This week on The Armchair Trader podcast channel we talk to David Kerbel, CEO of Rritual Superfoods Inc. Rritual is the maker of a range of adaptogenics – organically grown mushrooms which are harvested for their health properties.
Adaptogenics have long been part of the health food scene in Asia, but they are gathering popularity in the West now as well. Kerbel, for whom this is his third IPO, tells us about the existing range of Rritual mushroom-based products as well as those he has in the pipeline as well.
The adaptogenics market is fast-growing in the US and Canada at the moment, with rapid take up from some major names in retailing. We discuss the core retail strategy that underpins Rritual’s existing sales program and why it is attracting the attention of some major high street retailers in both North America and Europe, including the UK.
Rritual’s core products are Reishi Relax, Chaga Immune and Lion’s Mane Focus, and all three draw on organic adaptogens from the aforesaid mushrooms. The market for adaptogens is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.55% to $4m by 2025, according to data from Research & Markets.
Rritual product offerings are all USDA-certified organic and are a caffeine-free option that can be mixed with other beverages or enjoyed by itself. Rritual’s proprietary Immune-Synergy Six Mushroom Blend is the only functional health product on the market that contains a daily prebiotic blend which nourishes a healthy gut microbiome and facilitates balanced digestive function.
Rritual created quite a buzz in the Canadian market when it first listed earlier this year. What many investors did not know at the time was that Kerbel already had some big league distribution deals on the table, following high level talks the previous October. All this is public knowledge now, of course, and Rritual is already in the process of expanding into European markets.
On the Podcast
Kerbel talks to us about the rationale behind some of the strategic partnerships the company has put together in the last few months. For example it recently signed a distribution deal with CVS Group, the largest drugstore chain in the United States.
Central to Rritual’s development is an omni-channel e-commerce strategy. Already, over the last quarter, Rritual has launched products on Amazon.com, Riteaid.com, Vitacost.com and TheGoodTrends.com. Rritual has also started working with Tinuity, the largest independent performance marketing firm, across Amazon, Google and Facebook, and with Crossmark, a leading North American wide consumer packaged goods sales agency.
As we reported recently on The Armchair Trader, growth at Rritual this year has been such that it is revising its retail distribution targets for the end of 2021, having already exceeded its existing targets of 2,400 retail locations and 10,000 points of distribution.
Kerbel told shareholders in July that the CVS Group deal, which sees Rritual products feature in the new CVS HealthHUB specialist health products strategy, was a key vote of confidence in the Rritual product range in the US.
We also know that Rritual is in talks with some big non-American players in health foods distribution, and has been in meetings with Superdrug, Holland & Barret, Boots, Clicks, Stephenson’s, BIPA Parfumerien, Ocean Healthcare and Laboratories URGO, among others.
We round off the discussion by talking about the next steps on the Rritual road to success. This includes product innovation.
