Going Nuts "Our mantra has always been to discover what resonates with consumers and scale it across channels, aligning with evolving market dynamics," said Akash Sharma, co-founder, Farmley

Akash Sharma, an IIT graduate, began his BIZ Experiencesial journey during his post-graduation, exploring business ideas driven by his technical expertise. Along the way, he teamed up with his flatmate Abhishek Agarwal, IIT Roorkee graduate and together they ventured into the agriculture sector. In 2017, they founded Farmley to offer healthy, adulteration-free dry fruits and nuts, sourced directly from over 5,000 farmers. In an era where consumer behavior shifts rapidly, Akash has positioned Farmley as a rising D2C brand specializing in dry fruits, nuts, and seeds by mastering the art of balancing online and offline strategies.

"Our journey began with traditional e-commerce platforms like Flipkart and Amazon. The strong response we received helped us identify our hero products early," says Sharma. From these roots, Farmley built its own D2C channel, not just as a sales platform but also as a powerful tool for consumer insights. "Our mantra has always been to discover what resonates with consumers and scale it across channels, aligning with evolving market dynamics," he explains.

Farmley's approach to product development reflects its commitment to data-backed decision-making. Its D2C channel acts as the brand's listening post by collecting feedback on everything—from flavors to packaging—helping refine products and identify trends. "We've learned to spot regional preferences, which allows us to tweak our strategies across different geographies," Sharma notes. Farmley's ability to act on consumer feedback has driven repeat purchases and created a portfolio of successful products that fill real market gaps.

The company's expansion goes beyond India. "Our products are now available in the US, Australia, Dubai, Singapore, and Europe," Sharma shares. "The response has been encouraging, especially for our hero products, and it validates our ability to meet international demands."

Farmley's transition into physical retail has been a strategic step to enhance consumer convenience. "Our philosophy is simple—if consumers discover us online, they should also find us easily in local stores," Sharma explains. Today, Farmley's products are stocked in 10,000 stores, ranging from modern trade outlets to traditional kirana shops. "This number is set to grow as we expand our retail footprint," he adds, underscoring the brand's commitment to being available wherever the consumer needs it.

Navigating the challenges of D2C—customer retention, order fulfillment and other requires thoughtful strategy. "We've built an omni-channel presence based on strong first principles," Sharma emphasizes. Farmley's data-backed approach helps achieve product-market-channel fit before investing heavily, ensuring each product offers genuine value. "Staying close to the voice of the customer allows us to identify early trends and pivot as needed," he says.

"We plan to deepen our presence on existing online channels while expanding offline coverage with our hero products leading the charge," Sharma reveals.

With a commitment to data-driven growth and a deep understanding of consumer needs, Farmley isn't just selling snacks—it's redefining how old industries like dryfruits, nuts, and seeds are connecting with customers across the borders.

Factsheet:

• Turnover for FY 2023-24: 230 Cr

• Split between offline and online sales: 30% offline | 70% online

• Year of inception: 2017

• Team size: 300

• Amount of external funding raised: 6.7 Mn in a pre-Series B