‘The word of mouth has been the strongest marketing tool for Freshtohome’

“It is really about being the freshest fish and meat provider in the world.” Shan Kadavil, Co-founder, Freshtohome.com, shared the brand’s journey and vision during an interesting session at exchange4media group’s Pitch CMO Summit 2022 on Friday.

He also gave a detailed insight into the fish and meat industry, and the brand’s expansion plans in the coming years.

“The company has strived towards its brand promise and offers products that are 100% fresh to its customers, right at their doorsteps. With over 2 million orders per month, the company sources fish and meat from 3,000+ fishermen and farmers across 300 coasts and farms in India,” Kadavil said while speaking on the topic: “The ‘Fresh Way’ To Creating An Online Meat & Fish Store”.

During the virtual conference, Kadavil spoke in detail about the brand’s journey. “Being an entrepreneur, I have worked with multiple brands that are renowned all over the world. I worked as General Manager for a video game brand named ‘Farmville’. After working in the US, I re-located to India, and being a Keralite I loved eating fish. But the availability of good quality fish and meat was very limited.”

“So, I found a website Seatohome.com started by Mathew Joseph, a fish exporter who is currently the co-founder of Freshtohome.com. We used to order fish from the website, and my family and I were very satisfied with the products. After a period, Mathew faced turmoil in the business and was unable to continue. So, I wanted to solve this personal pain point. I funded Mathew and started this new company - Freshtohome.com.”

Talking about chemical and antibiotic-free meat and fish products, Kadavil further said, “Since the past six years we have stayed true to our ethics and vision of providing antibiotic and chemical-free meat and fish products. We proudly display the certificates for the latest batch that we have tested from reputed labs in India on about 120 antibiotics and various kinds of chemicals. We have been very transparent and true to the original brand proposition. We have created India’s first clean labelled brand in our segment.”

Explaining the process of operations, Kadavil said, “We went to 5,000 harbours in India and out of that we now source actively from 300 harbours and from 3,000 fishermen. These fishermen work directly with us. We source through software that we call commodities exchange. Farmers or fishermen can trade with us here. We have built networks through our platform for cold chains and collection centres. We have an ability to transport the products both by air and road across the length and breadth of India.”

Kadavil further said, “Within 24 hours the products are processed and this process is antibiotic and chemical-free. We have worked on the backend as well to ensure every proposition is met. For us, the word of mouth would be the strongest brand marketing. On Google Play Store, we have been rated the highest - about 4.7 in the overall experience. We have 90 per cent customer retention and that is the highest in the industry.”

Talking about expansion plans and strategies, Kadavil said, “We focus mainly on digital marketing and last year we have been focussing aggressively on brand building. We have hired seasoned marketing professionals who have helped us take the brand to new heights and connect with consumers. We have come up with quirky digital-first ideas, and at the end of the day, marketing is telling the truth. In our case, it is really about being the freshest fish and meat provider in the world, and we help consumers directly connect with the fishermen and farmers.”

Stressing on the importance of expanding a business, Kadavil noted, “India has such a large opportunity base and there are multiple ways to reach consumers. We have launched over 100 stores which provide fresh and chemical-free products.”

“Consumers can taste ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook products. So, this is an area we are expanding. We are also expanding much more aggressively in ready-to-eat and ready-to-eat portfolios. We see a lot of success that has come in and we see that segment growing fast. We are also expanding our reach in multiple cities. Now we are in a lot of tier-II and tier-III cities. In the last six months, we have launched in 100 cities. We anticipate this will lead our brand to have a major footprint across India as well as abroad.”