Background

Natural Ice Creams is an Indian-owned brand by Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath, who started out by assisting his father in his fruit selling business to being the brainchild behind a mere idea: “If ice creams can have fruit flavors, why can’t they have real fruits? This idea slowly took root in his head and created the original flavor of the ice cream brand in India. The first naturals outlet was initiated at Juhu, but it was not started as an ice cream parlor; instead, the ice creams were just a dessert option on the menu. Soon, people started coming back, not for its food but for its ice cream. So what started as just a mere option in the dessert section became the main item and the main reason for its start.

Marketing Mix

• Product: Ice creams are made from freshly sourced fruits from the farms. Its whole USP is based on the fact that the ice creams consist of real fruit bites, so that you feel as if you are tasting the fruit itself. The first outlet was started with a mere 10 flavors, and now it sells over 125 flavors of ice cream. The best thing is that the production of ice cream is deeply rooted in tradition, merely using three ingredients: milk, fruit, and sugar. In the initial years, Kamath had to experiment with several machines to produce the ice creams in the same traditional manner. Even after 40 years of operation, they take pride in the art of making ice cream, which is true to its beginning: small batches, with time and care, and the fruits are naturally sourced: “mangoes from Ratnagiri, coconuts from Karnataka, jamun from Sawantwadi, mulberries from Mahabaleshwar, and lichees from Muzaffarpur.
• Place: The first outlet was opened in Juhu, Mumbai, and now the chain has over 18 directly owned stores and 119 franchised stores across 11 states. The stores are present in West Bengal, Karnataka, Goa, Telangana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Delhi NCR.
• Promotion: There is very minimal marketing per se. The brand started with immense word of mouth, and now they might have expanded to social media marketing, but there is hardly any spending on advertisements. The brand, staying true to its origin, highly stands on its quality and loyal customers.
• Price: The pricing of the ice cream would come in the range of affordable but not cheap. When compared with retail brands like Amul, Vadilal, and Arun Icecreams, natural ice creams tend to be more expensive than the mentioned Kirana brands but more affordable than other showroom brands like Creamstone, Baskin Robbins, etc. With a variety of flavors and options, the pricing is perfect. It ranges from RS60 to RS250, depending on the cup size, flavors, and even the selection of cone. The target audience is also a large segment because everyone loves ice cream. The pricing seems perfect and appropriate. It surely delivers value for money. And yes, I am not being biased.

Segmentation: The stores are present all over India and provide different flavors of ice cream. There is no segmentation based on geography, psychography, or gender. The vision behind its evolution is to provide naturally flavored ice cream. And they stand true.

Target: anyone who loves fruit and loves ice cream is the target audience. The price range is affordable, but not cheap. If you want to just have something sweet for Rs 5 or Rs 10, as other brands like Amul and Vadilal offer, then you cannot expect that from Naturals. But yes, if you want to treat your soul to the natural taste of fruit, then yes. The target audience is anyone who is willing to spend anything above Rs 90 for an amazing fruity flavor of ice cream.

Positioning: A first-of its kind ice cream brand that positioned itself to offer ice cream that tastes original to the flavor of the fruit. From its very beginning, the brand boasted of its natural taste, and no other Indian brand has tasted such an original flavor of ice cream. Its positioning is very unique, and no other brand has been able to compete with its unique offering of fruit-flavored ice creams.