Powering Growth with Quality The Shah Fragrance Success Story
Punit Shah Scaling Up the Brand with Vision and Strategy
Shah Fragrance has emerged as one of the leading manufacturers of agarbatti and dhoop products inthe country. The Shah Fragrance brand currently offers over 300 product varieties and ranges,which include agarbattis, dhoop sticks, 3-inch dhoop, 2-inch cones, sambrani cups, wet dhoop, 5-feetlong agarbattis, and fragrance camphor tablets. In an exclusive conversation with Sugandh India,Mr Punit Shah, the head of Shah Fragrance, stated that the company regularly launches new qualityproducts and ranges based on market demand and seasonal festivals. He revealed that Shah Fragrancewill launch several new varieties of bamboo-less products soon. “There is a growing demand forbamboo-less products. Although we already have a few in our catalogue, we areexpanding the rangefurther,” he said. In addition, the company is introducing new products in categories such as camphor,attar, roll-ons, camphor tablets, and Camphor car fresheners. The Camphor car freshener rangecurrently includes six fragrance variants—Gulab, Chandan, Mogra and Jasmine, among others—usedto create a fragrant environment inside vehicles.
Mr Punit Shah toldSugandh India that hisgrandfather, KhushalDas Shah, started theagarbatti business in1972, and he and his brother Harsh Shahrepresents the third generation of the familyin this trade. His father and uncle contributedsignificantly to their business. Earlier, theShah family was involved in agarbatti tradingfor several companies based in Bengaluru.However, when Mr Shah took charge, hebegan manufacturing under their own brandin 2010. In response to a question, he said,“We focus on quality because customersatisfaction is our primary goal. All ourproducts are well-received in the market.”
When asked about the challenges inestablishing the Shah Fragrance brand, hesaid the family offered complete support.“When we started manufacturing, we werealready engaged in trading, and people in themarket were familiar with us. It helped reducebottlenecks considerably. Thanks to ourtrading background—We already had awell-established marketing network.” Hefurther shared that low-cost agarbattis werepopular in the past, and when theyintroduced high-quality products, consumersappreciated them. Responding to anotherquestion, he said, “Our Cool Water, Pavitra,and Loban agarbattis are especially popular.There is a growing demand for Zippers andother bamboo-less products, and thecompany is expanding its range accordingly.”
“Our Cool Water, Pavitra,and Loban agarbattisare especially popular.There is a growingdemand for Zippers andother bamboo-lessproducts, and thecompany is expandingits range accordingly.”
In response to questions about ShahFragrance’s marketing strategy, Mr PunitShah explained that, as a pan-India brand,their products are available across all states.“Distributors from other states oftenapproach us just by hearing the brand name,”he said. Besides Gujarat, Shah Fragranceproducts have a strong presence inMaharashtra, Rajasthan, and MadhyaPradesh. He noted that their Loban DhoopStick is especially popular in South India,including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,Telangana, and Tamil Nadu. Sold under thename Shah Fragrance Loban, this productstands out distinctly from others in themarket. “All our products carry the ShahFragrance name and are named based ontheir quality and fragrance profile,” he added.
In addition to the domestic market, ShahFragrance also exports to Malaysia, Dubai,Mauritius, Australia,Bangladesh and severalAfrican countries. Mr Shah revealed that thecompany has 10 distributors in Ahmedabad alone.Alongside wholesale operations, they run threeexclusive retail outlets selling premium, high-qualityproducts under their brand. “Manycustomers specifically come to these outlets forpremium products. They can find the entireproduct range here, including certain exclusiveitems not available in the general market,” he said.These retail counters offer agarbattis, dhoopsticks, and a variety of puja items. “We also offerquality puja products from other brands at theseoutlets,” he added.
In response to a question about the future of theagarbatti industry, Mr Punit Shah said the outlookis optimistic. “There will be more quality productsin the future, and the demand will continue toshift towards high-quality offerings,” he stated.Despite rising costs of raw materials and otheroperational expenses, Shah Fragrance remainscommitted to quality. “We never compromise onquality. Instead, we manage pricing by slightlyreducing the product weight while maintainingquality,” he explained. Speaking about plans, heshared that the company has acquired a10,000-square-yard full-scale manufacturing unitfor all kinds of incense products. “We haveinstalled state-of-the-art machinery. Witheverything now produced in-house, we can reducecosts and maintain strict quality control,” he said.He added that in-house production also enablesthe company to respond quickly to marketdemand and ensure a timely supply of products.
