The new brand identity sported by the Himalaya Drug Company has given it the necessary contemporary look to tap the youth and the women's segment of the market for its products. To augment retail reach for its ayurvedic and herbal products, it is in talks with major retail chains in the country to create shop-in-shops in various department stores and super markets. These shop-in-shop would be in addition to the exclusive company retail outlets, which it is planning to expand in the near future.

Himalaya Drug Company president & CEO Ravi Prasad told FE that negotiations are currently on with major retail chains to create shop-in-shop arrangement. "We would be creating our store within a store or a market to sell our products. The store would be manned by personnel from our company," said Mr. Prasad.

The planned retail initiative would supplement the expansion of exclusive company retail outlets. Himalaya presently has 24 retail outlets in the country and three outside. Mr. Prasad refused to divulge the number of new outlets in consideration nor did he name the retail chains with whom Himalaya is in talks with.

The shop-in-shop would be electronically linked to a panel of doctors at the company campus at Bangalore. This service is aimed at providing answers to health maintenance queries of customers. " Only queries related to general health like good diet and skin products would be entertained. This service will not answer issues related to any ailment of illness," Mr. Prasad said.

On the brand repositioning strategy, which started in December 2001, Mr. Prasad said the new packaging complete with Himalaya herbal Healthcare has helped transform the perception of the company among customers. The company, according to Mr. Prasad, was beginning to look tried and latent and the products have been carrying the same packaging since inception. The new look logo as well as the packaging has given the company the necessary contemporary images to make it appealing to consumers.

On the expansion plans of their exclusive retail outlets, Mr. Prasad said they would be adding more number of retail outlets on a need-be basis. Currently the company has 24 outlets.

"The new brand identity has enabled us to gain acceptance as a modern ayurvedic company, which is in line with the continuous validation and research on our products. It is has also got the youth segment interested in our products," said Mr. Prasad.

He explained that the agenda was also to get every thing under the banner of Himalaya Herbal Healthcare and leverage the equity of the brand across all its stock-keeping units (SKUs). Now, the name Himalaya Herbal Healthcare precedes the name of the product, which was vice versa earlier.

Mr. Prasad said the new brand identity has helped the company achieve a growth rate of 25 per cent, against the industry growth rate of eight percent. Another reason for a healthy growth rate has been attributed to the consumer healthcare and personal care segment, which has been successful in capturing the youth and women's segment of the consumer base.

The pharma segment, which essentially comprises prescription drugs, contributes Rs 180 crore to the overall turnover of Rs 300 crore. The consumer healthcare segment, which comprises products like honey and chyavanaprasha, contributes Rs 30 crore. Presonalcare, which has products under Ayurvedic Concepts, contributes Rs 60 crore, while animal health contributes Rs 10 crore. Exports amount to 20 crore of the total turnover.