Inspired by her son’s needs, Citron’s founder and CEO, Sara Chemmaa, embarked on a mission to create safe, functional, and sustainable products. Driven by customer feedback and innovation, Citron strives to improve family life while expanding globally.
What inspired you to start Citron, and what is your vision for the brand in the family lifestyle market?
I was inspired by my son and the difficulties I encountered trying to find products to suit his feeding needs. My ultimate vision was to create a brand that would enhance the daily lives of all the families it touched by developing safe, functional, durable, and distinctive lifestyle products.
Can you walk us through the process of developing your innovative mealtime products? How do you ensure they are both functional and appealing to children?
Product development is a huge part of our work at Citron and one of my favourite things to do. It all starts with the inspiration we get from talking to customers and families on what they need. After some more research on key trends, ideas are presented to our product development committee to gather feedback and narrow down the options for production. Next comes the product development phase where our engineers create the concept from scratch and designs are shared with the factory. Once we are confident in its functionality, it undergoes another design stage before the files are finalised. After this, we receive the samples for testing, which is done by our committee and our end users so we can collect vital feedback and make any tweaks that are needed. The process can be long and take anywhere from 18 to 24 months, but it is worth every step in order to ensure we only take the best products to market.
How do you identify and understand the needs of families and children in your product design and marketing strategies?
As well as being inspired by my own kids, I spend a lot of time with mums talking to them about the struggles they face and what might be missing that could help. I also attend a lot of industry fairs and conduct extensive online research so we can be certain of where the gaps in the market are. In terms of our marketing strategies, we base our plan on analyzed trends and the different algorithms and requirements of the most appropriate platforms.
In what ways does Citron prioritize sustainability in its products and operations, and how important is this aspect to your customers?
Sustainability was always one of my most important goals with building Citron. It is at the forefront of our product development process and it is central to all of our new designs. So far we have successfully reduced the usage of bioplastics in our products and our packaging. We want to showcase our commitment to sustainability by investing even further in recyclable products that are functional and eco-friendly.
What current trends in the family and children’s lifestyle market do you see influencing your product offerings in the near future?
Parents today want safe and healthy options for their kids, especially when it comes to feeding and nutrition. That is one of the drivers for our content creation strategy, where we aim to provide parents will plenty of kid friendly healthy recipes that pack in the veggies and include a variety of sugar-free treats kids will love!
What challenges have you faced in building Citron as a brand, especially in a competitive market like Dubai?
There are always so many challenges to face when building a brand and many that can be quite surprising. Influencer marketing was so new when Citron started, but I quickly discovered that our budget as a small brand wouldn’t stretch very far in this sector! I also wanted to build a community of mums who could speak to the brand’s quality, this, of course, took years to do, but their loyalty is absolutely priceless. A challenge I never saw coming was the issue of replicas. Every year we see more and more imposters trying to copy what we have done, including some big retailers – though this is evidence that we are on the right track as they say ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’! Ultimately we stay concentrated on delivering for our customers and innovating new products that keep us ahead of the competition.
How do you gather feedback from customers, and how has that feedback influenced your product development and business strategy?
Any brand that wants to grow should take feedback very seriously. We have implemented a series of tools to capture feedback from our consumers and hold monthly meetings with our customer service team to collate the information and assign it to the relevant department or product. When our customers tell us something could be improved, we take action, which allows us to keep delivering on our promise.
What are your plans for expanding Citron’s product range or market reach in the coming years?
What started as a dream in 2018, is now a leading innovative lifestyle product with a presence in several countries worldwide. So, you can say that we are constantly planning for the future and in 2025 we will be expanding our feeding range and launching new products that will elevate our value proposition. In 2026 we will launch a new full collection with items for hydration, lunch and back to school – all of which will definitely be a great surprise! We are also investing heavily in our direct-to-consumer business and hope to launch new stores outside the UAE in the next three years.
How has technology played a role in your product design, marketing, or overall business strategy?
It would be impossible to understate the role technology has played in the way we run the business. From our off the shelf platforms that have improved our customer service experience to our marketing offerings. Today we are testing new AI platforms that help us to better understand consumer trends across multiple locations.
What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to enter the lifestyle or children’s products market?
First and foremost, trust your gut. Secondly you need to commit, do things fully or not at all, even if you fail, fail fast and learn what you need to get up and do it better. Don’t expect to make money in the first year (or even the second), being an entrepreneur is a wild ride! Lastly, make sure you can have fun with it, when you enjoy what you do your passion shines through and really makes a difference.
