Gujarat is the Biggest Agarbatti Market-Arpan Desai
Desai Brothers: A big name in the incense stick market
Arpan Enterprises, Dharan Enterprises, and Desai Brothers are the leading trading, wholesaling, and distributing companies of incense sticks, sambrani, and puja items in Gujarat. These companies serve as super stockists and C&F for numerous big branded incense stick companies, which allows them to maintain a massive network across the state. The founders of these companies, Arpan Desai and Dharan Desai, had humble beginnings in the incense and agarbatti business around 20 years ago, and since then, their business has become a big name in the trade. In an exclusive conversation with Sugandh India, the head of these firms, Mr Arpan Desai shared that he has been all over Gujarat about 50 times in recent years, and despite that, he personally meets with the distributors two times a year. The company has more than 300 distributors associated with its network across the state, and they have family relationships with all of them. Their office is in Ahmedabad, but their warehouse, office, and display area span 24000 square feet in the city outskirts. They also have a dedicated conference room for the companies to conduct meetings. From here they supply dhoop, agarbatti, and Sambrani products all over Gujarat and Rajasthan. In response to a question, Arpan Desai said that, apart from worship, people prefer agarbatti to make the ambience of shops, homes and offices pleasant and fragrant. That is why the demand for premium products is high, and people prefer new fragrances.
In response to a question from Sugandh India, Mr Desai shared that he founded his current business in 2004, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and maternal uncle who were involved in the agarbatti business and had a retail shop in Panchmahal district, he and his brother used to work there . Seeking a larger market, Mr. Desai relocated his business to Ahmedabad and initially operated alone for a year before his brother, Dharan Desai, joined him and they did a lot of retailing in Ahmedabad till 2008. Market was full of big players and thus competition. As the business grew, in 2010 Mr. Desai secured distribution of Ahmedabad based brand Flourish, followed by Darshan International and Pradhan Perfumers of Bengaluru in 2013. Currently he is the super stockist and cnf of various companies, including Nishan, Flourish, Vakratund, Nishan, Pioneer, Raunak, Jesal, Vaidik and Jain Products.
Mr. Arpan Desai, in response to a question, said that he has a two-tier marketing team. One team works separately from the other firm’s marketing team. Apart from this, he also frequently visits the market. He said that he and his brother Dharan Desai run all three firms. All three firms deal in incense sticks and incense products, and function as per the needs of different companies. Like Nishan’s is distributed only through Desai Brothers. Arpan Enterprises deals with the trading of all the companies. He said that a lot of companies have different requirements and these firms function accordingly. In response to a question, he said that if any company wants to make us CNF, we are ready for it.
Arpan Desai, in response to a question, shared that the market dynamics of Rajasthan and Gujarat are significantly different. While Flourish brand has a strong demand in Gujarat, its popularity in Rajasthan is limited to specific urban areas. The product, being a premium brand, has a lower demand in Rajasthan due to the consumers’ preference for quantity over quality and the already established presence of local and affordable brands. Mr Desai, who is also SS for Jaisal brand, has observed that it is limited to Gujarat only, whereas Flourish, Nishan, and Vakratund are supplied to both states. Pioneer, Raunak, Jain Products, Jai Bhavani, and other brands are marketed solely in Gujarat. Furthermore, Mr. Desai has a network of more than 300 distributors. These distributors also work for other brands as well.
In response to a question regarding his office and warehouse in a 24,000 square feet area, he said that all the companies I work with, I sell all of their products available across different segments. It is not that I keep only a few selected products of any one company. He said that my way of working is that when I take responsibility for a brand, I work hard for two to three years. If the brand works, I continue the work, otherwise without spoiling the relationship, I tell the company to look for other options. He said that the outskirts of the city are better for having offices and warehouses in one setup. During Covid lockdown people operating from the warehouses in the city faced a lot of issues but the ones operating from the outskirts faced no problems. So we kept our office in the city and built a warehouse on the outskirts.
Mr. Arpan Desai said that the Gujarat market is the best market for incense stick products. There is a huge market for high-quality premium products here. A point to note about Gujarat market is that both the premium and economy products sell. While medium-range products face difficulties. There are first, second and third-quality products here. Similarly, there are four types of companies. In the first range, there are pan-India level companies like Cycle Pure and Moksh, which have their own marketing team. They have a complete setup and do everything from advertising, promotion, marketing and schemes. Other quality companies include Amruta, Balaji Flourish etc., which are at the second level in premium. The third are those companies, which sell products through trading and distributors. The fourth level includes those companies which sell their products at the lowest price. In response to a question, he said that there is no similar market in the entire Gujarat. Premium products do not sell much in North Gujarat, on the other hand, there is demand for premium products in Saurashtra and South Gujarat, whereas in Central Gujarat, products of all ranges are sold. He said that the incense sticks market for Gujarat is exactly like that of Maharashtra, where products are sold not just on the basis of the company’s marketing strategy but mainly on relationship with the distributor and the quality.
On a question related to the Gujarat Agarbatti market, he said that in Gujarat, the MRP starts from pouch packing of ₹10, which goes on to ₹20, ₹50 and ₹100. At the highest MRP of ₹70, pouch packing is sold for ₹50. However, if the quality is there then packets worth two, three and even five thousand rupees are easily sold here. He said that among the top brands are companies like Cycle Pure, ZED Black, Kalpana, Nishan etc., whose depots are also here. Apart from this, there are many local brands too, which are of pan India level and are sold well in other states also. He said that there are local brand companies in every two or three districts. About 100 such companies are from Gujarat only. Shah Fragrances, Arsi, Dhanalakshmi, Charbhuja, Jesal, Vakratund, Vaidik and Siddhi are very popular and they all have a huge range too. Bengaluru’s products are sold the highest in premium. Bimal, Janak, Alaukik of Rajkot are also there. Products from other states include BIC, Balaji, Jain products, Jesal, Forest, Oswal, Real, Pioneer, Moksh, Parimal, Zed Black and KR agarbatti have good market.
Mr Desai informed Sugandh India that a decade or so ago, the market for agarbattis was dominant in Gujarat, with only a marginal demand for dhoop-related products. The wet dhoop market was dominated by Hari Darshan. However, the market dynamics have shifted significantly since then, with agarbattis now comprising around 70 per cent of the market share. The remaining thirty is shared between dry and wet dhoop, with the latter being further divided into twenty and ten (per cent) for dry and wet dhoop respectively. He further added that ZED Black, Nishan, and many other companies have established a stronghold in the wet incense market, but the premium segment of wet dhoop has a low market share. ZED Black dominates the wet dhoop market with a 60% share. The maximum price is ₹ 20 for a zip pack of 30 sticks. However, products worth Rs 5 and Rs 10 are hardly sold here. Products with MRP of ₹ 5 and ₹ 10 are sold in Punjab and Rajasthan. In contrast, brands that only deal in wet dhoop, have experienced a decline in sales due to inadequate investment in marketing and supply chain. As a result, they have fallen behind the competitors who have diversified their product offerings, including incense stick products.
Mr Desai said that a pack of dry sticks with an MRP of Rs 15 is sold for ₹ 10. Only products with MRP of Rs 50, 70, 80, 100 are sold the most. Local companies also manufacture and sell a lot of goods. Dry sticks costing ₹50 to 100 have a market in the premium segment and consist of brands from Ahmedabad and Bengaluru. He informed that a brand named Deesa introduced dry sticks in the market 30-40 years ago. Jain community is fond of this product. In bengaluru, it was made by BIC and Padmini. Now most of the companies are making dry sticks and everyone has a market but Deesa is still the top seller. He said that Vakratund is also focussing on dry sticks because its market will increase further in future.
On the question related to the market of Sambrani, Mr. Desai said that 20 years ago we brought GT Company’s Sambrani to the Gujarat market, but at that time it did not work because people did not know about it. Now, the Sambrani of all the companies are doing well. In Gujarat, its demand increases a lot during Navratri and Ganpati. Companies that sell incense sticks and dry sticks, their Sambrani products also sell. Major players in this segment are Cycle, Nishan, Delta, Balaji, Zed Black, Forest, GT along with several local players. Cycle Naivedya is at number one, occupying 30% of the market alone. The remaining 70% are other companies. Flourish premium cup also has good sales. In the camphor segment, he said that 333, Cycle and mangalam are the most popular. Saraswati Camphor also sells well. Here people prefer camphor in pouch packs.While Cycle’s camphor sells at a fixed price, other local companies keep the prices according to the increase or decrease in the rate of camphor in the market. Ahmedabad based Neev camphor also sells good. In chandan Tika and Ashtagandha, Manohar, Hari Darshan, Kashi and cycle dominate. However, chandan tika and Ashtagandha are less popular here and local products are more popular. In response to a question regarding the roll-on and perfume market, he said that it is completely different from the agarbatti-dhoop market in Gujarat. Only 10% of incense sticks distributors do this work. The perfume and roll-on market is mainly related to the perfume industry and market. This product belongs to a completely different segment. In the incense sticks market, Roll On is mostly run by Aerocam company. Balaji and Orkay is very expensive due to its premium quality and less incense sticks distributors sell it.
