Ameve Sharma, Co-Founder, Kapiva and also President of Shree Baidyanath Ayurved Bhawan, says the brand is right on track on its avowed mission of making Ayurveda popular with focus on innovative products and easy accessibility.
How is Kapiva going about its mission to free Ayurveda of its perceived complexities and ‘ancient’ tag to make it a part of people’s daily lives? Tell us about the journey so far.
Kapiva is a modern and accessible Ayurvedic nutrition brand that focuses on bringing selectively sourced, research-backed foods to modern-day consumers. Our aim is to make Ayurveda a part of people’s daily lives. About 80% of our consumers are millennials and Gen Z, and the primary factors that have helped us build products for them are:
Convenience: Product formats such as juices, powders, gummies, the ‘Better-For-You’ range deliver nutrition in a convenient way for the younger generation, making it easier for them to consume regularly and, in turn, see better results.
Taste: Better taste leads to regular consumption. Hence, we are experimenting with different tastes and flavours, launching chocolate, mango, and guava flavours for our slim shakes.
Accessibility: D2C approach (own website and presence on major online marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, BigBasket, etc) and wide offline presence.
What does brand ambassador Malaika Arora bring to Brand Kapiva?
Malaika Arora is the true embodiment of Kapiva, striving to be better in every way and adopting a holistic approach towards overall health. In fact, she herself is a firm believer of Ayurveda and has been a Kapiva consumer for years. I truly believe there is nothing better than a consumer who has experienced your product first-hand advocating your brand. She is also a strategic investor, and is guiding us on taking further our cause of enabling Indians with ‘Everyday Ayurveda’.
Tell us about innovation in your product formats and the R&D effort that goes behind it. What would you single out as your best innovations?
Kapiva has always followed a consumer-first approach. Therefore, innovation is at the core of our operations. Our single best innovation would be venturing into the ‘food for beauty’ space where we have upcoming launches with the aim to help consumers cater to their beauty needs with the help of ingestibles. We are one of India’s first brands to launch super grain mixes and one of the first brands to venture into the gummies segment, which has witnessed multifold growth in the past few years. We are constantly adapting as per the needs of our consumers, and hence, we’ve launched 50+ products in 10 categories in the past year - skin, hair, digestion, weight management, chronic issues like BP and diabetes, Ayurvedic health supplements, Ayurvedic breakfast to name a few. We will be expanding into 3-4 new categories in 2022. We’ll continue to invest in R&D and innovate on sourcing better ingredients, convenient product formats, and consumer-friendly packaging, to deliver more value to the consumer. We’ve developed a top-of-the-line and robust R&D set-up in-house, working with food technology experts to build best-in-class product ranges. Our focus remains on innovating more accessible nutrition, under the realm of Ayurveda.
Tell us about Kapiva’s D2C outreach and retail presence. What are the challenges faced by the brand?
More than 70% of our revenue comes from D2C - our own website and e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Big Basket, etc., as digital has become a pivotal part of the lives of Indian consumers. D2C also allows businesses to understand consumers better through real-time data insights about their likes, dislikes and preferences. In fact, riding on the digital wave, we launched a new, modernized e-commerce website. Our strong retail presence with 6000+ stores in 40 cities across the country, combined with an aggressive D2C strategy, is helping us scale the business.
We do not face any challenges as such, but we are focusing on distribution and improving consumer interaction on our platform.
What are some consumer trends that you see with regard to wellness and preventive healthcare in the post-pandemic world?
In the aftermath of the pandemic, people have realized the importance of preventive healthcare and pro-active measures for holistic wellness. This will only witness an uptick, going forward. Here are a few trends that will dominate the industry now on: Moving beyond application-based products: For skin and hair concerns like acne and hairfall, people are moving beyond external application-based products and are looking at addressing underlying health issues that are the cause; this is leading to growth of the ingestible segment. Convenient formats: Convenience is the driving force for the younger generation. Therefore, brands are rapidly adapting as per their needs and introducing products that fit their lifestyle. Owing to this, formats such as sachet-based products and gummies will be gaining a lot of traction in the coming years. Vegan products: Veganism is not a fad anymore, rather it is a trend that is here to stay - almost 79 million people across the world have joined this bandwagon as consumers are becoming more and more conscious of their lifestyle choices. After veganism, the other trends are gluten-free and soy-free products.
What is your long-term vision for the company? What is the market opportunity you see ahead for Brand Kapiva and for Ayurveda as an industry overall?
Ayurveda is estimated to be a Rs 30,000 crore industry in India itself. As per the current estimates, the company is expected to cross Rs 300 crore in revenue in the next three years. To capture a part of this market, our road-map for 2022 is - 1. Innovating on products that can solve millennials’ lifestyle issues through research-backed and Ayurveda-inspired solutions in an easy-to-consume format. 2. Scaling up the direct-to-consumer channel: The direct-to-consumer channel has had a great growth story – it grew about 5x in revenue in less than a year. It is expected to grow another 3x this year. 3. Building our brand communication to share our story of modern Ayurvedic nutrition: We are focusing on digital channels at the moment since our customer base is largely present here.
