Kriti Henna is the product of love and ages of traditional wisdom. Love for her daughter, and the wisdom of a grandmother. This brand is built on roots that are unshakeable.
From a handful of orders to hundreds of orders in a month, this brand has seen tremendous growth over the course of 3 years.
The founder- Aparna Sampath, named her brand after her daughter Sukriti. As a passionate and successful henna artist, Aparna decided to retain ‘Henna’ for her organic brand.
Read on to know more about this entrepreneur’s refreshing journey.
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How a grandmother’s little remedies led to the birth of a brand
When Aparna’s daughter was just 3 months old, she started itching and scratching all the time. Even medicated lotions, and creams did not seem to work for more than a day.
After weeks of agony and tension, Aparna’s grandmother suggested a herbal concoction made of purely natural ingredients.
At this point, really, what did Aparna have to lose?
Aparna’s family immediately stopped all medicated soaps and lotions for their precious daughter Sukriti. Even after using the best in the market, chemicals were clearly not the answer. They decided to follow their roots.
“It might sound idiotic. It might sound like I am jumping out of a building. But it did work”
That was the linchpin that gave birth to what Kriti Henna stands for today.
Once Aparna realised the true inherent remedial and transformative powers of plant leaves, flowers and plants, there was no going back for her.
“One of my grandmother’s earliest suggestions was a simple recipe with rose petals in your bath powder. It became one of the first products that I launched. Once my friends who also had babies started seeing the magic of these herbal products, they started asking me for them. And slowly and steadily that’s how Kriti Henna saw more and more customers.”
Related read: How to sell organic products online: the complete guide
Business operations of Kriti Henna
It’s been 3.5 years since Kriti Henna set up shop. Aparna’s was interest fueled by the repository of knowledge possessed by her grandmother.
She undertook multiple online courses on formulations and started researching the properties of different oils, herbs and plants.
“I need to understand what the leaf is. A lot of the leaves have different names in different languages. Knowing what leaf will serve my purpose was necessary. Whenever I couldn’t find the exact leaf I needed, I would ask my grandmother for a replacement. I found her to be a walking dictionary”
Today, Kriti Henna has tie-ups with farms near Tirunavelli and Coimbatore to supply them with the herbs and plants they need. Provided, they do not already have access to them from their own backyard.
“My goal for the coming year is to have an organic certification for my online brand”
And her biggest cheerleaders in the world? Her parents, in-laws and her husband.
Aparna also has a small team that helps her with core business operations like prepping the world area by completing sanitising every inch, order management, packaging of orders and then shipping.
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Kriti henna’s USP
The organic brand puts the customer at the centre by creating products that are focussed on specific pain points.
The journey of a product first starts with Aparna deciding on a particular pain point.
“I have a folder on my laptop which has different folders for skin, hair, arms, legs and ideas. So I keep putting different formula ideas there and then slowly and steadily I test them and release them to the market”
Aparna tries and tests each and every formula, first on paper and then in her work studio. Since these are organic ingredients, they stand a risk of splitting. Each product goes through a stability test, some of which last months.
On the Kriti Henna Instamojo online store, the most popular products that are sold are the powders –
- These powders can be kept for a longer period of time
- The customer can use them as DIY packs
- In contrast to the adulterated products found in the market, these powers are a 100% pure
Driving customers to the Kriti Henna online store
1. Influencer marketing
Aparna started out as a henna artist. That is when she also discovered the most cost-effective and fastest way for marketing and branding – influencer marketing.
What once started out as a loyal customer who willingly made a youtube review on her product, has today become a technique used quite strategically by Aparna.
Related read: Creating an influencer marketing campaign: 6 steps to success
2. Word of mouth
The founder of this brand also employs word-of-mouth marketing strategies. One of her favourite go-to methods of reaching new people is to incentivize her customers to leave behind reviews.
She even offers discount coupons for reviews that are posted on social media.
“I am willing to give away the discount code to you, even if it is a simple or a negative review. But, it has to be constructive criticism. That is how my brand will be able to learn and grow.”
3. Social communities
For Aparna, building a community was important. In fact, in her words “the online store is for customers who know my products and how my brand works”.
But if it’s a person who heard about her brand for the first time, Aparna would prefer to first discuss the pain points of that customer. This lets her serve the customer exactly what would work for them.
Kriti Henna is able to implement strategies of hyper-personalisation through their existing communities on WhatsApp and Facebook.
These communities also are a medium for spreading information and resources. Aparna empowers her audience with informative reels and tutorials to take care of their body and skin on their own.
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A mark of a great entrepreneur is to go beyond selling products online – but to build a lifestyle.
Pro beauty care DIY tip straight from Kriti Henna: Apply some tulsi leaves that have been crushed with rock salt to blooming acne – voila! Will disappear within days.
A proud Instamojo online store owner
Aparna has always been selling online. She has found it the best way to find more customers, and to connect to her audience more meaningfully. Her business journey first started as a social media seller.
Once her orders grew, she chose Instamojo – India’s largest #D2CTech platform to streamline her orders and to ensure she has a well-maintained catalogue of products.
With An Instamojo premium store, Kriti Henna has been able to stay accessible to customers and prospects 24/7. The store has more than 15 product categories with each product page refined and polished to the tee.
Every single product page on the Kriti Henna online sore has the following:
- A clear product description
- Ingredients
- A ‘Best for’ section
- Additional directions on using the product effectively
For example, look at the carefully curated description of this Acne Pack.
Do you also want to start selling organic products online? Get an online store for free.
