Juicy Chemistry was introduced with an aim to offer products that were not self-claimed natural and organic as most of the products of various brands that were available on the shelf at the time of the launch of Juicy Chemistry which fell into the category of Ayurvedic, natural, pure, and herbal were greenwashing around in this sector.
In 2015, Pritesh Asher and Megha Asher started the brand in a 10*10 kitchen with just Rs 5,000 and since then, the brand has evolved to about 125 products. Experimenting their way through the first few products and finding their first few consumers, the husband-wife duo did a lot of iterations to the products to match the changing expectations of the consumers. During this journey, they understood that it is not important to just have natural and organic as a core offering, but it is also the utility of the product whilst it is natural and organic.
“We've really worked on diversifying our portfolio into skin, hair, body, aromatherapy, and wellness categories. And I think we are one of the only brands in India today, which has over 125 products under certification by ECOCERT France in accordance with Cosmos Standards. So we are just not making a claim of being organic, we are actually following processes, protocols, and guardrails laid down by one of the largest certifying bodies in the world for organic,” Pritesh Asher asserted.
From D2C to Omnichannel
Juicy Chemistry started off as a D2C brand along with a presence at various marketplaces.
“Prior to launching our own website and introducing the brand on the marketplaces, we were taking orders through Whatsapp and Facebook. As we started off very small and were bootstrapped on a very limited budget, going offline or omnichannel was not a possibility back then,” he explained.
“D2C gave us the strength and the agility to get to market faster, to try and fail faster and come back more evolved as a brand, and understand what works, what didn't work much faster, post which, it was easier for us to know, build trust on our own website, and that's how we doubled down on our D2C efforts,” he further added.
As post-pandemic, offline retail has again started booming, Juicy Chemistry is planning to expand its offline presence. At present, the brand has 3 offline stores in Coimbatore, Chennai, and Cochin and 2 others in Hyderabad and Bengaluru are under fit-outs. In the next year, the brand is planning to open stores in Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata.
“For us, it only makes sense now to be available where our consumer is. We want to be discovered and we want to be experiential in our approach and what better way to do it where the consumer already is. So whilst there is a strong presence for us on our D2C channel, and of course, on marketplaces, we are doubling down on our efforts to make sure that we are available, not just with standalone stores, but we are also looking at a store-in-store model and kiosks as well,” he stated.
“Our approach towards offline has been very data-oriented. We have very clear visibility on our consumers because for so long we've been D2C and we know where our consumers are coming from and how they are actually searching us online,” he further added.
The brand is planning to tap the metro and Tier I cities before penetrating deeper into Tier II and beyond.
“We plan to have almost 25 kiosks across different malls and shop-in-shops in the days to come. And by the end of the first quarter, of next year, we will be available in at least 1,500 touchpoints across India,” he asserted.
Expanding into New Categories
In November, the brand will be foraying into color cosmetics with the launch of a new brand Color Chemistry. It will be launching an eco-certified organic range of color cosmetics encompassing about 127 SKUs under 13 different categories.
“The reason why we forayed into this color cosmetics category is that we understand deeply the connection between skin troubles and makeup. We realized that a lot of the brands or a lot of the products that are available in the market are simply made for efficacy. Whilst, you know, the formulations took a backseat and in the process, there was a lot of long-term collateral damage to the skin as well. We realized that consumers were getting into a very vicious cycle of bad makeup leading to bad skin, and bad skin leading to the use of more makeup. We wanted to nip that in the bud,” he explained.
“With Color Chemistry, touch, feel, look, and gratification has to be instant and that's why we are doubling down on our efforts of expanding offline,” he further added.
Color Chemistry will be launched in 13 categories including kajal, mascara, eye shadows, brow pencils for the eye region, foundation, concealers, and compact powders for the base makeup. Apart from this, we will also be launching lip gloss, and lip and cheek tints.
While explaining the difference between Juicy Chemistry and Color Chemistry, Asher said, “Juicy Chemistry is efficacious because it is organic, whereas Color Chemistry is going to be efficacious despite being organic.”
Apart from Color Chemistry, neutraceuticals and wellness are other categories that the brand is planning to foray into.
“In the wellness category, we will be launching the magnesium-based line of products by mid of December this year. We are coming out with three products - for restful sleep, for post-workout recovery, and complete overall wellness product which will help in maintaining healthy hormonal balance,” he explained.
Marketing Strategy
Juicy Chemistry, being a D2C-first brand, started its journey from social media. Most of the content that the brand shares on Instagram is to make consumers understand what Juicy Chemistry stands for.
“Getting the consumer's attention is absolutely important, but giving the relevant content is more important,” he asserted.
As far as live commerce is concerned, the brand plans to adopt an educative approach instead of a sales approach for its new brand Color Chemistry.
“For live commerce, Juicy Chemistry as a brand doesn't fit in as skincare is very subjective and consumers cannot see instant results with skincare,” he stated.
At present, social commerce contributes 30 percent of the total revenue of the brand.
Apart from this, the brand will be doing a lot of sampling activities for the products of Color Chemistry, to ensure that consumers make an informed decision.
Tech Integrations
At present, the brand is integrating a live trial option to the consumers for foundation, lipsticks, concealer, etc.
“We hope to go live with it as we start retailing the products and go to market with it. We also have a foundation match quiz that assures consumers of the right shade of foundation. Apart from this, we are adding a layer of technology on our website to ensure a smooth transition between skincare, hair care, face care, and aromatherapy, along with cosmetics,” he explained.
The brand is also using tech to map the entire consumer journey on its website.
Future Plans
At present, online contributes 90 percent of the revenue of the brand, out of which 70-80 percent of revenue comes from its own D2C channel.
“In the next 4-5 years, we expect 20 percent of sales to come from offline channels, and then the sweet spot to be would be a 40:60 for us, in the days to come. And, we will continue being an online first brand while expanding our presence offline as well,” he said.
Last year, the brand raised $7.5 million to spread brand awareness as it grows and scales. Though the brand does not have any immediate requirement to raise more funds, but definitely now with the plans set in place, it is looking at a larger fundraise in the next fiscal.
“The year-on-year growth has been phenomenal for us. Last year, we grew by about 60 percent from the previous year but, we did invest a lot more in branding and marketing, and hence, we did close the year on a negative. But this was a controlled negative spend that we did, and it was a budgeted spend that we did this year. Obviously, things are looking a little different as we scale ahead,” he stated.
“We are aiming for Rs 8-9 crore month-on-month revenue and become Rs 100 crore GMV brand by the end of the next 18 months. We will be having an inclusive line, not just for skincare, and haircare, but also for makeup and wellness as well, as a category,” he shared.
At present, Juicy Chemistry has a presence in a few international markets like Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Nepal, and Mauritius, and going ahead, it is planning to expand its presence in the UAE and the US in the next coming quarter.
“We definitely have a strong focus on international trade as well, because we see the acceptance of products being much more faster because of our ECOCERT credentials. So I think, Europe and the US as a market have phenomenal growth opportunities for us. In international markets, we will be expanding through e-commerce at this point in time. We also look to have the distributors and also be present in large big box retailers like ULTA, and Sephora as well,” he asserted.
Five years from now, the brand plans to penetrate deeper into the markets, not just across tier I, but tier II and III cities as well where good quality makeup should not be an aspiration.
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