A Community Of Millennial Women
As a personal care brand for the millennium woman, Hibiscus Monkey is connected to its consumers in a way that it encourages dialogue. When the brand set out to promote their menstrual cramp soother, they began recounting ‘period tales’ from their consumers. Period tales soon transformed into a community of millennials, banding together by their collective experience of womanhood and breaking the taboo around a forbidden topic. “In a world of bots, being human has enabled me to mobilize a strong community of thousands of consumers—the #HMTribe—who have become personally vested, self-appointed brand champions, propelling HM forward,” says co-founder, Roshni Mehta.
As an entrepreneur, Mehta takes the personal development of her employees seriously, by making them feel valued and ensures that they are invested in the growth of the brand. With sales commencing from the end of May 2019 on their Instagram platform, the sales have reached Rs 8 lakh on this channel alone, and are currently at a monthly run rate of Rs 2 lakh. Going forward, they are projected to have a monthly run rate of Rs 10 lakh by December 2020 (on Instagram alone) and total sales of Rs 65 lakh by end of December 2020. The expected average year on year growth is projected at 125 per cent, hitting Rs 2.3 crore by December 2021, Rs 4.6 crore by December 2022 and Rs 8.0 crore by December 2023.
The brand has successfully used technology to create a consumer connect and ensure repeat purchase. Their repeat purchase is a healthy 42 per cent as compared to the average industry rate of 25 per cent. Further, they have created engaging brand messaging and digital content that has led to an average 250,000 weekly reach on social media platforms.
Sustainability is woven into the brand ethos, with a large number of products being vegan and chemical-free. Besides, sustainable business is practised as a force for good, the brand also focuses on generating sustainable livelihood for low-income individuals. “As a brand, we believe in being kind to our planet and the community. We are cruelty-free, sustainably source our ingredients directly from farmers, our products are packaged in an eco-friendly manner (glass bottles, minimal plastic) and we are looking at integrating circular economy capabilities i.e. providing refill services to consumers along with recycling bottles to further minimize our carbon footprint,” says Mehta.
“I am pursuing a dual MBA and Masters in Public Policy at MIT and Harvard, to equip myself with knowledge of latest tech innovations so that I can integrate it into the business and build a purpose-driven venture,” says Mehta.
