Spirit W | My strengths lies with the success of Oriflame: Sharmili Rajput

You may have the best products or services to offer in your industry but if you are unable to market it well and inform your customers about it, it may possibly lead to your sales crashing and downing of shutters. No wonders successful marketing managers always say that the heart of your business success lies in its marketing. With an experience of over 15 years in several industries like banking, watches, FMCG and others, the one to know this better is Sharmili Rajput, National Marketing Director, Oriflame.  She instantly agrees that this is the fundamental truth - companies often fail because they are unable to establish & streamline their marketing function.

Sharmili Rajput, has been associated with  swedish cosmetic giant Oriflame  since 2010,  and has been in charge of Oriflame India’s marketing initiatives pan-India since then. Her prior experience with ABN Amro Bank, Tissot Watches, World Gold Council, Knorr Soups and others has helped her stand in good stead. Over the course of her professional journey, Rajput has created and spearheaded several marketing initiatives for brand promotion, increase in sales & volumes of business; and strategic positioning of brands and sub-brands.

Oriflame is a leading company in  beauty and cosmetic products and a numero uno as far as direct selling is concerned. Globally through two lakhs active sales consultants, Oriflame is present in over 60 countries with turnover of  Euro 1.5 billion. India is amongst the top 10 countries for the Oriflame business globally and is amongst the fastest growing markets. The brand has over 550 products in five distinct categories.

To know about Oriflame’s India plans and the newer aspects the company is exploring, Adgully extensively spoke with Sharmili Rajput, Marketing Director, Oriflame India recently. Adgully tried to know how her association with Oriflame has been till now and her views on going forward.

As Rajput, has worked earlier in corporate sectors we asked her what made her to make a shift into a totally different sector, she said, "I've been a marketing professional through and through. But my shift to Oriflame was an absolute eye opener. While banking and other jobs had a different and stiff atmosphere, Oriflame in comparison is all about emotions and majorly business of women."

Today we have over 200,000 women sales consultants who are part of Oriflame, "The brand for women is not only about products but a life changing thing. The way women relate with the brand and the kind of love and affection they share proves that." Rajput added.

With presence of Oriflame in India, women are getting exposed to new trends and getting transformed. They are working with confidence and its helping them in getting recognition and self development.

Rajput explained that, "When I joined Oriflame in 2010, the categories were interesting, but it's like when you become a part of it and starts experiencing it, you starts feeling that it's actually different from rest of the companies I've worked in past. The human connect that we share in this business is very different."

Getting into a new market and making products acceptable to the audience is a task for any company. On asking Rajput, what were the challenges that brand faced in India, she briefed, "Every job has its own set of challenges, ups and downs. In India there are few challenges, and the key thing as a marketing professional I feel is that, call to action is difficult as for marketing any product we need to contact Oriflame consultant to get hold of the product. Basic level of awareness is there but we have limited consultants. Apart from this, people still have queries like whom to contact and where to get the products from. We are trying to reach out to every consumer.

Rajput further pointed out that, "Indian culture and products are different from international products as though Indians use international products for daily use most of them opt for basic Kajal. From last two years we have worked a lot to get the products specific for the Indian market like Kajal and intense shades of Lipsticks right and different from other countries like Europe. We are still developing it."

For Rajput her strength lies with the success of the product. With time some products have worked out really well providing the brand and her loads of satisfaction.

Oriflame as a brand is known for direct selling of its products, the social media and digital platform helps the brand to achieve the same. We asked her to shed some light on this front, "Many new things happened post my appointment and social media initiative was one of the things which got launched with me, it is a very successful platform for us. In a recent survey by Google, on the most searched skincare brand, Oriflame was listed on top and we trying to build the brand bit by bit which is reflecting on our sales figure. Social media offers best way to communicate. Our business model and proposition is direct selling, we have 718 service points (SPO's) and 20 warehouses, a woman can go and get the feel of Oriflame products at any of the SPO's."

The total industry size in 2011-12 was Rs 5900 crores, it is expected to grow Rs 7120 crores in 2012-13, Rs 10,843 crores by 2014-15 and Rs 21,690 crores by 2019-20 respectively. The industry is estimated to have posted 21-23 per cent growth in India in 2011-12. According to IDSA and industry body PHD Chamber it is expected to grow at an average of more than 20 per cent in the next four years.

On talking about competitors in the domain, Rajput said, "There is competition in market but our edge is that we offer more personalised selling and in this word of mouth works really well. And we have a great range of products in place across categories."

We always look up to someone to achieve our goals. On asking Rajput who could be the women who has inspired her, she thoughtfully reverted," Amongst men it is Steve Jobs, because he came up with fantastic products. In women, no one in particular because sometimes you find inspiration in most simplest woman. It's not that you have to be really up there to be inspiring for people, it can be anyone as sometimes common people’s life stories are also really inspiring."
With beauty and cosmetic segments growing in India, and increasing number of women who are getting associated it, Rajput feels that women definitely lead in beauty sector.

As part of Oriflame's future plan, Rajput said, "We have invested a lot in developing products specific to Indians, so in next one or two years there will be launches of newer products catering to Indian market. We will continue to focus on the advertising & distribution front and building the products."
With increasing number of agents, the brand is also looking out to increase penetration to smaller cities and bringing in awareness on health & wellness issues in smaller cities.