Marketing Strategy Case:

Devbhumi Natural Product Producer Company Ltd (DNPPCL), popularly known as

‘Devbhumi’, was evolved from the merger of two community owned private limited companies
namely Chamoli Tasar Pvt. Ltd. and Devbhumi Madhu Pvt. Ltd, in the year 1995. It was
promoted with the help of Appropriate Technology India (ATI), a development organization
which has been working in this region since the year 1993. ATI promotes the forest-based
enterprise development with an aim to provide economic security to local forest dependent
communities. Apart from its independent interventions in the area of creating livelihood
generating activities in this hill state, it acts as a strong grass root organization that provides a
base support to ‘Devbhumi’ in reaching remote valleys and villages of this region. Its strong
presence and grass root mobilization has enabled ‘Devbhumi’ to reach many remote villages
for its honey procurement.

Today the organisation is completely owned by small and marginal farmers, primarily by rural
women of Uttarakhand. Its strong producer’s base is around 8500 shareholders, who are
scattered in remote villages across 5 districts of Uttarakhand namely Rudraprayag, Chamoli,
Pauri, Tehri and Uttarkashi. Apart from the shareholders base, Devbhumi today procures its
produce from additional 2500 primary producers. The company has expanded its product range
from organic honey to organic spices, Tasar and other forest-based silks along with the recent
initiative of milk production and marketing in Gupkashi region. This intervention has not only
led in creation of economic stability among the producers but also has attracted them towards
an enterprise-based development model.

Product Portfolio

ORGANIC HONEY: In 2003-04, the organisation became the first certified organic honey
producer in the country and was recognised by fair trade federation of America. It has now
approximately 1000 ha land under organic certification by the Uttarakhand State Organic
Certification Agency (USOCA) which is accredited by APEDA. A total of 2966 farmers have
been certified through a group certification scheme that have commercially produced and
marketed more than 31500 kg of honey in year 2015-16. Institutional Sales of Organic Certified
honey comprising of majority of the sales, almost 40% of total to only one partner i.e. FabIndia.

SHAWLS & STOLES: DevBhumi Fabrics are woven by women of the remote villages of
Garhwal Uttarakhand. The fabric is produced from Silk worms that feed on oak, mulberry or
castor leaves in the forest of the Garhwal Himalayas in India. Brands like UCB also
collaborated with DevBhumi for an initative “UnitedbyPurpose”.

ORGANIC SPICES: Devbhumi Spices are produced in the Natures own backyard, the
Himalayas, Uttarakhand, which is also known in India as the ‘Land of God’. Devbhumi spices
are known for their vibrant color, flavor and aroma, and are available in both ‘whole’ and
powder form in different sizes and packaging.The range includes Organic Turmeric, Red Chili,
Ginger and Coriander.
The Challenge -Although Devbhumi is the oldest name in this segment, the unique
differentiation of brand from rest of the emerging brands like Under The Mango Tree
(UTMT) is lacking. online sales have accounted for less than 0.5% of total sales and have
shown decline of almost Rs. 60,000 in absolute terms for the year 2019-20 vis-a-vis 2018-19.
This shows that the product’s visibility on online is almost nil and even decreasing year on
year, which contradicts the user’s behaviour of buying more online products in general.
Limited product innovations (Competitors such as UTMT who have started late have bigger
market presence and higher brand visibility in the organic honey market), Negligible digital
presence (Reaching consumers directly or Omni Channel presence) is important in this day
and age to survive and grow.