The reasons for buying furniture cannot be counted, but the most important one- it is the backdrop to our lives. As our lifestyle changes, as we grow old, we need to change our furniture.
We require furniture for better lives and for storage, to sit on and to sleep in it is a way to express our style and taste. as our needs and situations change, so does our furniture.
Here are the major reasons why your furniture might need to be changed or upgraded:
- When you move into a new home or redesign your old one
- When you find your spouse and move in together
- If You Get Divorced
- When a child is born
- When Your Kids Move Out
- When your Parents Move-In
- For a comfortable lifestyle
- When new electronics are bought
- When You Work from Home
- As Your Income Increases
- When There Are natural calamities like earthquakes
- When Your old furniture needs to be changed Online furniture markets need
The Indian Furniture Market is segmented into
- Material (Wood, Metal, and Plastic and Other Furniture)
- Type (Home Furniture, Office Furniture, Hospitality Furniture, and Other Furniture)
- Distribution Channel (Supermarkets and Hypermarkets, Specialty Stores, Online, and Other Distribution Channels).
India is where unique and different types of furniture pieces are appreciated. The furniture industry of India is famous worldwide due to its rich handicraft and attractive traditional art and design. The market has grown from just wooden tables and chairs to designed interiors like wardrobes or sofas. Furniture is an indispensable part of Indian households and has been there for centuries. The offline industry of furniture in India is disorganized.
A range of raw materials is used in India to produce furniture ranging from age-old wood to Plastic, Cane, Bamboo, Metal, and Others. Indian wooden furniture is known for its traditional and aesthetic work. The Indian States like Kerala, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Kashmir, and Punjab are commercial centres for their wonderful decorating, turning, and great finishing of their work.
Due to the online market now we also have the convenience to order furniture both online and offline. The increase in digitization and flexibility of home delivery with customization options are surging the online India furniture market. The furniture companies like Pepper fry, Urban ladder, and others are generating significant revenue through online platforms. While, surging trends of online shopping are pushing traditional furniture manufacturers, like Godrej and Nilkamal to introduce and sell their products through online mediums.
Besides, other contributing factors are the remarkable growth of the mass media resulting in millions of middle-class Indians aiming for improved lifestyles, increasing desire for stylish homes in compact apartments.
COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on India Furniture Industry
The furniture market has witnessed tremendous growth in online order due to pandemics and lockdown. The COVID-19 pandemic has happened during the initial days of 2020 has changed the furniture industry on a huge scale. The supply chain disruption and the temporary ban on global trade have highly affected the countries with high dependencies on imports for their furniture needs.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also conceptualized the importance of dropping the dependence on imports and improving digitalization and automation in this industry.
Pepperfry is a new startup, an Indian online marketplace for furniture and home décor.
Ex eBay executives Ambareesh Murty started Pepperfry in Mumbai in the year 2012. The business opened its first offline store in Mumbai in 2014, and by 2019 there were over 75 stores across 29 cities in the country.
In 2020 Pepperfry embarked upon home interior partnering with various firms like Hettich, Bosch, Siemens, Kajaria, Gyproc among others.
Their products mainly range from Furniture, Home Decor, Lamps, Furnishings to Homeware.
Currently, it runs more than 20 franchise outlets across the nation. The one-time franchise fee for 5 years is around ₹ 15 Lacs, and the infrastructural investment ranges between ₹ 30 Lacs and 70 Lacs.
Launched in 2013, Pepperfry has more than 60 lakh registered users and has 1 million+ home-based products. Pepperfry has become a major player in the furniture market. It has completely changed the way of buying furniture. The idea of buying furniture from the comfort of your home fascinated many Indians. That is the reason they have 7 million+ visits on their website as of now.
Today, if I ask you to buy furniture online, Pepperfry would be the first company to automatically pop up in your mind. They deliver their products across India. But, how did the company become so successful so fast? To answer all these, we first need to understand their Business Model.
‘Happy Furniture to You‘ is the current tagline of the company.
They have around 10,000 sellers on board. Physical studios are opened to offer a wide range of furniture displayed so people can come and physically see all the furniture. for a furniture exchange program, They had also tied up with Quikr.
People can rent furniture and can use it for a period of 6, 9, or 12 months or more.
the people between the ages group of 30-45 are the target audience of Pepperfry. They are putting in constant efforts to increase consumers in their mid-20s to early 30s.
Pepperfry follows the Omni-channel strategy where they have allowed their customers to order products anytime, anywhere from any device and potential customers to view their products from anywhere, anytime. The ways of people have altered during the pandemic and they prefer to buy products online. Pepperfry employs the Managed Marketplace Business Model. They have now connected with small and medium business Merchants and Artisans. These merchants can easily post and sell their products through Pepperfry.
The Pepperfry Team makes a point to meet the sellers to check the quality of products and once approved they take their products from them. These products are sent to the studios for aesthetic photoshoots. The photos of the products are then placed on the Pepperfry website. When a product is ordered from the website, it is brought from the sellers and delivered to Pepperfry’s Warehouse.
What is unique about Pepperfry’s Business Model is:
1) Concept of Buying Furniture Online:
the days when people used to visit places and buy products from the physical stores are gone. Due to online stores like Amazon, Grofers, and Flipkart people have gotten used to this process of buying their favourite products from the comfort of their home.
Furniture was something that hadn’t made its way online. many other platforms sold furniture online before Pepperfry but they couldn’t take it to the next level. As The concept of buying Furniture online highly fascinated many Indians, Pepperfry started to capture the market.
2) Pepperfry Studios:
Apart from their Online Presence Pepperfry also introduced Studios. In these Studios, people can pay a visit and explore all the types of Furniture available. Pepperfry believes that having your business presence in the offline market is very necessary.
In India there is a belief among people that online products can be low in quality so they tend to physically check products and services, thus these Studios help them to gain the trust of the people. This leads to an upsurge in their Sales. About 35% of the business is generated from these Studios.
The Basic requirements to start a Pepperfry franchise are:
1. Easy Registration
- You need to start by filling out a form on the Pepperfry website.
2. Hassle-Free Product Cataloging
- Their category manager will connect with you after your proper registration
- After that, they’ll provide Free product photography and cataloguing
3. No Stress Shipping
- The products are picked from your doorstep and shipped to 1000+ cities across India
4. Secure Payment
- Payments are deposited into your bank account. Detailed sales reports are given on your dashboard.
5. Profit
- Franchisees can keep 90% of the total revenue with them and share 10% with Pepperfry.
6. SHOP REQUIREMENTS
- A shop of 1250 to 2000 sq. ft. is required and 3 to 7 employees to run the business.
- A billing counter, product display section, AC, CCTV, and an internet connection should be present within the store.
- Pepperfry franchisees should fit the furniture bought by clients.
7. Other Requirements
- Proven successful model
- 70+ outlets, 30+ Franchisees Successful.
- Catalogue of 100,000 products without comparison
- 100% online business price parity, no channel conflict
- Low Investment, Quick Returns
- An initial investment of around 10-15 lakhs is required
- No Carrying Inventory.
- Business model payback in less than 31 months
- Extensive Brand Support
- Promotions for Brand-Led Marketing
- Training and assistance in recruitment
- Completion of order, following sales and brand support
- The terms of the agreement are 5 years.
- They work with their house marketing staff and prominent marketing companies.
Pepperfry is a great inspiration for many startups. Their Business and Revenue Model is easy yet operative. They researched what the Indian people need and what the Indian market lacks and designed their Business Model accordingly. the most important aspect of their success is Customer Satisfaction.
Karan Makan
Technology Engineer and Entrepreneur. Currently working with International Brands and helping them scale their products Globally through different ventures. He owns Multiple Food Brands and is on a continuous spree to acquire many more businesses in the coming years. With over 10 years of experience and strong background in Brand Acquisition, Karan Makan is soon poised to be a Brand in the coming years.
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