How to Start an Organic Store in India; Step-by-Step Process Explained

With the increasing awareness about healthy living and organic products, stores offering organic food products seems to be a good business idea. People are ready to spend more on healthy and nutritious food.  Indian organic food market is expected to grow by 25% in the coming 3 years. There is a huge scope for such a small business of organic food and organic farming. But there are a few things that you might need to consider while planning an organic store.

Also Read - How to get ‘India Organic’ Certification

Step-by-Step Process of Starting an Organic Store

Location

You have to be very wise while choosing the location for your store, a bad location will definitely lead to the failure of the store. Consider the following aspects while choosing your store location: 

• Check out for the competitors in the area. Lesser the competition better it will be.

• A good location combines visibility and affordability. Make sure that if you are renting the store, then the rent should not be more than 4% of the sales.

Necessary Licenses and permits 

• Get your store officially certified as Organic by Organic Trade Association.

• Apply for Employer Identification Number.

• Select one of the main operating structures for your small business plan such as a corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship.

• Get a bank account opened under the name of your organic store.

• Talk to an accountant regarding the tax consequences particular to your circumstances.

Deciding the range of products you want to sell

Carefully decide what organic foods and products you would be selling. You should decide this on the basis of their demand and profitability. Establish a good network with the organic food distributors and farmers. 

Also Read - How to Get Organic Food Certification and What are the Norms?

While setting the prices, keep in mind - your expenses. Don’t keep your prices too low that you are not able meet the fixed and variable costs of your store. Also, prices should not be too high that would drive the price sensitive customers away. Take a look at the prices that your competitors have set. You may have to shift your prices back and forth until you find the optimal prices that would cater to your needs and give you a good profit. 

Hiring manpower

Any business to run successfully requires optimal and efficient manpower. Hence, hire good staff and managers for important functions such as finance, operations, sales and marketing. The numbers of staff you require depend on the size of your operations.  

Customer experience

To win the confidence of your customers, your store must take care of the customer’s preferences and maintain the quality of your products. Customer satisfaction should be your moto. 

Marketing

After all these steps your main focus should be on marketing your store. Particularly, focus on drawing people who are interested in buying organic products and devise your strategies on that basis. Newspaper advertisements, word of mouth local advertising and promotion will always drive traffic to your store. Also try to raise awareness campaigns for the potential customers that are not aware of the benefits of your organic products. Make use of the social media platforms for this, it will help you gain popularity in no time. 

Investment required for organic food store business

You need to sort finances to set up your store. The investment amount includes a deposit for the rented location, running costs for paying salaries, and other operating costs and inventory of organic food products. You will also need to spend money on furnishing and interior decoration. 

Financing Options for organic store business

There are various options for availing business loans that you can look out for. All government and private banks offer business loans.

If you want more information on how to apply for Business loans, please leave a comment below!

Organic Food store is a lucrative business idea provided careful and detailed planning is done, location is selected appropriately, and it is managed and marketed well.