‘Experimentation has become mainstream, consumers willing to try new products’

“When I started work on Plum, back in 2013, the terminology and concept called D2C did not exist,” shared Shankar Prasad, Founder & CEO of Plum Goodness, as he engaged in a chat with exchange4media for its D2C Revolution series.

“What continues to exist though, is the Indian consumer’s love for benefit-driven propositions”, Prasad continued. He shared that the industry has seen quite a shift when it comes to the openness of consumers to new brands. “It is very high now,” he mentioned. A decade ago, the people who used to try Plum’s products were from the really experimental category of consumers. “Today, experimentation has become mainstream. People are willing to try new things out,” Prasad said.

Another shift that the beauty and skincare space has seen, according to Prasad, is how people now accept science too, as opposed to only accepting nature. “People are really willing to double click on what really makes the product work, rather than believing what one says in terms of what the product does,” he said.

Prasad believes that the way information is being shared has become completely online driven and retail acts as a supporting touchpoint physically to what people are consuming online.

Speaking about breaking through the clutter in the D2C and especially in the beauty and skincare space, Prasad says that it is important to remain consistent throughout. “Be consistent not just in terms of brand, but also in terms of product,” he highlighted.

Prasad also shared that the entry barriers in a market like beauty have always been low and getting even lower. “In such a market, differentiation cannot be built on a single ingredient or a platform. It has to be built through a combination of things that resonate with the consumers and that resonance is created by being consistent,” he said.

The D2C sales for Plum, from the top eight cities, account for around 35-38%.

“Cities which are non-metro are probably accounting for a 60% upwards of sales for our brand. It is a myth that purchasing power is concentrated in the larger cities. Purchasing power is widely dispersed across the top 30-50 cities and even beyond, in this country. The only barrier there was, was availability which has also been resolved over the last few years through e-commerce and other delivery partners,” Prasad shared.