I would not see the doctor today!
D2C Brands and Health Seeking Behaviour
We have had amazing insights about D2C Health Brands over last two sessions of MountainSpeak. If you had missed the sessions with Saurav Panda and Saloni Anand, you could watch the recorded conversation about Mars by GHC and Traya in the respective links.
Also, introducing new section called Opportunities Through MountainSpeak towards the end of the newsletter. See if you would like to explore some of these interesting opportunities. Do share your comments and suggestions.
And, if a friend forwarded this newsletter to you, please sign up for an awesome, dis-intermediated and fruitful relationship by clicking on following link and subscribing to the newsletter.
If you would like to read a summary of the 45 posts in 2020, please do read this newsletter.
DTW
During the Week, Microsoft announced its acquisition of Nuance and thereby announced its renewed focus on using AI in healthcare. Nuance is a market leader in using conversational AI in healthcare as evidenced by its presence in over 90% of US hospitals. This might go well with Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare launch in 2020.
The BigTech is looking at the tremendous opportunities in health care as more of healthcare gets dispersed from hospital and traditional health service providers. Of course, Covid19 has accelerated the trend of this dispersion to non-clinical settings but the signs were already there. All five players (Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft) have made tremendous investments and acquisitions in health care especially personalised health space over last few years. Most of the investments have been in wearables and AI driven tracking interventions.
Inspite of BigTech dominance, D2C health brands are driven by two major and related trends- Insights & Accountability AND Privacy & Stigma. Technology tools have been able to help users and D2C health brands gather more insights as well as present the data to ensure accountability as seen through better adherence to the treatment protocols. On the other hand, the wariness of sharing data with BigTech and/or stepping into a physical clinic when faced with certain ‘stigmatic” health conditions is forcing users to turn to D2C health brands.
Multiple D2C health brands like Haldivita, Traya and MARS by GHC have developed a unique model which bypasses the regulatory and pharmacy store hurdle and reaches the customer directly. All of them spend considerable resources in targeting the right set of customers using digital tools and appeal to the uniqueness of individual health seeking behaviour.
Many D2C health brands have also realised that health-both mental and physical- is deeply personal and emotional. They have outclassed the traditional health care providers by the focus on community building. These D2C brands have made it their mission to help their users find community- perhaps with people who might feel the same way. In this endeavour, they have been helped by social media platforms like TikTok which has created tools for the creators to engage on health related issues through its “Wellness Hub”. Thus, many D2C health tool brands could be best used as behaviour change tools as they embody more empathy and relatability
Many D2C Health brands evolve from a patient zero perspective where the founder/s have faced significant health issues and developed a novel personalised solution. They might eventually start exploring options to make it available to public and launch it as a D2C health brand. Going forward, healthcare would be dispersed and D2C health brands would be able to capture a large chunk of new business which would be private, community driven and gives more visibility to users.
OTW
Over the Weekend, I ran a couple of 10K runs in hills and spent some time with nature. I find the time spent in nature to be very therapeutic and rejuvenating. In fact, most of my finest moments during my college days was the time spent with my granny and listening to her stories.
Of course, I also used this opportunity to stuff myself with some authentic pahadi dishes including my favourite kulthi roti. For the uninitiated ,kulthi or gahat is called horse gram in many other parts of country as (you guessed it right ) it was mainly used as a horse feed. Anyways, it is one of my favourite especially with mint chutney, white butter and butter milk.
I am a firm believer in contribution of food for physical and mental health. In the second/third/nth wave of Covid 19 , please take care of your health - eat well, sleep well and exercise regularly.
Use Face Mask, Maintain 6 ft Distance and Wash Hands. Get vaccinated if you are eligible.
I Love You
Shailendra
OTM
Opportunities through MountainSpeak are available with Raksha Health formerly Digi-prex based in Hyderabad. They are looking for an operations focussed manager with some e-commerce experience. Role is to primarily manage a 200 strong workforce of telesales, pharmacists and warehouse team. If you have or know somebody with more e-commerce experience, please get in touch with
Good to see these major players are investing in health care system, hoping to see a better medical infrastructure in our country as well. Last year, around this time, even Reliance had acquired majority stakes in Netmeds. It's high time that the people in India also start taking health care and health insurance more seriously.
Also, looking through your pictures, it seems like you're in a food paradise. I wish to visit the hills sometime soon!
In my opinion, D2C Health Brands are a need of the hour, considering the healthcare crisis the world is facing. With costs reaching another height, initiatives that reimagine healthcare are needed to provide better customer experience, personalization, as well as more transparency.
In addition, feeling a bit relieved to have read that the phase 3 strategy of COVID 19 vaccination has been announced from the 1st of May for everyone above the age of 18.
Feeling more hopeful! :)