Emami will continue to stay deeply invested in the core area of ayurveda and put a greater emphasis on coming up with more innovative and effective products moving forward. It also plans to focus on analytics and technology to strengthen sales and distribution in the segment.
According to RS Goenka, Chairman, Emami, consumers today are more and more aware of the goodness and health benefits of Ayurveda, especially in the categories of prevention and immunity. Hence, Ayurveda will continue to be more relevant.
As estimated by IMARC (2021), the ayurveda market is expected to grow by around 15 per cent during 2020-2025.
“Continuing with this trend, the company also intends to stay deeply invested in our core area of ayurveda. Emphasis will be there on packaging innovations, especially for LUPs and bridge packs, to drive up consumption among the lower-end consumers amid increasing inflation, while the focus on analytics and technology in sales and distribution will be further strengthened to drive the business ahead,” said Goenka while delivering his speech at the 39th annual general meeting held virtually on Friday.
In its latest annual report (2021-22), Emami said it remains committed to widen the relevance of affordably priced ayurveda-based products to a vast population within India and similar geographies. The company expects to ride a growing ayurveda preference to enhance visibility in a cluttered market.
With a rise in illnesses, urban Indian seeks to shift from conventional therapies towards natural products, marked by lower side-effects. This helped the Indian ayurveda products market to grow to around 516 billion rupees in 2021.
Emami has consistently invested in research on ayurveda products across the personal care and healthcare categories, broadbasing the foundation for sustainable growth, said the annual report.
E-commerce and D2C
With an overall focus on digital business, Emami is now increasingly looking at D2C and eB2B segments. It has launched D2C websites for Zandu, Kesh King and BoroPlus. The company launched and marketed a range of ecommerce-specific products and digital first brands such as Onion Range under Kesh King, Gold and Therapy range under Navratna, and more than 20 healthcare products under the Zanducare D2C platform in FY22, said Goenka.
The company’s e-commerce revenues doubled and contributed close to six per cent of its domestic business in FY22 against close to three per cent in the previous year.
In e-commerce, the direct-to-consumer segment is expected to have a $100-billion addressable market by 2025, according to industry estimates. Emami is nimble enough to capitalise on this consumer transition towards convenience driven platforms.
“With heightened digital adoption via e-commerce platforms not only in metros but also across small towns, digital medium is fast emerging as a key area for consumer-facing businesses today. Through digital and social media, FMCG companies like us have a ready ground intelligence and are constantly launching new products developed using insights and customer feedback from these platforms, where consumers are constantly looking for innovation,” he said.