Success Story of Mamaearth company : Providing India with natural, toxic-free skincare products from 2016

Success Story of Mamaearth Company: Providing India with natural, toxic-free skincare products from 2016

CA consumer’s concern about companies manufacturing cosmetics is paramount when it comes to the cosmetic industry. Organic cosmetics, natural products, and products that do not contain chemical toxins are a new era in today’s world.

These organic products are trendy simply because they mean no harm to our skin, hair, gut, and in general, ourselves. 

Mamaearth’s American Made Safe Certification, the first nontoxic seal for cosmetics in use today, has helped Mamaearth establish itself as a promising startup in the cosmetics industry with organic products.

As the brainchild of Ghazal Alagh and Varun Alagh, it makes skincare routines easier while maintaining the highest quality. It is a cosmetics company headquartered in Gurugram (India), offers natural and toxicity-free products online.

Highlights of Mamaearth

Introduction 

A common problem associated with Indian parenting has been addressed through Mamaearth’s innovative product line. Mamaearth offers baby products that are safe by international standards and packed with the benefits of nature in a country where most baby products do not meet safety regulations.

It is the first Asian brand to be certified as “MADE SAFE”. Almost all of the toxins banned in most countries are not found in the products sold by this company. Mamaearth is more than a commercial brand; its products are made with care and love. The company’s headquarters are located in Gurugram (Gurgaon), India. If you’re wondering where Mamaearth is from, it is based in India.

Team – Founders/Owners

Ghazal Alagh and Varun Alagh founded Mamaearth in 2016, incorporating Honasa Consumer Private Limited and launching the Mamaearth line of toxin-free products in December. To provide chemical-free products to every baby in India, the couple made it their mission. As an organic products manufacturer, the company now serves babies, moms, dads, grandparents and everyone else.

• Varun Alagh

The Chief Dad of Mamaearth, Varun Alagh, is the co-founder and Get Stuff Done Officer of Mamaearth. In addition to a BE degree in Electrical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering, Varun Alagh is an MBA graduate from XLRI Jamshedpur. His previous career had included positions at Hindustan Unilever, Smirnoff, and The Coca-Cola Company before he founded Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd., Mamaearth’s parent company. His expertise in brand management stands out.

• Ghazal Alagh

In addition to Ghazal Alagh, the Chief Innovation Office at Mamaearth is Ghazal Alagh. A graduate of both the School of Visual Arts and the New York Academy of Art, Ghazal has completed intensive courses in Modern Art and Applied Art and is among the top 10 women artists in India and nationally and internationally. From Panjab University, Ghazal received her BCA in Information Technology. In February 2012, she founded Dietexpert before finding Mamaearth in 2016 under the guidance of Honasa.

The workplace culture is open, optimistic, experimental, and experiment-oriented in terms of hierarchy. Working at Mamaearth is fun for all these reasons.

Startup Story: How did it get started?

Nearly all personal care products and baby care products contain harmful chemicals. After her stay there, Ghazal started checking the ingredients before purchasing any baby care item, which led her to become more conscious of the products she was using.

Varun and Ghazal noticed that the baby care products they came across were harmful to their babies (the couple was in India at the time) and that there were no safer alternatives. Since they could not find safe products in India, the husband-and-wife team decided to import reliable products manufactured elsewhere instead. Later on, the company began ordering products from the United States, but it proved expensive and inconvenient. 

Additionally, they realized that they were not the only ones struggling with the same issue in India. Finding no answers at hand, Varun and Ghazal Alagh decided to make baby products safer and more affordable. They devoted sleepless nights to create a new brand, chose an R&D team for it, and obtained the necessary certification. Mamaearth was born due to all these factors and soon became Asia’s first brand that offered toxin-free, natural baby products that were made safe.

Target Market Size 

During the next three years, the baby care market in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17%, according to a report by the market research firm Technavio. Mamaearth has segmented its product line into the following categories:

• Baby
• Beauty
• Hair
• Face
• Body
• Gift packs.

Products and Services

Over 80 natural products under the MamaEarth umbrella cater to baby care, hair care, skincare, and more. MamaEarth focuses on babies and other people with its exclusive product range. In addition to India’s first bamboo-based baby wipes, easy tummy rolls with hing and fennel designed for colic relief and 100% natural plant-based toothpaste, Mamaearth has a variety of other innovative products available.

Furthermore, it offers a wide range of skin and hair care products utilizing popular natural ingredients such as onion, ubtan, tea tree, vitamin C, argan, coco, and charcoal.

With a variety of products ranging from stretch mark removal serum to sunscreen, it has expanded to serve babies and their mothers. Motherhood is central to the brand. The onion range for mothers is a fan favourite.

Startup Launch

To emphasize the importance of motherhood, Mamaearth decided to directly target mothers. When customers used Mamaearth products, the founders were confident that word-of-mouth publicity would spread like wildfire. They also used social media influencer marketing to spread the word.

To connect with like-minded parents, who only wanted the best for their babies, was the primary strategy. Digital content is the sole means of acquiring customers.

The lean innovation cycle, designed to scale, launch, and learn quickly, is the most significant project helping Mamaearth achieve its current growth rate. They focused on customer-specific needs through lean innovation. Rapid experimentation also allowed product concepts to be validated and improved in real-time. Customer satisfaction was increased, and time-to-market was decreased.

Mission and Vision

The brand aims to be a friend to you and every parent. An understanding friend who knows your problems is concerned and tries to solve most of them. The brand that moms and expectant moms can trust – one that intends to make their lives better and more beautiful. Introducing a brand that welcomes all our babies to a world of health and safety. Besides offering toxin-free, safe, international standard products for parents and babies, they also aim to take care of their wellbeing from head to toe. According to the “Our Mission” section of its website, it is much like love.

Safe, toxicity-free, and international standard products are designed to solve the problems recurring among young parents, helping them cherish their kids’ joy without the hassles associated with it.

MamaEarth offers organic products that are best for babies, their mothers, grandparents, and other family members.

The Business and Revenue Model 

Licensed to Mamaearth, contract manufacturers produce Mamaearth’s products. Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd. owns the trademark Mamaearth. 

It has an online-first business model that relies on posting offers on the D2C platforms (Amazon, Flipkart, etc.) and their eventual sales, along with the sale of products displayed at traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Mamaearth follows an omnichannel approach with an innovative product that drives growth derived from the blue system.

Growth

Six products were available in Mamaearth’s catalogue when the company launched in 2016. More than 1.5 million Indians use more than 80 natural, toxin-free products. In addition, it is now available in more than 500 cities worldwide.

It’s operating revenue rose to Rs 110 crores in FY20, from Rs 16.8 crores at the end of FY19, up from Rs 16.8 crores before. It has also managed to limit losses to Rs 5.9 crores, which is impressive. According to its report, the investment bank Jefferies says the company may surpass Rs 500 crore in FY21.

Partnerships

Anita Hassanandani joined Mamaearth on February 26, 2021. The company’s strategic partnership with Anita, a TV veteran who had just given birth to a boy, is all the more relevant because she is a new celebrity mother. In the future, Mamaearth will be able to grow its haircare, skincare, and baby care categories due to this collaboration.

Shilpa Shetty Kundra joined company to endorse the Vitamin C facewash that Mamaearth offers customers through a 30-second film premiered on March 20, 2021. “Goodness inside” was the only goal of the film.    

Before the release of Ribbon, the film starring Kalki Koechlin and Sumeet Vyas, on November 3 2017, our organic customer products brand partnered with them. The song became the movie’s ‘Official Mama’s Partner’.  

Startup Challenges

There were always challenges in the early years of any organization, and Mamaearth was no exception. Mamaearth encountered a growth stumbling block early on in its development that prevented it from expanding as much as it desired. Team members discovered that the problem was a lack of clarity about the target cohort, which led to unnecessary marketing expenditures and little or no customer acquisition.

As a result, the core team reevaluated the target group and communication strategy and determined to redefine them both. The team saw significant results in a short period after implementing the plan.

There are many prominent companies in the cosmetics industry, both foreign and Indian operators, that maintain a constant level of competition with each other.

Competitors

It is at odds with MNCs like Himalaya and Johnson & Johnson and online e-commerce sites like Nykaa directly and indirectly. Mamaearth competes directly with several established and startup companies, offering several baby-related products, including accessories, apparel, and toys.

Mamaearth is also a rival to organized players in the cosmetics industry, such as Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly Clark, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever. The number of companies adopting the toxin-free philosophy is increasing, increasing Mamaearth’s overall competition.

Awards

During the 2nd edition of ET Brand Festival 2019, Mamaearth was recognized as “One of the Best Brands” in India.