“Delivering Safe & Quality Product matters most to us, it inspires and motivates us to amble ahead in the industry,”
– Mompreneur, Kinjal Popat
R for Rabbit, founded by the power couple Mrs Kinjal Popat & Mr Kunal Popat is a trailblazer in the baby products industry delivering distinct solutions to target audience of Indian parents with new born to 7 years old kids,seeking quality products.
Incepted as a brand in the baby gear products inclusive of stroller & pram, car seat high chair etc and then tricycles, bicycles, ride-on, nursery, baby care, diaper bags & baby carriers, today, R for Rabbit has extended its product portfolio by launching toys with their sub-brand Orapple which mainly focuses on Montessori Learning techniques.
Going forward, in recent times, post extensive research on current feeding range products, they have launched silicone feeding bottles, sippers, spout cups, nibblers, and silicone feeding spoons. While we do not see many women entrepreneurs working in male dominated industries, the truly inspirational Mrs Kinjal Popat, featured in The CEO Magazine’s Women Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 issue, shared with our readers her views on different aspects of her personal and work life:
The CEO: Kinjal, have you always been entrepreneurial? When and how did the idea come to set up your own business?
Kinjal: My entrepreneurial journey started with the birth of our baby girl Aarna while we were looking for baby products for her which are safe and made of good quality. As our search brought us to the witness the gaps in safety, design, and quality in baby products, we came up with a vision of providing the best quality & safe products at an affordable price to parents.
Hence, R for Rabbit was born to give the best baby products which are safe and rightly priced for the parents and fill the gap between the child’s care and quality products.
The CEO: Kindly list down make or break moments in your entrepreneurial adventure?
Kinjal: Right from day one, our major focus is to offer high-quality products at affordable prices which Indian parents seeks but the market lacks. Like every start-up, the acceptance of customers & channel partners was the biggest challenge, but with our superior quality innovative products, and prompt customer service, we were able to turn the situation gradually.
The CEO: Can you take us through your routine, average working hours and idea generation process?
Kinjal: When we started R for Rabbit, my average working hours were almost 12 hours a day as every aspect from operations to finance was looked after by me. But now, we have a team which handles operations and my role is focused on supervision of imports & finance.
In respect to idea generation, I would like to share with your readers that the R for Rabbit team does a great amount of research before selecting a product type. Post that, we do design, followed by a lot of testing to make it completely safe & quality rich, and finally we bring the product to the customers.
The CEO: In this competitive business ecosystem, how do you build a successful customer base?
Kinjal: While marketing and branding have always seen the best of us, we follow a comprehensive approach covering traditional marketing and digital marketing strategies to ensure reaching the clients at the right time. We are always on the lookout for new product ideas to enter the new market segment and expand our clientele by including different age groups and their interest.
Our traditional marketing and branding initiatives include in-store & outdoor branding and event participation. Our digital marketing initiatives include direct customer marketing using updated various digital marketing activities. We also make sure that we have a healthy relationship with our channel partners as we regularly come up with various offers/schemes & festive offers.
The CEO: 2020 has witnessed a rough start and many derailed businesses, what are the key challenges you are facing?
Kinjal: While the pandemic struck, the biggest challenge was managing the cash flow. Due to lockdown, we also faced the challenge of increased customs duty along with other brands in the baby products industry who were struggling. The lockdown impacted our B2B & B2C delivery partners which led to delayed deliveries, another major challenge of lockdown.
The CEO: What are the core values you ensure are followed by the team?
Kinjal: For R for Rabbit, as a leader, I ensure our employees imbibe the three core values of
- Transparency
- Reliable Customer Service Support
- Quality Focused that is should even be seen in email/communication/ working approach
The CEO: Being at a successful leadership position, what are your thoughts about a diverse workforce in top-level management?
Kinjal: A perfect team is inclusive of leaders with different skill sets that’s what works for us. Our diverse workforce in the top-level management does their job perfectly and is capable of doing multiple stream tasks.
The CEO: What do you believe are the most important things to progress in a leadership position? What drives you?
Kinjal: According to me, setting the goal, putting in efforts persistently towards it, refining and optimising the efforts to bring the productivity to the next level is a priority as a leader. I believe that it is very important to think as a mother, then as a businesswomen because with R for Rabbit, my aim is to deliver top-class quality with no compromise on safety. The driving factor for me is the happiness and satisfaction of parents using products for children.
The CEO: How do you define success? Who do you credit your success the most to?
Kinjal: Parents using our products for their child while they find it adorable and appreciate the quality and safety it offers and recommends the brand to another parent for their child, this moment defines success of R for Rabbit. I would like to give credit to my husband Mr. Kunal Popat & entire R For Rabbit team for supporting me in making R For Rabbit a valuable brand.
The CEO: Kindly share your achievement-oriented growth with our readers.
Kinjal: R for Rabbit is a growing baby and we have miles to go before we sleep. We are taking our best foot forward as we consider our biggest achievement to be a stage where R for Rabbit will be the top choice of every parent and top recommendation of every retail store owner. Having mentioned that, we are indeed pleased about achieving 10 Lakh+ happy customers which we consider as our prominent achievement.
The CEO: What is your vision for the future of the company?
Kinjal: Our vision is to be a leading name in every single baby product segment while we have set our eyes on ensuring that our customers and retail store owners advocate for our products to parents.
The CEO: What is a message you would like to share with aspiring women entrepreneurs being an exemplary women entrepreneur yourself?
Kinjal: I strongly believe that women can achieve their dream while balancing both professional life and personal life. We just have to be persistent and keep chasing our dreams.
