Practically everyone starts their day with a cup of coffee or tea, depending on personal preference. Neither coffee or tea, themselves, are particularly healthy, considering excessive caffeine can be harmful to the human body. However, over the years, tea has benefitted from innovations and healthier options in the form of green tea, herbal teas, etc. Noida-based health and wellness company, Neuherbs, has brought forth a similar innovation to coffee products, becoming the first brand to introduce Green Coffee to the Indian consumers.
Background
Neuherbs, founded by brothers Amit Tyagi and Namit Tyagi, was a manifestation of their dedication towards health and fitness. Prior to the launch of Neuherbs in 2016, Amit worked with health and fitness startup HealthKart. This gave Amit considerable experience with supply chain and business operations. An issue Amit looked to address with Neuherbs was the prevalent obesity among several sections of society.
For people who are trying to lose weight and stay fit, food and nutrition is a very important part of their journey.
shares Amit
Taking inspiration from the way Lipton introduced Green Tea into the Indian market, Amit wanted to replicate the same with Neuherbs’ Green Coffee. Tea-drinkers found a healthier alternative in green tea; green coffee, too is a healthy alternative for the people who love their coffee.
Exhaustive R&D
Creating a new market is hard, especially when people are not aware about the product at all. As a result, Neuherbs had to focus their efforts on in-house research and development of their products.
Namit Tyagi, being a sports nutritionist, already had experience working with individuals for the upkeep of their personal health and fitness. Given that all product research and development was done completely in-house, with no component of the process outsourced, Namit’s experience proved key in the initial development of Neuherbs’ Green Coffee and other products.
Launch
Neuherbs initially launched on Amazon, catering to customers directly via the platform. They started by selling Green Coffee Beans and Apple Cider Vinegar in 2016. However, they soon realized that green coffee was a foreign concept to a lot of customers.
We had to test each and every one of our products in-house to validate and monitor all the results.
Unfortunately in this domain, customers had the unrealistic expectation that they would get instant results. To address this, it was necessary to develop a touch point to interact with customers and keep them well informed about the product, its health benefits and nutritional value. Green coffee, as advertised, boosts metabolism and helps maintain sugar levels. However, the weight loss wouldn’t be instantaneous and would be achieved over a period of time. Neuherbs’ green coffee is meant to be a catalyst that helps the weight loss process and provides a healthy alternative to traditional coffee.
‘WeCare’, a customer helpline was developed specifically to communicate with and to guide customers through their journey. The helpline still caters to queries to this day. The company’s customer care team, which currently comprises of several reputable yoga experts and nutritionists, is meant to assist customers in their weight loss journey while also helping them address specific health concerns. Their knowledge and guidance has proved to be essential in helping overcome myths and misinformation prevalent in people’s minds. In a market focused on results, with customers looking for visible changes instantly, having a well-educated customer care team with trained nutritionists helped Neuherbs earn immense customer trust.
Growth
Despite being completely bootstrapped , the company has been successful in accomplishing their targets and have continued to do so year after year. Even in their first year, they managed to break-even and have continued to make profits at a steady rate. A major segment of these profits too, are reinvested in the company every year to help expand Neuherbs and develop better quality products. Amit attributes Neuherbs’ consistency with annual profit margins as a direct result of their heavy focus on their bottom line. This has enabled them to have a constant growth, in spite of being completely bootstrapped.
Amit describes their growth as consistent, driven by positive word of mouth feedback by customers. Less than 2% of their overall budget is spent directly on marketing their products. Instead, Neuherbs has focused on customer retention and primarily creating and delivering products that customers love.
To deliver the maximum quality assurance, Neuherbs made a conscious decision to set up their own manufacturing unit in Greater Noida rather than outsource manufacturing of their products. Having their own manufacturing unit allowed them to constantly monitor and ensure that there are no discrepancies in product quality.
They also ensured the raw material for development is procured from the farmers and meets the quality standards set by the company. Neuherbs has tied up with around 20 farmers from South India. A majority of their green coffee beans are sourced from Chikmagalur, a hill station in Karnataka. The company also has some international affiliations for procuring herbs and herbal extracts.
Current Status
Having started with a small investment of Rs. 10,00,000 back in 2016, Neuherbs has crossed Rs. 25 Cr in revenue in the last fiscal year.
Since its launch on Amazon, Neuherbs has focused on their digital presence. They reportedly receive 85% of their annual revenue through online distribution channels. With the intention of expanding their offline presence, Neuherbs has also partnered with over 600 stores across the Delhi-NCR region, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir.
Going forward, our focus is on engaging with our customers directly by driving sales through our own D2C portal.
AMIT STATES
Currently, Neuherbs offers a wide assortment of herbal products ranging from their reputed green coffee to vitamin supplements and self-care products. Even five years after their launch, 40% of the market share for green coffee is still controlled by Neuherbs. The company has not been afraid to venture into new markets either, adapting their offerings over time to cater to changes in demands from their customers.
Over the course of the pandemic, too, Neuherbs expanded into the personal hygiene and sanitation category. Under the brand Neusafe, they developed hand sanitizers, handwash, fruit and vegetable cleaners, etc. Amit asserts that although Neuherbs identifies as a FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) company, their core offerings of healthcare products will always remain of the utmost importance. Providing customers with healthy and reliable products always has been and always will be at the forefront of Neuherbs’ identity.
Their goal, over the next five years, is to become the largest Indian health and wellness brand. Further, they’re driven by the desire to make their presence felt internationally. Efforts are underway to launch in the US, China and the UK. With their wide assortment of healthcare products, Neuherbs looks set to become a global icon for healthy lifestyles in the not so distant future.