In today’s modern era, where technology has influenced consumers with the rightful information, they are becoming thoughtful and more inclined toward making an informed choice. Such decisions are not made out of curiosity or fascination, but people are choosing to shop ethically in order to keep up sustainability and protect the environment.
This has caused an apparent shift and created a high demand for organic and natural products. Making an eco-friendly choice and choosing a lifestyle that respects mother earth is not just a consumer choice but also the manufacturers’ belief. Producing products that don’t hurt the environment but instead fulfil consumers’ needs has been the aim of Kerala Naturals, a Kerala-based organization. It has introduced natural ingredients extracted and refined in order to promote well-being and good health.
Standing at the guiding light of this revolutionary path is Kerala Naturals’ Founder Mathew Joseph. He believes that Kerala Naturals provides solutions to the modern era problems of unstable lifestyle, food habits, climate change, or the diseases individuals suffer. The solution of living in nature’s purest sense.
Let’s delve in to know more.
The Inception of Natural Purity
Kerala Naturals is a Sole Proprietorship based entity of Mathew Joseph, headquartered at Kadanad, a small village in Kerala, with more than 80 products of different categories such as spices, herbs, beauty products, organic products, ayurvedic products, honey, handicrafts, etc., at an affordable price through different e-commerce websites since 2012. What differentiates Kerala Naturals is that it provides – the “As pure As Nature” PURITY to its products.
The firm provides ‘pure and fresh natural products’ directly collected from farmers of different areas without using any preservatives and flavours. There is an increase in love for natural and organic products. Kerala Naturals deals with 100 % genuine products without any chemicals or preservatives in them.
Its entire women-oriented team, who work continuously and tirelessly, has resulted in a steep rise for the name of Kerala Naturals in the business world. It is one of the leading retail e-commerce exporters in Kerala since 2012.
Providing Organic and Natural Living
As mentioned earlier, Kerala Naturals deals with organic and natural products to its customers without any chemicals or preservatives at an affordable price through different e-commerce websites. With confident moves, it has been able to build up the brand’s success in the country and abroad.
The organization has two more brands, namely Preethy’s Boutique – a store exclusively for beauty products, and Kanan Naturale – a store exclusively for spices. People can buy pure and organic spices, which the company collects directly from the farmers of Western Ghats.
Customers can buy in customized quantities at an affordable price according to their requirements. It has also come up with corporate gifting that puts together a specially crafted collection of spices, herbs, and beauty products, for its employees according to the requirements of corporates.
As Joseph saw, many brands are coming up with organic products; “We aim to provide our customers with the best quality spices, herbs, and beauty products,” reaffirms Mathew.
A Glimpse into Joseph’s Journey
Before starting Kerala Naturals, Mathew Joseph worked in Kuwait National Petroleum Company as Secretary. After that, he started working in Global Ayurveda Magazine for several years. There he used to attend many exhibitions nationally and internationally in which he experienced the importance and use of natural products. He realised and noticed a lot of people were interested in organic and natural products.
There he thought, why not start a store where people can buy purely natural and organic spices, herbs, and beauty products under one store itself. Mathew states, “today, we have been distributing and exporting several natural products varying from organic spices, herbs, and beauty products to more than 100 countries with 2,00,000 satisfied customers.” He further continues, “we are also providing bulk orders according to the requirements at an affordable price.”
The Stars of Kerala Naturals
In this competitive world, the adoption of modern technologies is significant, thinks Mathew, “We are also planning to adopt new modern technologies, thereby freeing employees to focus on more value-added work.”
He further adds that its voluntary Editors and team are currently the stars of Kerala Naturals, posting ideas in their ideal categories and sharing them through their social media. One can find the same on different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc.
Intricacies on the Way
A major challenge for any small-scale business would be fund and resource management. Mathew elaborates, “As we can see there is a hike in prices in every sector which directly or indirectly affects small business companies. We had an increase in the cost of our overseas shipping prices due to COVID’s impact on shipping procedures. In addition, some customers have had to cancel events after purchasing items, and therefore return rates are up beyond normal levels.
We have a wide range of loyal customers who believe in the quality and purity of Kerala Naturals. As their values and budgets change, you have to know what your customers expect from you and their needs. We continue to focus on superior service and reliability to maintain customer loyalty and pricing power.
Being from a small village we had to face many challenges there also as compared to companies working in cities. In spite of all these, we overcome these challenges by building a brand and place in the minds of the customers by providing them pure and natural genuine products at an affordable price.”
Mathew’s Original Wisdom
“Think big, dream big is the mantra that I believe in,” says Mathew. Ever since his journey started, he has always wanted to make it big. He feels that aspiring entrepreneurs should be daring and risk-taker. Analysis of your target demographic and competitors is especially important. There is no substitute for a solid business plan. Keep track of your skills and weaknesses, what you offer, how said product or service is unique, and how you plan on growing your offering once you’ve entered the market.
With the world moving towards a healthier, environment-friendly lifestyle, the organic market has been growing in India. “We know that there is always a great demand for organic and natural products in the marketplaces. Thus, with a unique strategy to differentiate yourself from the market, entrepreneurs can start a retail store for a holistic target audience,” says Mathew.
Focusing on the collection, pricing, and marketing strategies should be one’s aim. Besides all these, one should focus on building trust in customers’ minds by providing them with pure, organic, and natural products without any preservatives added, assert Mathew.
An Herbal Future of the Sustainable Nature
Successfully scaling a business is all about doing the fundamentals and having the stamina to see it through. Kerala Naturals aims to have a productive year ahead. As a part of it, the company has launched a new store exclusively for spices under the brand name Kanan Naturale.
It is also coming up with new varieties of herbal products in the market. “In five years,” believes Mathew, “our goal is to expand our warehouse to different states and countries so that we can have faster delivery and increase our customer satisfaction area.”
