through years of research. So they moved back to India, jotted down a business plan, and in November 2013, launched Just Herbs.

“The brand was targeted towards health and environment conscious urban Indians who were seeking an effective solution from the luxury wellness market. We started operations as an online-first venture through our portal. We followed a customer-driven and a lean startup approach, where customer feedback and market demand inspired the launch of a minimum viable product, which was then constantly improved till it became the best-in-class product."

“India, Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore are their biggest markets for us. Smaller towns such as Chandigarh and Ludhiana are also catching up. In the international market, we have distribution in the GCC region as well as Vietnam and sell on Sephora.com in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia. Our products are also sold in Canada and USA in big box retailers such as Winners, Marshalls and TKMax. The brand is also sold on TV home shopping networks in the UK and USA,” he said.

According to Arush, international markets have been very receptive to the Ayurvedic personal care revolution.

In Arush's opinion the precipice of their brand strategy is being a consumer-oriented brand and their customer-centric policies.

“Our core strength comes from three unique values which we offer to our customers – honesty, safety, and effectiveness. Unlike most companies, we believe in detailed ingredient disclosure; we tell our consumers about every ingredient that goes into making our products, both on the product label and on our website. We are pure and safe; none of our products contain sulphates, parabens, GMOs, bleaching agents, alcohol or any other carcinogenic or harsh chemical commonly used in mass market cosmetic brands. We have an in-house manufacturing capacity enabling us to troubleshoot controversial ingredients in our products and replace them with more customer-suited alternatives. Apart from that, our formulas are as effective as they are safe and target specific concerns such as pimples, blemishes, tanning, wrinkles etc. using certified organic and Ayurvedic herbs with proven benefits for the skin,” he highlighted.

Arush stresses that they give utmost importance to safety and effectiveness parameters across their products line. He claims that the raw materials that are used in manufacturing their products are ECOCERT-certified materials sourced from certified-farms in their original habitats across the country.

Chopra does not measure the brand's growth in terms of market share but in terms of the number of satisfied customers and the rate of repeat purchase. He claims that, “Three out of every 10 customers come back for more and new customers on our website and stores are growing at an exponential rate, without any traditional forms of advertising - relying instead on extremely strong word-of-mouth driven marketing.”

Arush emphasised that they are not focused on competing with others in the industry but on being so innovative that competition becomes irrelevant.

“There isn’t a doubt that beauty as an industry and especially natural and organic personal care has a huge market potential not just in India but globally. However, it is also a hyper-competitive market in which to stay relevant, we have taken a ‘lean-startup’ approach to product development (using social media crowdsourcing to create products) as well as selling (being direct-to-consumer) our products.”

He feels that as a result, they always have their ears to the ground listening to their customers, their problems and making products aimed at solving them.

Arush shared that they have a goal of expanding their footprint and visibility in the Indian beauty market. In June 2017 they launched their maiden offline retail stores at their home-turf in Chandigarh and in Ludhiana.

Which he shared, provided them an opportunity to test the waters in a familiar market before venturing into bigger markets. "This decision also enabled us to keep a close watch on the service quality and customer reaction so that we can implement the requisite changes in our business model accordingly. Basis our learnings, we will soon be launching our next retail store in Hyderabad. Further in next 5 years, we wish to see at least one Just Herbs retail store in every metro and some Tier-II cities,” he said.

Just Herbs has its customers participate in product creation process right from its ideation to its formulation and sale.

“While looking for an idea on launching fresh products, we thought that instead of relying on a market research firm, why don’t we reach out to the public and ask their opinion on what exactly they needed. Our extensive customer outreach network was capable enough to carry out this kind of process."

"After the initial survey, we found out that our market lacked a makeup product that was safe enough for everyday use. Over 450 women of various age groups and from across the country partnered with us to create their dream beauty product. Over a period of 6 months, through a tedious crowd-sourcing process involving surveying, conceptualization, testing and reviewing, we managed to create a Skin Tint that bridges the gap between natural skin care and effective make-up."

"The Skin Tint has received a tremendous response and has very quickly become one of our best-sellers. However, it is currently available in one shade only. We have recently started another round of crowd-sourcing on our social media platforms in order to come up with new shades of the Skin Tint. Going forward, we are looking at developing more products through crowd-sourcing so as to address specific requirements of customers,” he elaborated.

Arush highlighted that they currently fulfill over 500 orders on their own website on a daily basis and are looking to double that over the next 3 months.

“We have some new products in the pipeline. Our brand has achieved maturity in its safety and effectiveness parameters, and in the online market. So our next focus will be on growing our brand in the offline retail space. I am quite excited about the upcoming launch of our store in Hyderabad. In the future, we plan to develop more products through the crowd-sourcing process. We are also working on expanding our existing products-line based on consumer feedback and suggestions,” he elaborated.

Arush shared that they aspire to be the go-to brand for quality and health conscious beauty consumers.

He said, “In the coming years, we plan to strengthen and grow our online footprint not just in India but in overseas markets as well. In the offline space, we plan to expand our reach in major cities of India with the launch of at least 3-4 stores annually. The ultimate aim is to be a brand that the customers trust and follow.”