Surety of purity in profit making

Rising rate of water borne diseases caused by pathogenic micro-organisms commonly transmitted in contaminated water has led to evolution of water purifying companies. Infection commonly results during bathing, washing, drinking, in the preparation of food, or the consumption of food. Increasing health awareness has further fueled the need for the companies providing water purifying products and services.

It is no more surprising to believe that water, an essential component of life water is also offering a lucrative business opportunity. Escalating demand for water purifiers motivated many big players to enter this segment such as Eureka Forbes, KENT RO, Phillips, Tata Swach, Godrej, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), and many more. However, water purifying industry is still largely unorganised with very few branded players but there is a lot of hidden potential for aspirants in it. Moreover, franchising is also taking the water purifier segment to the next level with more and more players taking the franchise route for expansion.

On the increasing market potential Mahesh Gupta, Chairman, KENT RO Systems Ltd says: “The reason behind the demand is the decreasing quality of water with dissolved impurities and its hazardous effects on health. As water is the essence of life in the same way purifying it is essential for the sake of hygiene and health. This has given rise to the instant demand of water purifiers in the domestic market. Indian market has tremendous potential and this is also evident from the fact that other few players have also stepped in this segment.”

Need for water purifiers

These days tap water in many parts of the world carries various pollutants and is not as safe to drink. It is essential to have a water purifier for drinking water to remove chlorine, heavy metals, benzene, lead, mercury and bacteria. Water purifier has become a necessity in every household.

Water purifier is the answer to all the apprehensions that everyone feels. No one wants to compromise their family health by making them drink tap water or water that is directly taken from the faucet.

Gupta shares: “Earlier, people were not aware of such technology but now they know the benefits of such a patented technology which only KENT has. This very fact gives us immense power to lead our competition whether it is from organised or unorganised sector.”

Getting water purifiers for your home will reduce all the hassles that you might get from the daily purchase of pure water or worst, illness in the family. People these days understand this fact and therefore do not hesitate to shell out money to buy the best water purifier.

Players in the field

Unorganised and organised water purifying brands are cashing on this emerging demand and are making every possible effort to grab as much share as possible in the market. Some of the organized water purifying product and services providers are:

Eureka Forbes: The company is one of the pioneers in water and air purification systems, vacuum cleaners and security systems. It has over 7,500 strong direct sales force operating from 237 Customer Response Centres in over 145 cities, has presence in 380 smaller towns through franchised direct operations. The brands franchise requisites are an investment of 400 to 1000 sq. ft along with an investment of Rs 50,000 to two lakh.

KENT RO: Sharing his success journey Gupta says: “The journey which I started from a small garage, now has carved its own niche. It was the year 1999 that proved to be a turning point in my life, when I laid the foundation of Kent RO Systems by inventing a water purifier based on Reverse Osmosis Technology.” The company has wide retail presence in 50 cities with 50 outlets till date, out of which two are company owned and 48 are franchisee owned.  The brand has plans to open 200 franchise outlets called as KENT Shoppes in the near future.

Franchise opportunity

Franchising in water purifying industry is at its emerging stage as there are very few organised players in the field. But the industry has a lot of potential and promise for entrepreneurs keen on investing in this segment. Some of the most prominent players in the field are providing franchise opportunity to the aspirants. As informed by Gupta: “Increasing awareness and largely untapped market potential, the sector is expected to grow at rapid pace. Indian market has tremendous potential. Although we are reaching our consumers through our wide spread distribution network, but to give them a personalised feeling we came up with our exclusive outlets. This has really helped us in sorting out the customers queries and reaching out the right audience.”

Franchise prerequisites

To acquire the franchisee of water purifier, an aspirant needs an investment of Rs 10-15 lakh including the cost of stock and interiors along with an area of 200 to 500 sq.ft in a high footfall location. On providing detailed information on investment and area Gupta informs: “We have set a criteria for the alliance that franchisee is required to invest an amount ranging between Rs five to 10 lakh to maintain the adequate stock. Then secondly, the franchisee is expected to bear the entire cost of interior designing. The cost is expected to be Rs 1200/-per sq. ft amounting to around Rs five lakh. This cost will be reimbursed to the franchisee in 36 EMIs by KENT.”

To conclude it can be aptly said that the business concept has immense opportunity for aspiring franchisees as the industry is growing and more and more brands are taking the franchise route for their successful growth.