The baby care product market in India was worth over $7 billion in 2020 and is expected to more than double to $14.5 billion by 2027 with a compound annual growth rate of 9.52%. This massive market in India is majorly dominated by global giants such as Johnsons, Himalaya, and well-known brands like Sebamed, Cetaphil, Mustela etc.
Brothers Akshat Agrawal and Abhishek Agrawal founded Shishu in 2022 taking a natural approach to the industry. Akshat, co-founder and CEO of Shishu, told Entrackr, “Majority of these companies use lots of chemical ingredients in their products. People buy them because it has a name, and the brand is well known.”
Shishu is a baby and kids care brand which focuses on using natural ingredients in its baby personal care range. The company currently offers natural baby body wash, shampoo, lotion, talc free powder, Ph balanced soap, and massage oil in its baby personal care range.
It is soon to launch face cream and hair oil, completing the personal care range. The Bengaluru registered company also plans to foray into the baby hygiene category with its cotton-based diapers and wipes as its key products.
Shishu’s products are available through various online platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Jiomart, ONDC, 1MG etc. and soon to launch its company websites as well. As for its offline distribution channel, the company follows a direct to distributors business model; wherein it distributes its products along in retail shops in rural areas and distributors for better availability.Â
The products are used by over 5000 customers and more than 150 retail outlets sell Shishu’s products. The company has seen a 2X month on month growth in the short period since its founding. Currently the majority of its revenue comes from the sales of products in retail stores and local pharmacies.
Explaining the current position of baby care products in the market Akshat said, “Our grandmother and great grandmothers used completely natural products on their children, and it worked just fine. There is a problem of knowledge of products and ingredients used in this industry for example there were recent cases where talc powder was seen to create health issues. A lot of the ingredients are not necessary and can cause harm in the longer run.”
Over the course of the next three years, the bootstrapped company aims at reaching over 1000 distributors across India and make its products available in around 300,000 retail outlets concentrating on venturing deeper into the rural offline market in the tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
Building brand and ingredient awareness with the help of technology to create a robust online and offline distribution channel is on the list of things to focus on for this five-month-old company.
