According to an article published on the Boston Consulting Group, Indian buyers prefer Indian brands over International ones.
This may sound a bit against the general conception that Indians are more interested in international brands for all their requirements.
One of the main reasons for them to choose an Indian brand is that these brands understand their needs more effectively. Their products are better alternatives to the International brands because Indian brands understand their culture, preferences, situations in a better way.
And, there is no doubt in the fact that the Indian brands are delivering outstanding and world-class products. They are already competing well with the International brands in terms of quality, affordability, and after-sales services.
In this brand story, we are featuring the home to some of the most innovative brands, Merlin Brands. We will check out what they do, how it all started, and where it is heading towards. So, let us get started with the story:
About Merlin Brands
Merlin Brands is all about alleviating life
At Merlin Brands, they are always evolving to give consumers a seamless experience of their creations. Founded in 2016, Merlin Brands is home to some of the most innovative brands in India- Rabitat and Headway.
With their current brands, they create world-class products backed by researches & innovative ideations for better and easier functioning of their customers’ life. Their products are contemporary yet hold traditional values of love and care not just for the people who buy them but for the planet too.
They are offering products that are high-quality, cool, fun, well-designed, stylish, safe yet pocket-friendly, providing the best value that people won’t find anywhere else.
Merlin Brands’ Vision and Mission
Merlin Brands is all heart. Their mission is to make their customers’ dreams come alive with the most extraordinary products that they can own with a sense of pride.
The company wants to delight its customers with their experiences in their journey with them right from the start till the end. Merlin Brands is now taking this homegrown Indian company proudly to the world.
🏷️ Their Tagline: Never Boring
About The Founders And Info About Team
Merlin Brands (then known as Merlin First) was started by two brothers Sumit and Siddharth Suneja in 2016 with a vision to make world-class products easily available to customers in India.
A team that works in unison makes a great company and at Merlin Brands, they are an innovative and fearless bunch. They’re unafraid to take risks and try new things and encourage the tribe to put forward the best version of themselves and reach for the stars.
The team believes in the power of creative minds working, growing, learning, and thriving together.
About Their Story and How It All Started
Merlin Brands (then known as Merlin First) was started by two brothers Sumit and Siddharth Suneja in 2016 with a vision to make world-class products easily available to customers in India.
They established themselves as the preferred reseller for some of the best international kids brands in the world including Skip Hop, Comotomo, Pearhead, 3Sprouts, and launched their own brand Swiss Republic simultaneously.
Merlin Brands became an expert in the distribution of these brands with a strong network. But soon, they realized these international brands failed to meet the customers’ expectations. The products were too costly and would burn a hole in their pocket or the quality wasn’t too great.
Eventually, after considering their customers’ feedback, the team decided it was time to launch their own homegrown brands to give them what they were looking for.
The team launched Rabitat in 2019 with a beautiful collection of baby and toddler products and is loved by many parents and kids. The appreciation shown by them had encouraged them to launch their latest brand for adult insulated drinkware, Headway.
At Merlin Brands, the team strives to fulfill customers’ needs with an amazing range of innovative products that are sustainable, affordable, and of top-notch quality. They also have a strong distribution network to make the products easily available to their customers.
In all these years, the company has successfully created world-class, premium quality products right here in India with all the international certifications and standards in place. They’re now looking forward to taking their homegrown Indian brands to the world and have already entered Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UAE, and expanding more.
📌 Their Business Model: Their business model is Direct to Consumer (D2C). With this model, they are also able to deal with the customers directly which helps them to provide them with the best consumer experience.
💰 Revenue Generation: Merlin Brands has got a multi-faceted distribution approach for their products. Along with a strong D2C channel, they also have a robust physical distribution network for both their brands. Their retail partners include Mothercare, Hamley’s, Food Hall, Home Town, Toy R Us, and many others across the country.
💸 Fundings And Investors: Along with the personal investment from the founders, the business has relied upon debt to fund the growth.
🏆 Major Competitors: As per the officials, the company doesn’t have any competitors in India and they only compete with premium international brands like Skip-hop (for Rabitat) and S’well, Yeti, etc. (for Headway)
Major Challenges Faced During The Initial Stage
The major challenge faced by team Merlin Brands was the pandemic. One of their campaigns Rabitat back-to-school collection had to take a back seat as schools remained shut. The company also had to tweak the marketing plan according to the situation and survived the pandemic.
Apart from school bags, their school gear like steel tumblers, sippers, etc. was marketed as homeschooling essentials and have since then become very popular.
Also, it was summer, so the team urged parents to encourage their kids to stay hydrated using the bottles. After all these marketing and promotional tactics, the company ended up selling 50,000 bottles in six months.
About Their Current Growth And The Future Plans
The company is running two brands – Rabitat and Headway.
Rabitat is the older one and has become a very popular brand for kids in the Indian market. For Rabitat, the company has seen a 3X YOY growth and a 10X growth in the last 8 quarters. Out of which 70% are eCommerce sales which include their D2C platform and other E-Commerce networks.
Headway on the other hand is a brand that the company has recently launched and in the first few months of launching, they have seen a 6X growth MOM in the first 2 quarters.
At present, the company will be looking to expand its collection of products in both brands in the upcoming months. In Rabitat, they are expecting a very strong Back to School campaign with schools opening up after a very long time.
Along with expanding the product categories, the team also plans to expand its reach by launching a
few entry-level products which will attract a new set of customers to the brands.
Merlin Brands has also explored some International markets like New Zealand, Dubai, and Australia. They have met with moderate success in these regions and will continue to explore international opportunities.