‘One step ahead’: India’s Power Gummies seeks online expansion and NPD with fresh VC funds
Power Gummies is a brand of vitamins and nutricosmetics from Indian start-up Aesthetics Nutrition and is currently available only online on nine e-commerce platforms, including the brand’s official website, Amazon, and Flipkart.
The brand, which has sold one million packages of gummies last year, received freshly injected funds from Singapore-based VC firm DSG Consumer Partners recently.
In an interview with NutraIngredients-Asia, CEO of Aesthetic Nutrition, Divij Bajaj, said that the company would prioritise online expansion.
He explained that this was because e-commerce has been growing rapidly in India and was expected to grow to US$200bn by year 2026.
The company’s PR manager Reva Malhotra added that as compared to the brick-and-mortar retail, e-commerce served as a more viable tool in testing the market response, especially in lower tier cities.
However, the aim is not to enter any other e-commerce sites, but to work with sites that allow the brands to reach the target groups of audience, especially females within the age group of 20 to 45.
‘We will be going into smart retail options where we have a direct target audience…We will not be going into all retail options, but the specific ones where we feel that our target audience will visit,’ Bajaj said, explaining that the products were for a niche group of consumers.
That said, the firm is also considering brick-and-mortar retail as well.
Bajaj said that the firm has shortlisted a number of offline retailers, such as duty-free stores.
NPD
Besides e-commerce, the company is also prioritising new product development with the VC funds.
We understand that a probiotic and a weight management product are in the firm’s new product pipeline.
Its current product is a multivitamin (vitamins A, B5, B6, C, D) and biotin blend for promoting hair and nail health. It took about two years to complete the R&D process.
According to Bajaj, tablets currently make up the bulk of health supplements in India and with the first-mover advantage, the company hopes to ‘make consumer shifts from tablet to gummies.’
‘In India, we currently don’t have much competition in the gummy segment, but we definitely have market players making supplements in tablets.
'I don’t feel that there is competition as of now, but yes, definitely there are players which will be going into this area soon, but we will always be one step ahead of them,’ he said.
Why gummies
Pill fatigue amongst Indian consumers is a reason for the rising popularity of vitamin gummies, according to the firm.
Malhotra said that gummies, being better-tasting and come in more visually appealing formats, were also more likely to gain consumers acceptance.
A longer shelf-life and the ability to sell it via the OTC channel are the other reasons for why gummies are preferred.
Deepak Shahdadpuri, MD of DSG Consumer Partners, said that India’s vitamin and health supplement market was ripe for disruption and presents a huge market opportunity.
A Mintel report also pointed out that there was nutricosmetics could be the ‘heart of market growth’ in India’s vitamins, minerals, and supplements market.
On the other hand, ‘gummies and jellies offer opportunities for expanding the consumer base and establishing a greater connection with consumers’ in India, said a Oct 2019 Euromonitor report.
