Indian Soulflower explores move into UK and UAE

Natural and organic personal care label, Soulflower, eyes up UK and UAE markets, after it successfully navigated its expansion into the US last year.

With over 250 products formulated using natural and organic herbs, fruits, vegetable and flower extracts, Soulflower offers skin, hair, wellness and personal care items to India, APAC and US markets.

As health, wellness and Ayurvedic products resonate strongly with Indian consumers, Soulflower wanted to move a step beyond these and offer chemical-free items. The brand provides lifestyle products that are 100% vegan, are derived from natural ingredients and are obtained from local resources.

Its 250-strong product collection has obtained halal certification and is compliant with the Indian Food and Drug Administration Agency (FDA), the US FDA and PETA.

Aroma presence

By placing aromas into their products, Soulflower has developed a range of essential oils, massage oils, hair oils, oils for skin, soaps and bath salts.

With its mission, "to fill everyone’s life with aroma", Soulflower has offered its wide array of beauty and personal care associated items via physical shops including Hypercity, Westside, One Stop stores, Shoppers Stop; its brand e-commerce portal and e-retail sites.

Production strategy

At present, Soulflower has two manufacturing units in Pondicherry and Andheri East in Mumbai.

Its marketing strategy consists of communicating efficacy and experiential personal care and beauty via its portfolio. Soulflower also performs data analysis to understand its consumers’ behavioural patterns and make product suggestions based on these.

New expansions

In the fiscal year 2017-2018, Amit Sarda, Managing Director Soulflower, revealed that in its efforts to become a “household brand”, it has planned to increase its market network: “We plan to become available through 6,000 local stores, retail outlets and pharmacy stores, which is a first of its kind retail expansion in the segment, in the country.”

As Soulflower states that it is considering acquisitions in India: “We are looking at opportunities in natural cosmetics and perfumes. We are looking at companies which have a natural element to cosmetics, if we do not find any, we will get into that space ourselves. Primarily, we will be looking at lip care, nail care and skin care products,” Sarda announced to Indian news agency, PTI.

The company plans to enter into new regions in India within the financial year.

In 2016 in the US, Soulflower teamed up with Amazon and Walmart for online retailing and aims to up its presence in the market and grow beyond its size in the India, along with launching a manufacturing facility.

In addition, “we are eyeing expansion in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, initially through the online channel”, Sarda went on to say.