Licious to raise revenues by over 300% in the Indian meat industry

Adoption of ‘product-first’ and farm-to-fork strategy has helped India-based gourmet meat startup Licious to raise its revenues by over 300% and grow daily orders six-fold in the four years since its inception in 2015, says GlobalData, a leading data, and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Success Case Study ­­­­  Licious Meat and Seafood’, Licious capitalized on the rising consumption of meat, fish, and seafood in India, despite the country being known for its very large base of vegetarians. The company raised funds from a clutch of investors, including Mayfield Capital, 3one4 Capital, and Sistema to streamline meat sourcing and processing and address the problems and gaps that exist in the meat market.

GlobalData’s research reveals that 56% of Indian consumers associate the term ‘good value for money’ with high-quality products and ingredients. Moreover, Licious’ claims that ‘antibiotic-free’ and ‘hormone-free’ appeal strongly to them.

Namrata Sain, consumer insights analyst at GlobalData, says, “Besides adopting a ‘farm-to-fork’ strategy, Licious launched a first-of-its-kind ‘meat-based-spreads, forayed into packaged food category with product diversification and launches planned throughout the year.”

According to GlobalData’s 2018 Q4 consumer survey, 47% of Indian consumers are interested and actively use a regular subscription-based service for buying food. Sain further explains, “The convenience provided by Licious’ online retail model suits time-pressed younger urban consumers, who often have to contend with unpleasant experiences when shopping for meat and seafood in wet markets or traditional butchers and fishmongers.”

In addition, to increase the perceived value of its products and overall consumer experience, Licious developed an innovative packaging, which bears facial portraits of actual customers to convey the company’s consumer-friendly positioning.

“Licious’ complete control over its supply chain and consistent quality set it apart from rivals such as Easymeat, Zapprfresh, Freshtohome, and BigBasket. The firm plans to expand to eight major cities by the end of 2019 with 50,000 users in the next 12 months. Food tech start-ups using product-first and customer-focused strategies backed by an advanced technological backbone can scale up their customer following faster and monetize strong consumer loyalty and word-of-mouth publicity,” she concludes.