The Himalaya Drug Company that is known for its chain of exclusive Ayurvedic Concepts stores opened a retail outlet in Pondicherry early this week. The new outlet is located at Sardar Vallabhai Patel Salai next to Hotel Anandha Inn. This is the company's fourth retail store in the country; it has two outlets in Bangalore and one at Pune.

K Ganesan, franchise manager, Ayurvedic Concepts told Pharmabiz.com in telephonic interview that the company set up outlet in the Union Territory, Pondicherry due to the increased awareness about Ayurvedic products there. The town known for its French culture has a significant number of foreign tourists visiting throughout the year who are serious on the use of herbal products for skin and hair.

The cost of setting up a franchise at Pondicherry was Rs 8 lakh and the showroom has stocked Himalaya Drug Company's pharmaceuticals, Ayurvedic Concepts [a complete range of health and personal care products] and pet care range. A notable addition is the several single ingredient packs of capsules like Amalakai and Arjuna for health related disorders.

The Pondicherry outlet is manned by two sales executives trained in-house by Himalaya Drug Company. "The focus is on service as we believe in giving customers who use our products a lot of value-added information before they purchase," pointed out Ganesan.

Ever since its launch, the response at the Union Territory has been impressive which makes the company look at other tourist towns like Madurai and Tiruchirapalli, he said.

Ayurvedic Concepts was launched in the US in 1996 and the products have been marketed through exclusive outlets. The franchise division was set up in November 1999 and the first franchise in India was opened in August 2000. By the end of this month, the company will open three exclusive outlets in Chennai where herbal culture is a fad. Plans are also underway to have one each at Surat and Jaipur along with a second outlet at Pune, bringing the total number of outlets to 10 by the end of March 2001.