In a conversation with Kunal Mutha, Founder and Managing Director, Only Earth
If you had to pen down your top 3 learnings from 2021 then what would that be?
- Conscious consumption
- E Commerce is King
- Veganism is here to stay
What is your vision for 2022 for your brand?
We have a simple goal of becoming the most loved Plant Based dairy alternative brand in India. We are aiming to double the revenue run rate in 2022 with the introduction of 10-15 more SKU’s of products covering food and beverage categories. We are also working on our plans to launch our products in 5 international markets. We also plan on continuing educating the masses on veganism which helps in treading lightly on the planet, in conserving resources, animals and reducing the collective carbon footprint.
How are you laying the bricks for growth and success in the New Year? Is it going to be an Omnichannel journey or putting action to digital transformation or accelerating processes with technology or something else? Tell us your thoughts.
Right from the beginning, we have had an Omnichannel-centric approach to the market. In a period of 7 months, we expanded to over 12 cities with a presence in more than 1000 retail outlets. E commerce and HORECA as channels have both played a critical growth so far. Going direct to consumer is going to be a priority this year. We had consciously decided to delay our decision to start a D2C website due to the high cost of acquisition initially. However, now that we have got healthy traffic on our portal, we are switching to a brand new D2C website by March of this year.
How much has the company grown under your leadership in the pandemic period?
It’s quite encouraging to taste early success since we got started. On the retail and e-commerce front, we have been driving the maximum sales per unit for Oats Milk. This itself is quite an achievement for a 7-month-old brand. In HORECA, we have had important breakthroughs in partnerships with Starbucks, Oberoi, and many other chains and standalone popular cafeterias and hotels.
Elaborate on the initiatives (marketing and digital) which were a success in this period?
To build brand awareness, we had partnered with popular influencers across the country. We have associated with 3 environmental projects in total with Coral propagation being the first one. On World Soil Day, we did afforestation initiative to plant about 1 Lakh trees in central India. This project with fruit-bearing trees will provide farmers with alternate income and improve their livelihood. Wildlife conservation is the 3rd initiative we have planned to work on. We are in discussion with wildlife agencies like WWF and a few others to identify, adapt and improve the habitat for endangered animals in India.
