Dabur flows with Amazon to ramp up online presence

Dabur, one of India's leading Ayurvedic and natural healthcare company, is looking at a multifold increase in revenues from online sales in the coming years.

While online sales from the domestic market contributed less than 1% to the total revenues of over Rs 7,680 crore as of March 2017, the company is aggressively pushing it to 3-5%. In line with this, it has collaborated with Amazon to push online sales in the US, Mexico and Canada to start with.

The collaboration with Amazon, according to Krishan Kumar Chutani, executive director - consumer care business, Dabur India Ltd, will help expand and increase the company's penetration into the US market.

"The partnership with Amazon via their Global Selling Program (GSP), allows us direct access to their consumers in the US and expand our footprint exponentially. While online sales is currently very minuscule at under 1%, we are expecting it to grow to around 3% to 5% over the next two to three years. The association with Amazon, initially for the US market, will act as a catalyst in achieving this growth. There are plans to tap the European market as well (with Amazon), which will further increase online revenues," said Chutani.

Products manufactured by Dabur are currently sold in over 120 countries but only through physical stores. The partnership with Amazon is the company's first step towards an online push in the international markets. Dabur products are sold online in the domestic market across e-marketplaces like Amazon.in, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Grofers, etc.

As part of the collaboration, Amazon will initially take around 30 products from Dabur's popular range like Vatika hair oil, Meswak toothpaste, Red toothpaste, Chyawanprash, etc, to consumers in the US. Along with the existing range, Dabur will also offer an exclusive range of products specially created for Amazon's global customers. As a result, its products will be made available to millions of global customers on Amazon.com in the US and eventually across other Amazon marketplaces, thereby strengthening and expanding the brand's reach.

Gopal Pillai, director and general manager - seller services, Amazon India, said, "Under the Global Selling Program (GSP), Amazon will help provide Dabur a marketplace to showcase their vast range that will satiate the growing appetite for quality Indian products among global consumers. Since its inception in 2015, the GSP in India has grown multifold and is enabling emerging and small businesses as well as iconic Indian brands such as Dabur to leverage the opportunity to access a large base of millions of Amazon customers across the globe," said Pillai.

A legacy brand operating in the market for over 133 years now, Dabur India currently has a portfolio of over 250 herbal and Ayurvedic products. Among its key consumer product categories include hair care, oral care, health care, skin care, home care and foods. "With rise in popularity for chemical-free products globally, ayurvedic, natural and organic products are witnessing a huge demand across geographies. Products like herbal hair oil, masks, shampoos, toothpaste, soaps, etc, see a huge demand from customers across ethnicities," the Dabur said in a media statement.