Gupta: affordable price points

Agri-tech

Gupta cites the example of Superplum’s trademarked Fresherator containers, which are designed to convert any truck into a state-of-the-art reefer vehicle. “This enables us to move beyond India’s 90 per cent shortage of refrigerated vehicles and do so at low cost. When we say we have reimagined the agricultural supply chain, we mean it.” Additionally, a comprehensive technology platform, FreshManager, ensures quality and traceability of every fruit right to the farm.

Superplum’s contention is that the supply chain is fully traceable and all its products are tested for pesticides. “Consumers can trace each fruit back to the farms and even view pesticide test reports,” says Gupta. “Hence, they are assured of the high quality of the fruits and even packaging that keeps the fruits fresh.”

The company is bridging the gap between the farms and consumers by digitising the fresh fruit industry, explains Gupta. “Every aspect is captured, digitised and analysed. Over time, this will help us increase efficiency and standardise quality across our product offerings.”

Unlike most companies in India, which have tie-ups with either farmers or with traders through which supplies are received, Superplum has its own teams at the farms handling procurement and all associated processes. “Our supply chain then entails complete management from the farm & procurement centre level right to in-store delivery,” stresses Gupta. “This involves significant investments at the farm level on key infrastructure like sorting systems, cleaning systems and cooling units.”

On how fruit growers are selected, Gupta says they have chosen to go to areas where the quality of fruit production is already high. “Fruit farmers in India are actually quite progressive and the initial adjustment for the brand may not be significant and much of the gap can be addressed through better handling and better infrastructure at the farm cluster level.” Modular farm infrastructure, including a fast setup cold room for remote rural farms, also comes to the aid of the growers.

Mangoes and more

Currently, Superplum, which operates mainly on a B2B model, has more than 230 farms across 15 states, while its distribution operations are in Delhi/NCR and Bengaluru. “In terms of distribution, we have more than 320 customers in NCR and Bengaluru,” says Gupta. “We aim to expand this distribution network rapidly to over 1,000 by the end of the year.”

A quick look on its site reveals it has seasonal fruits such as mangoes, litchi, cherries, plums and pomegranates on sale in Bengaluru, while Delhi additionally has ‘imported kiwis’, Valencia oranges and New Zealand apples.

Pricing indicates Superplum is targeting a premium segment of customers. In Delhi, pomegranates are priced at Rs198 for half a kg, while four Premium Dussheri mangoes are priced at Rs175. “Our price points are quite affordable and well below imported fruit prices,” points out Gupta. “So, our target customer is practically any fruit consumer.”

The company is bridging the gap between the farms and consumers by digitising the fresh fruit industry

The Indian fruit market is $100 billion roughly, growing at about 8 per cent annually. “Branded fruits are a miniscule category as bulk of the business happens through the mandi system,” points out Gupta. “Inherently, there is no system for traceability and consistency unless you look at imported or organic fruits which are very expensive. If you look at high value and organic fruit markets, these are growing much faster at about 20-25 per cent per year.”

As Covid has complicated its rollout, revenue targets are fluid, says Gupta. “As our business model is largely B2B, a lot depends on how the county recovers and how last mile industry network cope with the transitions happening. Longer term, given the scale of the industry our addressable market is upwards of $20 billion.”

The fruits are available mainly through modern retail and neighbourhood fruit stores as well as most large format retail chains including Spar, Metro, Reliance Retail, Starbazaar, Future Consumer etc. “Online is less than 10 per cent but as channels like Amazon and other online delivery partners open up, this will grow fast,” thinks Gupta.

Covid has hit hard. “Modern retail activity has been severely curtailed, and we have had to rework our sales and approach a bit. While people have started recognising the brand faster as online interest has increased, traditional channels have slowed down. We have grown 2x over the last six months so underlying demand is strong for quality produce. We just need to be creative on how to tap it.”

According to the company, the fresh capital is being used to build out farm infrastructure, augment the management team and expand the company distribution capabilities. It will be interesting to see if Superplum can convert a significant number of Indians to taking up branded fruits.