Rajeev Mehta: Serving with Zest

Are you among the large number of people, who are shy, hesitant and embarrassed to buy condoms from the nearby pharmacy or general store?
Then certainly, CondomKing.in is the portal that you should check out. It allows customers to buy condoms and contraceptive products online and also delivers it at homes in just four working days. The site offers a wide range of condom brands for men and women. CondomKing.in is the brainchild of healthcare business expert and entrepreneur Ramesh Srinivas, Bonne Sante Healthcare's founder and President, based in France. Srinivas' firm has been selling healthcare products such as condoms, contraceptive items and accessories in 26 countries in Europe and other regions for the past seven years. However, it took three years to ideate a unique business model and approach for India that finally shaped as CondomKing.in, launched on November 3, 2010.
About the model and approach, Srinivas says, "People in Europe and US are highly literate and informed but it's not the case in India. The users here are not well informed and they are unaware its proper usage, various types, benefits and other details."
Through this platform, CondomKing wants to create a critical mass of informed users or customers. This apart the site also has the support of an advisory panel of doctors, sexologists and experts to address the customers' queries and health problems. The site has two dedicated service personnel to help and support customers' queries. Also, the customers can interact with the advisory panel via emails and online chats with voice and text support. "No other site is providing and explaining such information about condoms and contraceptive products to users," claimed Srinivas.
Like any e-commerce portals, first the customer has to register with the site in order to place an order and make payment via credit/debit cards, net-banking or via PayPal. Subsequently, the customer's order is forwarded to the respective condom companies, which processes it delivers the order at the customer's residence with the help of courier service in four working days.
For secured online payments gateways, the company has tied up with HDFC Bank, TechProcess Solutions and PayPal. At present any customer can place a minimum order of Rs 195 per brand. However, Srinivas stressed, "In the next 18-20 months, I want to bring down the cap on price-order and also reduce the delivery time to 48 hours or 2 working days."
According to Srinivas, the condom and contraceptive product market in India is worth around Rs 250 to 300 crore and growing at 10 percent annually. "Out of such a big Indian market, a miniscule of less than 0.02 percent contraceptive products are sold online, which is very pathetic compared to other countries and markets," argued Srinivas. And that is what gives him confidence that he would be able to make hay when the sun
shines.