'If you have fun developing business, even big problems will seem small’

The second edition of the e4m D2C Revolution Summit and Awards 2023 witnessed stalwarts from the industry discussing the topic, ‘Challengers 2.0 – New brands in the ever-evolving D2C segment’.

The panellists Prem Raheja, founder and CEO, The Betel Leaf Co.; Samayesh Khanna, founder, Beanly; Ayushi Khandelwal, co-founder, Anveshan; Hemangi Dhir, founder, Botnal; Aditya Agrawal, co-founder and CEO, P-Tal and Vaibhav Makhija, co-founder, What’s Up Wellness. The session was moderated by Ruhail Amin, senior editor, Exchange4media.

Amin opened the session by talking about building a category in such a cluttered space and standing out among the giants and also dealing with a new space of D2C. To this, Raheja said, “We are trying to compete with D2C and established brands. But, I personally think there is no such competition. It is because the market is also growing in the same space. Therefore, the big brands enjoyed smaller markets and built concentration. Technically, there is no challenge that one should be facing. The most important thing is how you get your product, quality and packaging right. Thanks to COVID, a lot of people want to take their products home. We brought Paan - which was sold at the corner of the road into the main line. We became the consumer category creator of paan and we deliver it to your house in the most hygienic way. You have to sit down and ask yourself what is it that you, as a consumer on a product that you consume, want as an experience and then build your product or category around it.”

“For me, the journey has been interesting. During COVID, I was formulating skincare products from my kitchen and I also got the opportunity to collect zero-party data by giving friends, family and community members products that probably didn’t exist. Currently, I am working on making a neck cream. The space and competition are not high at all because nobody in the market is doing a cream just for the neck. I think that the market is saturated within the skincare field but the education around it isn’t as high so I think, COVID gave us the chance and experience to connect with our consumers one-to-one and explain to them what is required and needed. They also got the opportunity to connect with the brands directly and see what is right and works for them,” Dhir added.

Khanna elucidated, “When we were building this category out, there was a differentiated product that we started with. So, at that point, instant coffee was a large part of what India consumed and we started with these drip and pour bags, making freshly brewed coffee easily accessible to India. Every brand has its own journey and I think evolution is back natural and this category has a scope to build a product and ensure that the consumers love it.”

Khandelwal shared her views on ensuring customer retention where she said, “It takes time to understand your P&L. We started around three or three and a half years ago and I did not know anything back then with regards to checking the profitability and profit or loss. So, the number one step is to get your financial reports in place from day 1 and start looking at it at least at a monthly level. Once you start understanding it, figure out which sections where you can optimise. Go out and check in the market what other people are getting as their manufacturing cost and try to optimise that if required. Profitability is something that not only founders can take care of. It has to be a culture in your company. It comes as a team effort. Try to come up with a quarterly and a yearly business plan and convey the same to the other team members and get them on board.”

Agrawal explained, “A customer is spending so much that they have a lot of expectations. Our thesis, since day 1, has been very simple. It is to under-promise and over-deliver. We always try to ensure that our journey does not just end at acquiring a customer in terms of marketing channels but also starts after a product has been delivered. Our idea is not just to ensure that the viewers become consumers of our product but also become consumers of our stories because we have built a brand with a purpose and a niche category like ours, is very important to convince the consumer why they should buy the product.”

Makhija concluded the session where he conveyed, “Meta is the only platform that is scalable for businesses like ours in the early stages. We advertise a lot on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The approach is simple. We just go in with the creatives, test 100-200 ads in a month and keep seeing the results. We should always have fun while developing a business. If you are having fun, even a bigger problem would seem small.”