Being in a research company has
its own advantages. You become aware of many sectors. However, you are still
going to be “Jack of all” but a pupil of few of them. Lately, we have been
getting various requests in consumer goods domain. It is not hard to figure out
what is it regarding? Patanjali – You guessed it right…
Few sources cite that its
revenues have crossed Rs.5000 cr. It has reached this milestone in almost half
a decade, the feat rarely achieved by even large multinationals. You need to
give them their due. The way Ramkrishna Yadav (better known as Baba Ramdev)
marketed himself and the company Patanjali really well by making themselves an
authority on Yoga, Ayurveda, and natural products is quite commendable. They
have found a huge fan following; which has now began new wave of going back to
the natural products – natural and organic products for the health conscious
people.
However, I am surprised that the
research requests came in so late. I believe being in the market has its own
positives. You are aware of how the companies and its competitors are
performing. Then why didn’t they see the trends shifting. Why didn’t the
request come when the revenues were just Rs. 100 cr, Rs. 500 cr. or even Rs.
1000 cr. Maybe the competition didn’t perceive that Patanjali will emerge as
such a serious competitor. In investment circles there is a saying that never
mention – This time it’s different.
In a capitalist society it’s a hara-kiri
to assume that the new challenger is going to lose. Time and again, it has
happened – Nirma challenging HUL, LG and Samsung overthrowing BPL. There were
different issues associated to both of them. However, the outcome was similar.
The new players get in the
market. The existing players overlook the seriousness of the new comer and then
find themselves threatened by them. They will adopt “wait and watch” stance and
by that time the challenger reaches the
inflection point from which the existing players will face herculean task of
gaining back the market share.
We all want to quote Peter Lynch
and Philip Fischer but we rarely pay heed to their advice. Didn’t we realize
when some people within our circles started to use Dant kranti (toothpaste),
Patanjali Honey. We all saw them but conveniently chose to ignore these shifts.
Therefore the entire research request coming now might be construed as a herd
behavior.
These new shifts indicate the
lure of natural and health conscious organic food. I am not saying that
existing FMCG majors will keep quiet. In fact, the companies like Dabur, Emami, etc. who are also into selling
of Ayurveda and natural products may have some added advantage. However, smart
marketing is needed by these companies. This could have been avoided if they
could have spotted the trends early. But it is difficult to define early stage.
Maybe early stage is defined as a stage which is not too obvious to entire
crowd but is still noticeable to a few people.
