E-comm has become a very big enabler for non-conventional tea market: Nalin Sood

Shrugging off the disruptions of the year gone by, businesses and agencies are looking for a strong revival in 2021. Over the next few weeks, Adgully – as part of our annual TRENDING NOW endeavour – will be presenting the strategies and views of a cross-section of industry leaders as they go about reclaiming lost time and market opportunities and build for a stronger future, armed with the lessons of 2020.

Nalin Sood, CEO, Teamonk Global, shares his insights on the growth in the tea consumption market and how the consumption patterns of tea in India have changed drastically in the recent years. He also speaks about how e-commerce is a very big enabler now, especially for the specialty tea market. 

Outlook for 2021

Globally, the consumption of non-conventional teas has been growing over the last one decade, with more than 60 per cent of the consumption shifting towards green, herbal and other specialty teas with infusions. Teamonk’s product lines emerge from our deep understanding of our audiences as well as our deep experiences in the tea business. We intend to bring to our customers the best of premium teas in an easy to consume way as well as make our teas delicious and healthy.

The e-commerce industry has been a boon amidst the pandemic. While consumer’s purchasing power has been executed via a click, there has been a drastic change in the way purchases have been made and in the choice of products. The coronavirus crisis has pushed special emphasis on building immunity thereby leading to a marked change in consumption habits with consumers looking for preventive solutions.

Over the recent years, the consumption patterns of tea in India have changed drastically. There was a time when green tea was considered to be a bland, unexciting beverage, consumed largely by the Chinese and other oriental people. However, for the past decade, with growing health awareness, realisation about harmful effects of excessive use of sugar and milk as well as introduction of teas with exciting flavours, green teas now enjoy good acceptance and the trend is catching up quickly, particularly amongst the health conscious younger generation. Herbal infusions, which are pure herbs like Tulsi, Peppermint, Chamomile, Lemon ginger, etc., but offered in tea bags like normal teas, are also gaining popularity for their natural health benefits.

Teas, particularly green, infused with the natural ingredients like ginger, tulsi, Turmeric, lemon, Cinnamon, etc., are known to boost immunity, strengthen body resistance, improve digestion and soothe throat troubles. Green tea with clove will also help you combat cavities, which is great for your oral health.

The tea industry is gradually evolving towards healthier and non-conventional teas as the younger generation is far more health conscious and realises the harmful effects of excessive milk and sugar consumption with the beverage. The popularity of Green and other specialty teas is growing significantly and will continue to grow with the increase in health awareness.

Green Tea with high polyphenols and theanine has multiple health benefits due to antioxidants which help build immunity, lowers the risk of some cancers and lowers the risk of cardiovascular diseases, increases fat burning and reduces the risk of diabetes. 

Great expectations 

Like everyone, our expectation from 2021 is to return to normalcy as soon as possible. We would like to see everyone healthy and wise personally as well as professionally as our focus is on delivering wellness through a habit called tea. We are targeting the universal need of “looking good and feeling good” and our teas promote both internal and external health and well being.

We foresee the sector growing and swelling by leaps and bounds as people are shifting preferences to a more immunity conscious and safe living and hence, our range of ayurveda products may see an uptick. With a heightened focus on health and wellness, especially amid COVID-19, Teamonk is poised to leverage this trend and grow in strength with its wide portfolio of 100% natural, healthy and delicious teas.

World over green tea is becoming a way of life. We offer 100% Natural, Whole Leaf Teas with No Artificial flavours, Oils or Essences. Our huge percentage of sales from the overseas market would continue to spiral up and we would hit new shores in 2021.

We see that this sector would attract more and more funding from the VCs on the one hand and see some merger and acquisition by the industry stalwarts to even out the market dynamics.

Launch of newer and enhanced flavours in the domestic as well as global markets with stronger supply chains for swift deliveries. E-commerce is a very big enabler now and, especially in the post-COVID-19 period, a lot of growth will remain in this area for the specialty tea market.

Teamonk’s asset light e- commerce distribution model helps them be efficient and scale quickly. Besides, it helps to cut down time to market from when the teas are harvested and this is key to the quality and freshness of our teas. We’re seeing incredible demand for our products both at home and in international markets. We will continue to invest in e-commerce capability, product innovation with our focus on wellness blends and expand our manufacturing capacity. In the next 3 to 5 years, we envision to be one of the top-selling tea brands in the industry.

We are certain that the government would keep on opening new avenues for the start-ups across the board and the community would benefit out of the sops, rebates and impetus to the sector.

We also are certain that more and more companies would bring vaccines to the world and people would be able to benefit out of it and start moving around. It would be business as usual by the turn of 2021 for not only us but for everyone around the world. 

Key learnings from 2020 

The last few months have seen unprecedented changes in the way we live and work, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While this is a challenging time for everyone, we believe it is also a learning opportunity and we all are emerging stronger and better from this crisis. At Teamonk, we did realise the need to be agile in our business by rapidly adapting to evolving consumer preferences and technological changes in accordance to consumer demands. With the new tastes, buying habits and expectations created across our Indians and Global markets, we have analysed key emerging trends and laid out the future steps. The role of e- commerce has increased significantly in times of the pandemic. In relation to this, we have seen a rising demand for specialty tea across India and globally, and therefore we have laid focus on our distribution channels and design.

We have learnt that being cost efficient, that is, nifty and trim at the operational level helps the company prevent excess cash burn and allows more capital in hand and we have been quite mindful of that. Our teams realise this and try to narrow excesses across the system.

At Teamonk, we are conscious of the fact that planning for scenarios beyond the current situation is well underway and we should be well prepared as the future unfolds, so contingency planning is always a part of the larger plan at work.

Our focus now is to collaborate, share learnings and support each other at every step internally too. We are aiming to build an ecosystem that serves every employee and ensures that we all work as a team collectively.