Organic Harvest: Chemicals Are For Laundry, Not Skin

Organic Harvest is India’s leading personal care brand with an entire range of organic personal care products that speak of nature in its purest form. The brand embraces the organic power of plants and its botanical extracts in abundance combined with organic ingredients. The company was brought into existence in June 2013 by Rahul Agarwal to promote the concept of safe skin. An intelligent use of plants grown without pesticides and chemicals initiated the name ‘Organic Harvest’. The company specialises in hair care, body care and skin care products that are safe and highly effective. To keep the skin miles away from damage, no harsh chemicals are used. Instead, the raw materials used are certified by global organisations like EcoCert, OneCert and Natrue. Agarwal is winner of BW Businessworld Young Entrepreneur Awards.

The idea behind the startup
Initially, I was a part of the high-flying world of finance as a chartered accountant but then the entrepreneurial bug bit me. Organic Harvest is the result of my journey to discover nature and ways to organic personal care.  

Realising the amount of potentially harmful chemicals hiding in everyday products, particularly cosmetics and personal care, I felt the gap and necessity to introduce organic personal care products for the people who want to look their best organically. We want to cater to these discerning target audience who want to use organic products replete with all the goodness of nature.

We firmly believe that chemicals are for laundry and not for the skin. With this, I decided to venture into the organic personal space. Organic Harvest is not just a personal care range, it is a lifestyle. It is about diversifying the way you view beauty and personal care sync with nature.
Organic Harvest is our initiative to revitalise the personal care industry and provide the customers quality organic products. It is not just a brand but an institution which represents India, globally.
Our brand motto is to make this world a better & beautiful place to live in, and leave it better than we found it. What better way to do this, than to live a chemical free life, an organic life. My target, through Organic Harvest, is to reach every individual that consumes personal  care products and make them aware about the amount of harsh chemicals that not only have harmful effects on the skin but also on their lifestyle.

The USP
Organic Harvest offers an array of products that are currently unique to the Indian consumer market. Our brand embraces the organic power of plants and its botanical extracts in abundance combined with organic and natural ingredients. All our products are certified organic by Ecocert, which is the largest organic certifying organisation in the world. The certification is an evidence that the raw materials used for manufacturing Organic Harvest products are derived from plants and natural extracts that have been grown without any chemical fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides.

Business model
Organic Harvest is operating in a very niche industry where we do not see any other player as our competition. We began with the traditional distribution model by creating a presence in city’s A-plus and A general trade outlets. We currently operate through general trade and modern trade. We have presence in prominent retail chains, and exclusive Organic Harvest stores in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and various other cities across the country.

The brand is quite aggressive when it comes to conquering the organic personal care industry. We will have around 8-10 certified organic new additions to our product range in the next one year, which includes soaps, serums, masks, sunscreen and hair care.

The way forward 
According to Grand View Research, the organic personal care market size is expected to grow by $25.11 billion by 2025. Organic Harvest aims to cater this demand by making shoppers more aware and educated about their choice of products and about the environmental and ethical impact of products available in the market.

In the next 10 years, the company plans to take a 360-degree route to take the brand to another level and reach out to every individual that consumes personal care products and make organic a lifestyle.

In the US, now there is an act, “The Personal Care Products Safety Act, 2015”, which principally bans use of certain chemicals, like Parabens. So, the phenomena has started worldwide. India, will soon start taking the cues from their western counterparts.

Overseas foray
We are expanding globally. Internationally, we have debuted in the UAE market. Organic Harvest is already present in the US, Saudi Arabia and Nepal with its extensive range of organic personal care products.

Social touch 
We act as a socially responsible brand and educate our consumers the importance of leading an organic lifestyle. We make sure that we follow strict norms when it comes to procuring the raw materials for our products.

We have taken a stand against animal-cruelty and we are a Peta certified brand. This portrays that none of our products are tested on animals.

The paradigm shift
Per capita spend on Beauty & Personal Care is $7 in India, against $33 in China, $237 in the US and $54 in rest of the world. There is a paradigm shift in consumer preference from ‘looking good’ to ‘feeling good’. Consumers are now paying attention to the environmental impact of the goods they consume. Consumers deriving the growth of natural or organic products can be divided into two demographics:

1. Younger generation: Eighteen to 25-year-olds who are already familiar with the principles of natural ingredients and are primarily concerned about the environmental impact that the products they purchase have.

2. Older generation: People aged 40 and above who are primarily focused on the health benefits associated with using organic personal care products.

It is fascinating to note that the interest in organic personal care is mirroring the trend we are seeing in the food industry. The health conscious consumers’ attention has now extended from the dinner plate to the bathroom cabinet. Changing consumer perception towards the choice of products coupled with growing utilisation of environmentally sustainable products has fuelled growth in the organic personal care industry.

We recently launched Organic Face Sheet Masks. In future, too, we are keen on bringing out such unique consumer-centric products to revolutionise the skincare regime of our consumers.

Tech disruptions
Both artificial intelligence and blockchain technology have garnered much interest within technology sphere. We are trying to implement AI in our business model, where we can help the consumer choose the right product mix, from our whole offering. It will give us a competitive edge by providing a much more customised environment to our consumers.

Idea of wealth generation
Each and every person who has experienced our products is our wealth. We strive to invest into this wealth of ours by providing them mesmerising organic skincare experiences.

There is a huge potential available in the personal care sector. This sector has witnessed a remarkable shift in trend to a more organic-based products as there is increasing awareness of a number of healthcare problems associated with traditional cosmetics which are eventually compelling consumers to shift to organic products. Erring to this need, Organic Harvest can explore this potential in the best
possible ways.

Message to young entrepreneurs
My message, especially to those venturing into the organic personal care industry, would be to first work towards winning an organic certification to gain trust and authenticity in the market. Working with the reputed vendors is very crucial for sourcing the ingredients to maintain high amount of quality control on the products. It is also crucial to earn a strong brand recall in today’s competitive market by making a brand statement with an impactful packaging. It is also important to educate the consumers about the difference between organic and its counterparts.