We are looking to Open around 30-40 experiential stores: Abhinandan Dhoke

How the brand Organic India gets into existence? Also shed light on your journey so far?

We are the pioneers of organic category in India with market existence of more than 20 years. We started with a mission to educate farmers about the organic farming. Not only organic, we have promoted the framers to grow Tulsi which is a household worship substance. In fact, we have developed several varieties of Tulsi that later transformed into green tea as well. It was much later when we actually started marketing to actually drive the business. India is a huge tea consumption country and with Organic India we are vouched to promote healthy tea sipping culture.

What kind of distribution you have in online and offline space??

We are an omnichannel brand. In offline, we are present in more than 25000 mom and pop stores across India. We have more than 400 distributors working pan India. We also have our signature stores which are 25 in number as of now. Recently, we have also partnered with Fabindia as the part of growth strategy. Other than this, we also have our exclusive webstore and we are also there at leading marketplaces.

Going forward what are the plans to scale up the distribution?

We are looking to open around 30-40 our own wellness stores. These wellness stores will be alike to experiential stores. With these experiential store we would not only be retailing but would do consultation work as well.  Moreover, we will continue to focus on local distribution via mom and pop format.

So you are marketing on therapeutic benefits to promote your product which may be relevant to older generation. What is your strategy to attract young millennials?

Our consumer base is well balanced in terms of age groups. In fact, we have a huge base of younger audience. These days there is a preventive kind of awareness among the millennials and these set of consumers compulsively want healthier products. Younger generation of these days is more aware of health benefits of consuming organic products such as green tea.

Usually, organic products are priced on higher side as compared to non organic products. What is your pricing strategy to stay relevant in price sensitive markets like India?

If you compare milktea to greentea, it is not premium; for example, we offer 25 teabags in a single box which is priced around Rs 160- 170, so each teabag does not cost more than 8 rupees. Whereas, odd are unlikely to find a cup of milk tea in Rs10.  So, we are very much price- competitive.

What was the rationale behind tying up with Fabindia since the retailer is among the market leaders when it comes to natural or organic products?

Fabindia has its core competence in apparel category. This collaboration is a marriage of two philosophies we as well as Fabindia is committed to save the livelihood of the farmers. Fabindia is one of the biggest investor in Organic India. The products which will be sold by Fabindia will have co-branding.