The Juicy Chemistry with Marmeto
“The first project that we initiated with Marmeto gave us a sense of how Marmeto operates and how methodical they are. We loved how proactive the team was. On occasion Indranath has also answered our calls post midnight and managed to solve problems in a very quick turnaround time! Now we’re starting another new project with Marmeto. I think this is testament to how good our experience was with them!” - Pritesh, Co-Founder, Juicy Chemistry.
Pritesh and Megha’s story is one where curiosity led the way!
The Story Begins
“Is it possible to actually create effective skin and personal care products made solely from natural ingredients?” - The single most important question that has paved the way for Juicy Chemistry and the brand that it is today.
While on a routine trip to the mall, the couple came across a salesperson trying to sell a ‘natural’ product. On reading the ingredients list, Pritesh noted the presence of many petrochemical derivatives and synthetic fillers. The front and back of the product seemed to be in sharp contrast to one another. And so, the idea of Juicy Chemistry was born! The couple began to do research and spoke to their friends and family. Megha and Pritesh gradually came to realize that there wasn’t much consumer awareness regarding ingredients. There was a clear gap in the personal care market.
“Our first step was to do a lot of research to understand formulations and reverse formulate, engineer and test out various natural ingredients that can be used for personal care. We realised that water was a predominant culprit in most formulations that led to the use of stabilisers and emulsifiers along with artificial fragrances. We initially decided to avoid water for a longer shelf life of the products, as well as to get the most out of our natural ingredient extracts in a manner where more extracts and fatty acids of the plant itself could be preserved.” says Pritesh.
In farmers markets, consumer survey pop-ups, and exhibitions, Juicy Chemistry created its primary user base and drew insights on the texture, feel and effectivity of its products to find their product-market fit.
“As the Amazons of the world came in, it was easier to start selling on marketplaces and they’re still a part of our marketing channels. However, with 70% revenue coming from our own e-commerce store now, our Shopify website is a crucial aspect of our ecosystem.” says Pritesh
The Website Journey
“Back when we started, Shopify was fairly new. ‘Logistics’ and ‘Shipping Partners’ were alien terms to us back in 2015. We worked with an agency on a very minimum budget to build a static website. Something that could be made live in 15-20 days' time and had very basic functionalities. Along the way, we had a massive dependency on the agency for every small change or tweak needed.
It’s one thing to build a website, but a whole other thing to build it for high performance. These are the terminologies I’m familiar with today, but back then when we started with woo-commerce we had no clue about this.” adds Pritesh
As Juicy Chemistry started scaling and growing, they were faced with multiple challenges and issues at the backend. They realized that the backend wasn’t very user-friendly and a decision to reduce dependency on outside agencies altogether was made!
By 2017, Shopify had made quite the foothold in the Indian market. Shopify conducted developer training on their backend structure as well as on data migration processes.
“Once we were on Shopify, things moved at a much faster pace!” - summarizes Pritesh.
Marmeto’s Juicy Journey
Post their Series A funding, Juicy Chemistry was in a hyper growth stage, and that’s when Marmeto came into picture. “We were in a space where we wanted to scale operations quickly as the timing seemed perfect. The previous website that we had created through another Shopify agency was decent, yet lacked the finesse that Juicy Chemistry required for establishing its market positioning. The website creation process was a bit haphazard and as a result, the old website did not resonate with the brand image, nor was it ideal for easing the buyer journey”, says Pritesh while explaining the need for a new website.
“Our first project with Shopify, was quite brief pertaining to the checkout upgrade for Shopify. However, the experience was quite great, and hence when we onboarded Spring Marketing Capital, I got back in touch with Saurav, and our goals aligned perfectly!
After my first call with Saurav, we didn’t feel the need to look at other agencies. We felt quite confident as our website development was being handled by a very technically sound team that had an action plan and milestones in place”, adds Pritesh.
The Extra Mile
“Indranath was at the forefront of the execution process. There were glitches of course, as in any website launch, but the turnaround time was very less and that reassured us. I think there was a very proactive approach to solving a problem and that was the most important to us. Because we understand that things can always go wrong, it’s what happens after you identify the problem that matters”, adds Pritesh.
Recalling an incident he said, “At first, what helped was that Indranath was available at all times. On occasion, he’s answered our calls post-midnight! He gave us suggestions at all times. Right from CRO to Load Speed, from accordions to the ideal color scheme, he’s shared his two cents on every aspect, especially the ease of usability.
We also took most of his suggestions, given that they had merit based on their use cases.”
Juicy Chemistry will soon be starting another project with Marmeto soon and we are excited to see how this new journey unfolds!