Offline still king: Indian online supplement brand Pure Nutrition expands airport retail presence

Located at both the domestic and international departure halls, the new stores stock a range of travel-oriented dietary supplements, with a particular focus on those which maintain gut health and boost immunity. Pure herbal infusions, protein powder, and cold pressed oils are also available.

Although the brand started from doing online business, CEO and director Sushil Khaitan told NutraIngredients-Asia​ that opening physical stores was the “next logical step”.​

“Opening a retail store at Mumbai airport has been a very strategic call for the brand because it is an organic progression, given where we are from an online standpoint.​

“Pure Nutrition, as a brand, has grown immensely over the last few years across the online space, right from our website to all the major marketplaces.​

“ A physical store was the next logical step…​ As far as revenues are concerned, our objective is to generate brand awareness for maximum recall.​” ​

Double digit growth​

Other than the airports, Pure Nutrition’s products are also stocked in FMCG chain outlets and pharmacies across India.

The brand has been seeing a double digit revenue growth from offline sales each month, which gave it “the impetus to expand with more stores across major cities in India.”​

“Indians still have a preference for offline shopping due to various reasons. A survey conducted in 2016 says that 54% of urban Indian prefer visiting retail stores to buy products.​

“Keeping this in mind, even though our online business is booming, it made complete sense to expand our reach to sections of the Indian population who still prefer brick-and-mortar stores over their online counterparts.​

“This also provides a seamless shopping experience to our existing customers through online and offline touch-points,” ​Khaitan said.

As for the airport stores, he said that it was still early days to set sales projections. However, he believes that the location, all-day serviceability, and high footfall will make the stores’ future “extremely promising”.​

Franchise plan​

In an earlier interview, Khaitan said the firm was considering a franchise​ to support further expansion, with plans to open 100 stores across India in a year’s time.

Revenues wise, the firm aims to hit a turnover of US$2.9m by next year.