The nutraceuticals market in India is pegged at $2.2 billion today. With a CAGR of 20 per cent year-on-year, this market is set to reach $6.1 billion by 2020. As urbanisation grows and so do disposable incomes, the demand for food supplements, functional foods is poised to grow big.
Tapping this market is Body Building India, a chain of online and offline stores for fitness and nutrition. In an interview with Wellness India, Dr Ankush Sabharwal, CEO, Body Building India, tells us how the brand is aiming to be the leader in the nutraceutical market through expansion and other marketing strategies. Here are excerpts from the interview
Tell us about BBI. When and how was BBI conceptualised?
Bodybuildingindia.com was the brainchild of Late Dr. Randhir Hastir, then a renowned doctor and body building ‘guru’ in Jalandhar. He, himself, was a founder of gym culture in North India, way back 1984. His son Dr. Ankur Hastir and other co-founders – Muneesh Sharma, veteran in fitness business and Atul Chopra, functional operation lead, established offline physical stores, BBI, with a mission to sell 100% original Nutrition Supplements in India. Renowned actor and brand ambassador Randeep Hooda and I joined hands with BBI to take it from the present 10 stores to 100 in the next 1 year.
What was the investment that went into starting BBI?
We invested Rs 1 crore initially as set up cost. The total investment has been around Rs 3 crores so far.
What is the business model of BBI?
We sell 100% original Nutritional supplements online as well as offline.
How many stores do you have at present and where are they located?
We have 11 outlets in India: Delhi - 4, Gurgaon - 1, Ghaziabad -1, Noida – 1, Mumbai - 1, Guhawati – 1, Lovely Professional University (LPU) – 1 and Bhiwani – 1. We are now looking to penetrate in other regions of the country. BBI plans to open 100 more outlets in next 1 year through the franchising model.
Tell us about the franchising model and the support that BBI gives to its franchisees.
We work on the FOFO model - Franchisee owned and Franchisee operated. As the brand owner, we do product purchase directly from the company or authorised distributors. Having started this in an organised way, we have started working on improving our margins, hence, giving benefit to the franchisee and end customer. We work at the top level to buy 100 per cent original products and the best possible rates.
As a brand, we are committed to give our franchisee best of the branding, marketing and product support. We have roped in Randeep Hooda as our official brad ambassador. Very soon we will be coming up with a whole Advertisement/ Marketing campaign for the brand.
We have finished work on our own white label, BBI transformation series that would be promoted by Hooda. It will be launched within this financial year.
BBI participates in all leading Body-building/fitness events across the world. We were the only Indian brand that was present at Mr. Olympia in Las Vegas in September 2016. This year we were the online partners for IFF & Sheru classic, Asia’s largest fitness expo in Mumbai.
BBI is also participating in the Fitness expo in Dubai going to held in November 2016.
The aim of these events is not only showcasing what we are doing but also gather new product lines and product partners across the world. There are many products in the world today that India has an appetite for. We believe that the fitness revolution has just started - Functional foods, Nutrition supplements and other fitness related services.
What makes you take the franchising route?
We have achieved the figure of 11 stores in just 4 months. In order to be market leaders we need to have 100 stores by March closing 2018. We believe franchising is the most effective way to do so. Also, we as a brand would continue to do what we do best, i.e., focus on the product and the brand.
What is the USP of BBI?
What are the products under the BBI label? What is your pricing strategy?
We have decided to do this phase wise.
In the 1st phase we are focusing on micro nutrients like Multi vitamins, Glutamine, Creatine, Fat burner and Branched Chain Amino Acids. (BCAA). Pricing would be competitive to other Indian Brands. International quality standards would be maintained. We have hired one of the best companies to make our formulations. In fact, the same company is doing formulations for many top international brands.
Tell us about your marketing and brand building strategies.
A complete 2 day marketing event is being planned with Randeep Hooda. This would include photo shoots, video shoots, Advertisment campaigns. The whole nine yards.
How many stores are you looking at by 2020?
We believe in taking 1 step at a time. In the next 4 months we plan to take our store number to 30 and by March 2018 we have the target to achieve 100 operational stores. Vision 2020 has not yet been decided.
What is your view on the nutraceuticals market of India? Where do you see this segment in the next 5 years in India?
As we said before, Fitness industry revolution has just begun. A joint report by FICCI – PWC claims that the fitness industry was to reach the $20 billion mark by 2015. Another report says that there will be a 40 pre cent growth YOY in this industry.
Where do you see BBI in the next five years?
Market leaders. Number one fitness retail brand in India.
