We Want To Increase Our Presence To 15,000 Outlets In India By 2019: Organic Harvest CEO

Established in 2013, Organic Harvest is the brainchild of Rahul Agarwal, who chose entrepreneurship over a dynamic career with Ernst and Young. “Innovations have always captured my fascination. Realising the amount of potentially harmful chemicals hiding in everyday products, particularly cosmetics and skincare products, I felt the need to introduce products that cater to the needs of consumers who want to look their natural best. I felt the gap of organic beauty products in the market and firmly believe that chemicals are not for the skin and with this, I decided to venture into the organic beauty space,” he said. 

Growth and Expectations 

The brand is gaining momentum rapidly and expanding customer base gradually with the word of mouth reference. “We began initially with 30 outlets and today we have 6,000 outlets in the country. We are also expanding globally. Internationally, we have debuted in the UAE market. Organic Harvest is already present in US, KSA, and Nepal with its extensive range of organic personal care products,” added Agarwal. 

With more than 30% growth in terms of revenue and presence from 3500 to 6000 outlets (2017-2018), Agarwal is quite confident about the growth strategy. “We want to increase the presence to 15,000 in India within a span of one year (2018-2019) and also, in terms of our exclusive brand outlets, currently we have 5 EBOs and aim to have 10 in a span of one year,” he said. An investment of $15M is incurred out of which the majority is spent in R&D, marketing and consumer communication. Organic Harvest offers an array of organic products that are currently unique to the Indian consumer market. The brand embraces the power of plants and its botanical extracts in abundance combined with organic ingredients. The raw materials used are certified by global organizations such as EcoCert, OneCert & Natrue. The certification is an evidence that the raw materials used for manufacturing Organic Harvest products are derived from plants that have been grown without chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. 

Marketing strategy 

The brand is quite aggressive when it comes to expansion both in terms of products and presence. “We will have around 8-10 new additions to our product range in the next one year which includes soaps, serums, masks, sunscreen, and hair care,” he said. Organic soaps are the latest addition with six variants- Rose, Lavender, Lily of the valley, Firangipani, Jasmine and Gardenia. Organic Harvest opened its first EBO in Mohali, Punjab and plan to increase the numbers to 10 in the next one year. 

Vaishali Dar

BW Reporters Vaishali Dar is a Senior Associate Editor with BW Businessworld and Editorial Head with BW Disrupt. She writes on corporates, start-ups, hospitality and travel