BUSINESS PLAN ON ORGANIC PRODUCTS MARKETPLACE. ITS PHYSICAL AND ONLINE EXISTENCE

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BUSINESS PLAN
ON
ORGANIC PRODUCT MARKETPLACE
SUBMITTED TO:
Dr. Bishnoi
SUBMITTED BY:
Neha Gupta
Roll No: 19DM121
SECTION: A

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Acknowledgement
I take the opportunity to express my gratitude to all of them who helped me accomplish
the proposal of the Business Plan. I am extremely thankful and pay my gratitude to Dr.
Bishnoi, my faculty guide for his valuable guidance and support on completion of this
proposal in his presence. . I also acknowledge with a deep sense of reverence, my
gratitude towards my parents and member of my family, who has always supported
me morally as well as economically. At last but not least gratitude goes to all of my
friends who directly or indirectly helped me to complete this project report.

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Faculty Certificate
“This is to certify that Miss NEHA GUPTA, Roll NO. 19DM121 Student of BIRLA
INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY has worked on a project titled “Business
Plan on Organic Product Marketplace under the guidance of Dr. Bishnoi as the faculty
mentor from 20th February 2020 to 28 February 2020.”
Date:04/03/2020 Signature:

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Table of Contents
S. No. Contents Page No.
1 Company Mission 5
2 Value of Customer 5
3 Market Opportunity 5-7
4 Competitive Analysis 7-8
5 Distribution Channel 8-9
6 Products 9
7 Revenue & Promotion 10
8 Investment Plan 11
9 Future Risk Analysis 11
10 Learnings 12

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Company’s Mission and Objective
To create a marketplace for quality organic products and promote sustainability.
Value to the Customer
• Quality: With millions of products available in the market trusting brands
and customer reviews are very difficult. Our plan to establish a specialised
store to only sell products that pass our quality checks and have proper
certifications.
• Organic or Natural: The products sold in our platforms will be made from
100% natural products that promote well-being of the users.
• Sustainable: We only sell products that take care of our planet along with
us. Our quality check ensures that products are free from any chemicals and
eco-friendly.
• Uniqueness: Many of our products will not be easily available in mass
market. We will curate a list of unique yet sustainable products.
Market Opportunity and Growth Prospects
• Customers are willing to pay more for green products. According to the
Neilson Global Sustainability Report, 2015, where it conducted a survey of
30,000 respondents from 60 countries across the globe, 66% of the
respondents said that they are willing to pay more for sustainable goods.
Figure: Percentage of respondents willing to pay more.

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• According to a report produced jointly by Assocham and Ernst & Young the
global market for organic products is growing faster (CAGR 16%) than the
global markets for conventional products (CAGR 10%). Indian organic
market has been progressing steadily with CAGR of 25% as compared to
16% global growth rates. The organic markets in India are largely spread
across the food and beverages, health and wellness, beauty and personal
care and textile industries. The highest growth is observed in the organic
food segment, followed by textile, beauty and personal care. The current
Indian organic market is estimated at INR40,000 million and is likely to
increase to INR100,000–120,000 million by 2020 with a similar incremental
trend in exports.
• There is high scale growth opportunity due to the fact that the Indian
organic market is less than 1% of the total food consumption in India which
is expected to be around $300 billion.
• Increase in urban population implies growth in per capita purchasing power
as well as a change in lifestyle and food habits. Urbanization is growing
rapidly and 45% of the Indian population will be residing in urban areas by
2030. About 70% of the consumption growth in India in the next 15 years is
expected to come from the working population (people aged 15-59 years).
The urban consumers are open to paying increased prices for organic food
products.
• The government of India is promoting organic farming and the consumption
of organic food in the country. Financial assistance is provided to farmers
who are adopting organic farming under various central sector schemes
such as National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), Mission for
Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), National Food Security
Mission (NFSM) and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).
• In recent years, there has been an increase in health concerns among Indian
consumers. They have started giving importance to the nutrient content
and the quality of the food they eat, thereby resulting in an increase in the
consumption of organic food. Many events are taking place throughout the
country to generate awareness about the benefits of organic farming to
farmers, the Indian organic market and consumption of these products
among consumers. For example, a three-day organic food Mela was
organized by the Institute for Cultural Research and Action (ICRA) in
November 2015. Additionally, an organic food festival Praktrut2016 took

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place in which organic farmers from across the country participated and
exhibited organic produce and traditional food recipes. The idea was to
connect the farmers and consumers in the city.
• India’s E-Commerce industry saw a CAGR of 53% between 2013-2017
according to a report by Brian & Company. India’s total e-commerce retail
sales in 2017 was around $20 billion and it is estimated that another $50
billion of e-commerce could be unlocked by adding new users who currently
do not shop online.
Competition Analysis
Organic products market in India is still in a nascent stage and even after
competition there is room for all due to the size of the market. There are more
than 30 websites and over 500+ brands operating in organic space. Despite being
so many websites we don’t have competition from all. Our model is of a multiband
marketplace of organic, natural and sustainable products. It is a broad area rather
than focusing only on organic food. We believe our direct competition as websites
who sell only sustainable products and have pure marketplace model.
There are some of the websites:
• Qtrove: Qtrove is a managed e-commerce marketplace for sustainable,
chemical-free and unique products. One of the major criteria of selling
products in their website is that, they should not be easily available in the
market.
• Organic Shop: Ogranicshop.in is one India’s biggest marketplace for organic
products. It has a wide range of products from food, healthcare to home
and clothing products by more than 200 brands.
• BOFY: Bofy.in is another e-commerce website for organic products. It sell
products from multiple brands but is single seller and do not allow outside
sellers to sell in their website.
• Hyperlocal Grocery Sellers: Online grocery sellers such as Big Basket,
Grofers, Nature’s Basket etc. also sell organic products but are not a
specialised store for organic products.

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• Single Brand: Almost every brand has a website for selling their products.
They sell only their own branded products. Some of the big single brand
online seller in India for organic product is organicindia.com, sresta.com,
etc.
Figure: Turnover of Top Organic Companies Across India 2018 (in billion rupees)
Source:
Statista
Distribution Channel
• We will partner with courier companies to carry pickup and delivery from
our sellers to customers. Today there are companies who specialise in
ecommerce logistics and even give facilities such as cash on delivery. This
help us maintain a lean model where we focus less on operations and more
on quality and variety of products.
• Hyperlocal for fresh products: Fresh produces such as fruits and vegetables
which have very low shelf life will be sold only through hyperlocal model,
i.e., only in the city where sellers are based. This is due to the lack of
advancement in transportation infrastructure for such products in India.

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• Pan India delivery for packaged food and non-food products with a greater
shelf life through our partner courier network to facilitate pickup and
delivery from the sellers to customers. Initially sellers will be only based in
Tier-1 cities or in designated hub cities for organic products.
• All seller will have to self-pack their products and get the products ready by
the stipulated time for the courier person to come and pick the products.
PRODUCTS:
• Food: We plan to start with packaged food which have greater shelf life until
we reach an audience size and order frequency sustainable to introduce
fresh foods as they are perishable in nature. Once we reach an order size of
100 orders per day from a city then we will set it as a target city for supplying
fresh farm produce by enabling hyperlocal vendor partnership.
• Beauty Care: Skin care products are one of the most popular category in
organic market. People today are very health conscious when it comes to
using beauty products. Organic beauty brands are growing exponentially
and new brands are coming up. Brands like Biotique, Organic India, Khadi
Natural, etc. are climbing the ladders of top brands.
• Home Products: Our portfolio of offerings will also cater to growing needs
of organic home products such as incense sticks, floor cleaners, tableware,
air fresheners, detergents, home décor etc.
• Textiles: Demand is growing for clothing made by fabrics like organic cotton
seed, banana, eucalyptus, soybean, rose petal, milk, Aloe Vera and corn.
These are 100% organic fabrics and are seeing huge investments.
• Toys and Baby Products: Parents are spending more and more on baby
products and take a lot of time to examine if the material used for
production of toys and baby care products are of highest quality. This
industry is driven by emotional rather than economic condition and has very
high growth prospects.

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REVENUE & PRICING:
• To on-board as much sellers as possible we will take a minimal margin from
first few sellers. We will start with 5% margin for a limited time and then
increase it to 10-15% based on the product category and brand. The
products will be priced as seller wants but not more than MRP.
• All deliveries above Rs.499 will be free and below that they will be charged
Rs.49 per order. Any amount additional to paid by customers will be beard
by the seller of the product.
• The cost of packaging and courier will be beard by seller of the goods. Only
our brand packaging must be used for order generated through our portal.
• Additional to these sellers also have option to advertise their products on
the portal. There will be option of banner ads in home page, product
showcase etc. and will be charge accordingly.
PROMOTION:
• Social Media: Social media is one of the best ways of promoting any
product/service and is indispensable. We will promote our website with a
mix of ads and indulging with audience in the Facebook groups and
communities.
• Influencer Marketing: We will use a network of influencers in social media
and local communities to build awareness about the benefits of using
organic products and simultaneously promoting our website.
• Exhibitions: Promoting our website in trade shows and exhibitions for
organic foods such as Biofach India Expo, India Food Forum, etc. Apart from
these we will also participate in exhibitions in local level and big societies.
• Gyms: Gymnasiums are synonym to health and is one of the best place to
promote health related products. Partnering with gyms for exclusive
coupons on purchase from our website.
• Sports events: Sports events such as marathon, cycling, etc. attract huge
crowd of fitness enthusiast and helps in brand engagement.

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INVESTMENTS NEEDED:
Initial Cost
Project Cost
Particulars Amout
Website Development 30000
Logo Designing 5000
SSL Certificates 2000
Website Domain 1000
Total 38000
We are operating at very lean investment model. We play a role of aggregator
connecting sellers to customers and our cost is mainly website maintenance and
quality assurance. We outsource all non-core functions such as transportation and
packaging to maintain a lean model. Our partners take an amount of approx.
Rs.30/500gm (air), Rs.12/10kg (surface) rate for transportation. Our only other
non-tech cost is salary of business development and customer care professional
who will be responsible for onboarding sellers and solving customer issues.
FUTURE RISK AND EXPANSION:
• While the organic market is still very small and there is room for many fishes
in this big pond, there is always a chance that a big company with lot of
investments can enter this space and disrupt the market, just like Reliance
Jio did in case of telecom.
• Infrastructure development, specially transportation is a major bottleneck
in e-commerce industry. Amazon and Flipkart which has an extensive reach
and have built their infrastructure over years dominate the ecommerce
market.
• We plan to expand our business into an omni-channel model where you can
order online and take delivery from a store or vice versa. This will also help
us in selling our perishable item fast and allow consumers to try samples.
• With established network of producers and customers we also plan to
launch our own organic product brands to have better control and increased
profitability.

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LEARNINGS:
The key learnings I got while I was making the business plan are as follow:
 I got an idea of the organic market growth in India and across the world.
The growth of organic market in India is 25% and across the world is 16%.
 There is a lot of scope even there are various platforms serving organic
products but none of them is selling all the products on one platform.
 I will not only focus on the food items but also on the other organic
products.
 The major players in the organic market are Qtrove, Bofy, Organic Shop etc.
 While I was making the Business plan, I also got an idea of the organic textile
market, the textile industry in the 2nd largest polluting industry in India and
the players in the organic textile market are also less therefore is a lot of
scope in this industry.
 The awareness about the organic products is majorly in the Tier 1 cities
therefore the target of my business initially would only be Tier 1 cities and
then I will expand further.
 While the organic market is still very small and there is room for many fishes
in this big pond, there is always a chance that a big company with lot of
investments can enter this space and disrupt the market. There is always a
fear of such big companies to enter in this segment and capturing the
market.
 This gave me an insight of how one have to do the future risk analysis when
they are planning to open a start-up.
 How one should plan the investment and budgets.
 This also gave me an insight over how we have to add profit margins to the
cost.
The business plan helped me collect various insights on the organic products
and the markets. I am planning to have my own start-up of organic products.
This business plan is the base and I will further build over this.