Journey of a product at Gohil Ayurved

We are often asked about the process of launching an Ayurvedic product. So we decided to let you peep behind the veil.

An Ayurvedic practitioner examining a patient using Nadipariksha

The entire team gathers at the monthly closing meet, where we allow the brains of researchers, doctors, manufacturers, marketing personnel, administration, logistics, designers, advertisement partner and of course the top management, to storm each other with some of the most insane product ideas before the insanity is demolished by one question - will it sell?

Typically the marketers have a fundamental right to give excuses so either they talk about a new product launched by competitors or increasing the margins that our stockists enjoy to boost sales. Here the management interferes that the focus should be on strengthening foothold with the existing products rather than investing into new products. Having said that the management has already started thinking of a roadmap for the launch of an innovative product with a strong market potential.

After having launched 20+ chronic disease products, the R&D team is excited about an innovative KitTherapy™ that combines nanotechnology with the science of Ayurveda to offer internal and external remedy for hair and skin care problems. The top team envisions this to be a potential disruptor to a lot of beauty products in the market. to your blog post.

“KitTherapy™ will be Gohil Ayurved's first premium speciality product, scientifically developed and beautifully packed with love.”

It all starts with a thought and then the process follows - experience it as it happens.

1) Preliminary Trials

The R&D team has been asked to develop sample batches for lab level trials. After being tested safe for use, the product development team will be assigned to pack the sample batch into test packs. The focus at this stage is to develop a high quality formulation without the use of any chemicals like SLES. Pure herbs and nothing else. That generally is our pickup line when we go door to door to validate our product.

P.S. SLES or Sodium Laureth Sulphate is a chemical widely used in soaps and shampoos. While it washes off greasy hair, it has no anti-dandruff, anti-hair loss or anti-frizz quality. On repeated use, it eventually damages your hair and leads to further hair loss. By the age of 28, you will start hating your hair!

2) Test Report and Analysis

After receiving anywhere between 50-80 feedback reports from people of different ages, genders, hair and skin type, we will analyse the difference - before and after the regime. An important component here is to keep interacting with the potential customers about impact after discontinuing the regime, which helps in continuous improvement of the product early on. Not everything is positive here, but we have a track record of satisfying 70-75% of our test customers for any of our product launched so far.

3) Approvals and Licensing

After a 3-4 month rigorous testing phase, we finalise a formulation which will be submitted to the drug authorities (ISM Drug Control) under Department of AYUSH, Ministry of Health for approval of the formulation. We are required to sight the information of ingredient from accepted text books like Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia, Sushruta Samhita, etc. All of this is done by our GMP Certified third party manufacturer in consultation with our R&D team. After making minor changes, a formulation gets approved for commercial production in 45-50 days. This used to be 90-95 days previously - things are changing!

This is how a typical drug approval looks like:

Our first set of approvals from FDA Maharashtra, through Shiv Herbal Limited, when we were starting off

4) Product Design and Pricing:

This is one of our core competency to make a product look so interesting and beautiful that one should say - "Wow!" To convince someone to try the product, attractive packaging is essential. And we do boast about our feel-of-a-brand design. A perfect blend of science, quality, efficacy and aesthetics - all of this at affordable prices.

We price products (like most others do, of course!) keeping in mind the cost of product, stockist margins, scheme structures, consumer discounts, promotions and advertisements, taxes, logistics and other admin costs associated. We conduct a quick market survey with our stockists and customers, before freezing the MRP of any product.

KitTherapy™ has a very different target group (TG) - an urban beauty conscious individual who wants an alternative to cosmetics. It will have the feel of an organic product, marketed through premium online and offline retail channels.

5) Commercial Production and Distribution

We start off with small batch sizes of 500-1000 files for any product. We plan to do the same for KitTherapy™ range, so the initial costs are generally high because of lower volumes. But as the product finds acceptance, volumes grow and costs reduce (simple economics). A finished product takes anywhere between 15-20 days in production, during which we start off with initial product placement efforts. The plan is to push it online immediately and simultaneously partner with premium stockists, salon chains, stalls in malls, multi-brand retail counters, etc. Most of our efforts and resources go into this, to ensure availability and shelf presence.

6) Promotion

For any consumer goods company, a successful sale is only when a customer buys the product off the shelf and a loyal customer is one who buys the product at least 3 times. At this crucial juncture, most of the companies fail to adapt. So it is extremely important how we promote and position our brand that eventually converts into a sale. We, being a startup, run on tight budgets for these promotions, which actually works to our advantage as we try to come up with innovative promotion campaigns rather than sticking to the traditional high cost advertising.

Not all activities we plan are successful, but we learn the most at this stage. The team constantly strives to hit the right notes and agreeably so, persistence does pay off!

That is us charting out the journey of KitTherapy™ before it hits the market - watch it happen!