How The Ayurveda Experience is Setting Itself Apart from Other Ayurvedic Brands in the Market

India's Ayurveda is regarded as a system of medicine that originated from ancient traditions. It involves both traditional medicines and health services.  The origin of Ayurveda traces back to 5000 years old Indian Vedic teachings based on fundamental philosophies about life, disease, and health. Ayurveda is regarded as one of the oldest healthcare systems in the world. 

Over the millenniums, Ayurveda has not only sustained the changing outlook and demands for health services due to the invasion of modern methods of treatment but, has grown to be renowned all across the world.

“The Ayurveda market in India was valued at Rs 300 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach Rs 710.87 billion by 2024, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of ~16.06 percent, during the forecast period (2019-2024),” according to a report by PR Newswire.

In recent years, as a holistic healing system, Ayurveda has witnessed an evolution in the form of ayurvedic products and services. Rising awareness about the importance of a healthy lifestyle, increasing preference in favor of chemical-free natural products, as well as favorable government initiatives have led to the expansion of the Ayurveda market in India.

When it comes to Ayurveda products, there is still confusion regarding the description and differentiation between Ayurveda, Natural, Organic and Herbal products. While they all are largely a part of the wellness industry, there are differences in their meaning and coverage.  Certain brands have tried to bring out the different elements of each. 

However, among those brands, The Ayurveda Experience managed to cover 360-degree solutions such as education, skincare, haircare, foods, supplements, and beverages – all on one digital platform. The brand became one shop stop for all the organic and Ayurvedic needs of its consumer. The Ayurveda Experience is a house of brands that offers multiple ways for people to experience Ayurveda. The brand has categorized its product in various categories such as iYURA, Varaasa, A.Modernica Naturalis, Ajara, Ayulogica, and Ayuttva.

Rishabh Chopra, Founder, and CEO, The Ayurveda Experience shared, “If you’re a purist and you prefer classical products, we have a brand for you. If you prefer modern convenience and would like to take advantage of modern scientific principles and modern formats of product consumption, we have modern Ayurvedic brands for you. The one thing that’s consistent amongst all brands is TAE’s impetus on research backing, effectivity, and authenticity of ingredients through an enjoyable, artistic brand experience from each of its brands.” 

Why Ayurveda?
Ayurveda is an integral part of India’s heritage and from the beginning, the company was committed to taking the best of India to the world; be it art, mythology, philosophy, or health and wellness, India’s history and culture have had a lot to share with the world! 

"Ayurveda has the potential to be the next big wellness movement after Yoga. As the world continues to discover and experience the power of this science first-hand, more people will adopt this science of health and wellness in myriad forms. This is why we have brands and offerings in multiple categories such as skin care, personal wellness as well as food, beverages, and supplements,” Chopra asserted.

The Inception
When the company was founded, it was founded with the objective of taking the best of India’s ideas to the rest of the world. The brand started with launching and marketing an introductory course on Ayurveda to the US and the overwhelming response to that encouraged The Ayurveda Experience to believe that Ayurveda was one of the most powerful ideas of India that has a very real impact on health and wellness, and it must be propagated throughout the world. 

Chopra said, “Our journey on the path of making Ayurveda a household name throughout the globe began. A few years after starting with educational courses on Ayurveda, we launched our flagship skincare brand in 2017 in the US, Canada, and Australia, and today, through multiple brands, The Ayurveda Experience is one of the largest Ayurveda platforms that cater to the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe as well as our homeland, India with over 5,00,000 customers across the globe.” 

“The Ayurveda Experience developed as a global platform that offers all-things-Ayurveda right from education about the science to skincare as well as wellness products in the category of foods, supplements, and beverages with millions of visits to its websites every month,” he added.

Retail and Marketing Strategy
The basic purpose of any brand behind the retail and marketing strategies of the brand is to spread awareness among people about the brand. These activities drive the sales and revenue of the company to the next level. The Ayurveda Experience has always put the end consumer at the forefront and tailored its messaging to resonate with its current and potent consumers. 

On the retail and marketing front, Chopra stated, “Our strategy has always been to educate the consumers about the science, the ingredients, the methods, etc., and then allow them to make an informed choice – all through online marketing. While our own website remains our largest sales channel with all our products available on our own website, a few products are also available on other websites such as Amazon and retail stores such as Le Marche.” 

Technological Management
Being an online brand from the very first day, scaling the business digitally has been a key factor behind the very existence as well as the growth of The Ayurveda Experience. 

Chopra said, “However, today, we’re considering more tech investments to create a more personalized, relevant consumer experience for the future. We take authenticity very seriously and we have multiple checks on the raw material, the processes of manufacturing as well as on the final outcome. Since we are a global brand and export a lot of products, we ensure all our products, in all geographies have a high standard of quality and would never shy away from rejecting any batch that may be a notch lower than the standard we want, even organoleptically.”

“In addition to safety tests, our team of experts manually check and observe every batch of herbs used as raw material. Only that batch that meets the high standards of organoleptic evaluation is then sent to a third-party laboratory for testing for several factors like - water extractive value, alcohol extractive value, total ash value, acid insoluble ash value, foreign matter, volatile oil content, TLC profile, moisture content, TYC, TPC, ecoli, saureus, salmonella, heavy metals etc,” he added.  

Customer Experiences and Feedbacks 
For any business to succeed and to grow, customer feedback is critical. The Ayurveda Experience constantly evaluates customer feedback and implements changes in whichever area changes are required. 

Chopra shared, “We have some experiences where our consumers give us feedback and we work on them. For example, customers prefer a certain type of pump over another – we take note of such specific expectations that come up at scale and implement them to ensure the ease and comfort of our customers. On the product front, we keep a constant eye out for performance, be it effectivity or aroma and we continuously endeavor to improve the products based on what our customers tell us.” 

“New product development is also thoroughly guided by customer experience and expectations and both direct and indirect feedback, along with market data is considered,” he noted.

Future Plans
The brand, with a revenue of over Rs 100 crore in 2020-21, is eyeing to raise funds.

"We are steadily growing in various geographies across the globe and going ahead we are planning to go omnichannel," concluded Chopra.