KRUTAN is a home appliance brand that aims at providing home essentials for every home. It is the brand created by Sureseal Pvt. Ltd, to address the burgeoning home appliances Industry with the selling of affordable and energy efficient products. The company operates in the Home & Kitchen Appliances space which believes in Identifying useful products globally and making it available at affordable prices. Spending 6.5 years in the corporate industry, Ms Krupa deeply understood the need to save time in today’s fast moving life. She also believed the fact that technology would be the soul of this generation. It was seen that the working class does not have the time in today’s world to use conventional methods of living at home. KRUTAN wanted to bring in quality gadgets at a price-point which could be afforded by all. Thus KRUTAN was born.
The founder wanted to enter the electric kettle market as she has been using the kettle ever since she was a child which was a gift to her family from London and she could not start a day without it. She wanted to make it available here at an affordable price as she knew how convenient it was for her family to use it. Looking at this convenience, Ms Krupa decided to launch one herself as she found out that many people around her were not aware of its existence as it was considered a luxury. We are publishing an interview with Ms Krupa.
Q.: What is the problem you are trying to solve? Can you share with us any insights that led you to believe that this is a big enough problem?
Ans: In today’s world, there is a necessity to save time along with leading a modern lifestyle. KRUTAN found the need to bring affordable home appliances into the market that would make the lives of the people easy by not using the conventional method of living as well as breaking the taboo of home appliances being a luxury by making them affordable.
Q.: Tell us about the Product / Solution. Explain how you went about the Product-Market Fit Process.
Ans: Aiming at addressing the home appliance needs of the Tier 2 cities, KRUTAN understands that the demand for home appliances in India is still mostly driven by its adoption in metro cities, mainly because of better awareness and higher socio-economic growth. However, the demand from the non-metros is also expected to grow based on requirements from the increased per-capita income of the people. KRUTAN aims at catering to the rural India although the demand for home appliances from these areas is still not significant. KRUTAN believes that better livelihood options, growing employment rates and increase in the per-capita income across the country will open up new markets for the home appliances industry.
Q.: What is your USP?
Ans: KRUTAN’s product portfolio consists of electric kettles, induction cooktop, air fryer, sandwich maker, toaster range of products. KRUTAN’s products are priced less as compared to the competitors operating in this space. The products are better in terms of quality and service.
Q.: Please tell us about the investors (if any)
Ans: KRUTAN is a brand created by Sureseal Pvt Ltd which is a metal packaging company. Sureseal manufactures pilfer proof caps for various Pharmaceutical, Liquor and Food Industries. Currently producing 300 million caps per annum, the annual business revenue is about US$ 3.5 million. In the year 2013, Sureseal diversified its activities and broadened the spectrum into home & kitchen appliances industry with the brand “Krutan”.
Q.: What were your assumptions when you entered the market, learnings that you have?
Ans: We have observed that the brand name and the emotions attached to it is too high which makes the people less prone to look at other home appliance brands on the shelf. Our ideal customer is the youth, who believe in living a simple and smart life. To make their modern day busy life easy, we are an appliance brand which makes you faster.
Q.: What has been your biggest failure as an entrepreneur and what did you learn from it??
Ans: The biggest learning we have had so far is the awareness on the kitchen appliances that could have been created in the early days of starting the company in showcasing the taboo on using such home appliances.
Q.: How are you pricing the Product? Explain your thought process.
Ans: The prices of the home appliances are lesser than that of the competitors. The logic behind this is to make the products affordable and accessible to the people of all classes.
Q.: How did you get your first customer?
Ans: It all started when we introduced the electric kettle in Metro Cash and Carry.
Q.: Is there any interesting success story? If yes, please write about it. ?
Ans: We’ve sold close to 20,000 Kettles in the first 1.5 years of starting Krutan. KRUTAN’s air fryers have been priced at 1/4th of the price of the other existing players in the market. This, in turn made the competitors reduce their prices too.
Q.: What is the big picture of your startup? Is this Product leading to something bigger? If so, how?
Ans: We see the products reaching Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities of India in the next 1-2 years and expanding our operations to South American and African countries.
We want to penetrate the markets in every 2 and 3 tier cities in India, and educate people about the advantages to switching over to modern day appliances where many are still not aware.
Q.: Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture? Please explain in details:
Ans: Company does not mention numbers and figures.
Q.: What is the insight that you have about this market, which no one else has? Uniqueness about your Startup.
Ans: According to the report titled “India Kitchen Appliances Market Analysis: Forecast & Opportunities, 2016-2022”, Kitchen Appliances market recorded strong growth, with a CAGR of over 13% during review period of 2011-16. The market advanced on the back of rising disposable income, growing sales infrastructure in the form of specialist stores & e-commerce players coupled with innovation in kitchen appliances, increasing popularity of modular kitchens and convenience associated with such appliances. The market is forecast to advance with a double digit CAGR of 15.41% during estimated period of 2017-22.
We see the products reaching every nook and corner of the country because of the quality and affordability factor.
Q.: List all the names of the core Team Members, along with their Designated Roles.
Ans: The Company is a family run business:
- Ms B G Krupa – Founder
- Mr Ashwin B G – Director
- Mr Shashidhar Rao B N – Head of distribution and retail.
- Mr Giridhar Rao B N- Mentor
Q.: Who do You Perceive as Your Competition? How do you differentiate yourself with them?
Ans: There is healthy competition in the industry. The major competitors are Prestige, Pigeon, Preethi, Fabiano, Philips and Morphy Richards to name a few. We are different from them with respect to price, service and quality of the products.
Q.: What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months?
Ans: We want to penetrate the markets in every 2 and 3 tier cities in India, and educate people about the advantages to switching over to modern day appliances. Where many are still not aware.
Q.: What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs?
Ans: As a category, we have many other competitors in this segment. But, this competition is probably what drives us all to innovate. So, as entrepreneurs, we believe that we have a great responsibility to make the world a better place. And as a team and healthy competition, it ll be fun to see each other innovate and drive each other’s business.
Q.: Any other information you would like to share?
Ans: KRUTAN operates PAN India. The products are available in Metro Cash and Carry, More Super Markets and Amazon.in.
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