One of the perks of being a parent is dressing up our wee tots, as well as decorating their beds, rooms and other paraphernalia. And this pleasure only increases when we support a homegrown business in the process.
Delhi-based Baby Jalebi is one such Indian label that designs and sells everything to do with babies – from clothes to bibs, diaper bags to bedding. Founded by Gunia Chopra and Rati Nehra in 2015, the label has been spotted on many celebrity mums and dads, including the likes of Sania Mirza, Kareena Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Kalki Koechlin, Soha Ali Khan, and a host of others.
“'When we became pregnant with our children and were doing up our baby nurseries and looking for baby essentials, we realised there were no high end quality products that were available in India. We also wondered why Indians were so sceptical about made in India products?! We wanted to change this mentality by offering high quality baby products that were made in India for India,” explain the founders as they speak to YS Weekender.
Kalko Koechlin with Baby Jalebi crib
The beginning
Gunia and Rati were childhood friends who later became sisters-in-law. Gunia’s family has been in the furnishing and accessories export and manufacturing business for over 30 years, supplying to some of the most well-known brands across the globe. Rati worked with luxury brands before launching her own jewellery line.
When they became new parents, they realised the immense potential of a baby care product brand, made and marketed in India. They began by participating in several exhibitions in Delhi-NCR, where they received positive response and feedback. Soon after, they launched their website in July 2015 to cater to a pan-India clientele.
“We didn’t want to limit ourselves to just one city or store. We wanted everyone to have access to our collection. And it worked! Within five minutes of launching our website, we had three orders from Tamil Nadu And Kerala,” says Gunia.
With their registered office in Delhi and their manufacturing unit and offices in Gurugram, Baby Jalebi also ships across the globe. Customers reach out to them through their dedicated customer care line to place orders.
“At Baby Jalebi, we want to provide the best for your baby. We design, manufacture and market all our products ourselves. As a completely Made in India brand, we want people to feel proud of using Indian high-quality products. New parents from our generation have access to so much information, and they don’t want to compromise on products for their child. Watching the brand’s growth over the last few years has been incredibly inspiring and keeps us going. We love receiving customer photos and feedback!” shares Rati.
The name too has an interesting story. On becoming a new mom, Rati realised that parenting makes you feel an immense amount of love but also has you whirling around in spirals. Hence, Baby Jalebi was the perfect representation of the sweet, all-consuming love parents experience in those first few months.
What’s on offer
Baby Jalebi started by making only baby beds and bedding. Over the years, they expanded their product range to cover everything needed for the child’s first few years. This includes diaper bags, changing stations and caddies, new-born essentials like bibs, swaddles, burp cloths, bassinets, kids backpacks, storage bags and play mats. In 2020, they launched kids’ face masks and their most recent launch is ‘Boondi’ - a clothing line for children between the ages of 0-3 years.
“We launch new collections thrice a year across almost all our product categories. Our latest clothing collection was launched in November 2021, and it came purely on the basis of customer demand! So many of our customers and social media followers have requested us to make baby clothing, since the launch of our brand,” exclaims Gunia.
Rati adds, “We wanted to launch a clothing line for babies which was comfortable and yet in keeping with our aesthetic. The product we are most proud of are our Snugs. We call them playwear, and they can be personalised with your child’s name.”
All the products are designed and manufactured in-house at their facility in Gurugram. The team is constantly working on innovating new products and uses customer feedback to improve their existing range.
The primary mode of retail is their website. Last year, they ventured on to Amazon and this year, plan to expand to more ecommerce marketplaces like FirstCry. Prices of the products range from Rs 600 for a set of 5 kids’ face masks and go up to Rs 14,700 for their complete cot bedding sets.
Word of mouth is their best advertisement. They have seen constant growth in terms of followers on Instagram – where they are now close to 270k followers – and Facebook. The founders proudly share that their customers keep coming back to purchase products as their babies grow, and also enjoy gifting their products to other parents.
Highlighting that parents are now extremely conscious about what goes into the products that are being used for their babies, Baby Jalebi’s baby bedding is made with GOTS certified organic cotton and their bags are designed keeping style and functionality in mind.
Story of growth
According to a recent report published on mordorintelligence.com, India’s baby care products market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 14.02 percent during 2020 - 2025. Despite various challenges, the report claims there is huge potential in the Indian baby care market. Consumers are highly inclined towards investing in these categories, and are stringent about the products they buy for their children. Hence, Baby Jalebi is set to be a strong market player.
The brand started with a small amount of seed capital of Rs 5 lakhs each, which both partners contributed to individually. They describe their growth as being ‘explosive’. The first two years since inception saw a 150 percent growth in their sale volumes and bottom line year on year. Since then, they have continued to double their rate of growth every year.
“We now hope to catapult the brand into a more serious growth phase over the next two years by leveraging new points of sales, quicker deliveries through warehouse partnerships and additions to our core product lines,” says Gunia.
The growth is also evident from the number of celebrities seen flaunting their products. Celeb moms spotted with their gear include Sameera Reddy, Bruna Abdullah, Sunny Leone, and Lasya Manjunath, among others. Sophie Choudhary and Hina Khan have also chosen their products as gifting options for close friends and family members.
Rati ends the conversation with, “Like our most important customers – babies – ours is a story that continues to grow and delight. We work hard as a team to scale and learn new skills. The world and our customers are our teachers and we are constantly learning and working towards improving. This journey of growth and evolution is most important to us. As every parent would agree when speaking about their own babies - the best is always yet to come!”
Edited by Anju Narayanan