Shopping at Erewhon has long been a one-of-a-kind experience, but Kabir Jain has helped take that experience to another level.
As chief growth officer, Jain has led the expansion of the retailer’s unique loyalty program and its ecommerce overhaul, including the creation of the company’s first mobile app.
He joined the Los Angeles-based company in 2019, after working as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. and then as an investor with private equity firms focused on consumer goods, and on food and beverages specifically.
Jain said he wanted to learn how to run a business from a hands-on perspective, however, and made the jump from the investing world to the operating world. He describes his role at Erewhon as overseeing “all the ways we can grow the business, aside from opening new stores.”
Erewhon, a Certified Organic Retailer and a Certified B Corp., is known for its devoted following of celebrities and health enthusiasts, both of which can be found in great abundance in the areas where it operates. It attracts these customers, and keeps them coming back, with a carefully curated and artfully merchandised assortment of organic, healthful and high-end specialty products, along with an extensive prepared-foods offering that appeals to the same clientele.
Translating that experience into an ecommerce platform was no easy feat, especially given the company’s high volume of prepared-food sales. Combining a smoothie, a breakfast burrito, and a dozen eggs in a single order creates challenges in both designing the online ordering process and fulfilling that order in-store, Jain explained.
“Our digital experience was so completely lacking,” he said. “You could go to our website and think you were at a completely different store than the one you just visited in person. It was not a great experience.”
In order to bring Erewhon’s unique in-store experience online, the retailer decided that it needed to develop its own ecommerce website and mobile app, which it launched on July 31.
“For us, it’s a huge competitive advantage, because now we have a one-to-one relationship with the customer,” said Jain. “That was a big win for us this year.”
The ecommerce website and app have nearly 100,000 monthly active users, he said.
In addition to blending the grocery and foodservice elements of the retailer’s offerings into its ecommerce platform, another key element of the digital experience that Jain has overseen has been the company’s development of its unique, paid loyalty program. Customers can join the Cafe Membership, at a cost of $100 per year, or Membership Plus, for $200 per year. Both offer members an array of perks, including free drinks, points that can be used toward discounts at checkout, and other benefits.
“It has kind of become a secret engine at Erewhon,” said Jain, noting that members make up a “significant portion” of Erewhon’s total sales.
“This is a very loyal, very high-spending base that we continue to tap into,” he said. “If we do something differentiated and premium and unique, our customers tend to enjoy it.”
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