Following the online route to reap hefty profits

According to industry experts, the online furniture market is valued at USD 130 million and is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 75 per cent and reach over USD 700 million by 2020. This growth is to be attributed to the fact that furniture and the home-decor category is evolving beyond its utilitarian value to become part of one's lifestyle choice.

The growing demand for contemporary and modular home decor in smaller cities is contributing significantly to the growth of furniture industry in India. The brick and mortar retail space for furniture and home décor is now converting into omni- channel to make its outreach easy and affordable for the customers at any location.

Market at glance

Recently, Godrej Interio ventured into an exclusive partnership with Flipkart to increase its retail space online. The move is initiated to enable customers for accessing an exclusive and unique range of furniture online. Flipkart will offer complete collection of furniture from Godrej Interio, which includes designs for living room, dining room and bedroom, the company said in astatement.

Another, homegrown e- retailer, FabFurnish announced its merger with furniture retail unit HomeTown. The Future Group’s online retail space FabFurnish also joined hands to create a separate listed entity with target revenue of Rs 1,000 crore by the end of next financial year.

"Our aim is to create some value in this business. With FabFurnish, we will be creating the largest home furnishing and decor business in the country. Competition is heating up in India's furniture industry, three-fourths of which is controlled by standalone stores and carpenters. We are not going to be top-line driven. That's how we are going to make FabFurnish profitable in another three months," said Kishore Biyani, CEO at Future Group.

HomeTown has 42 stores at present and plans to add eight more by end of the year. The company said the average ticket size at HomeTown is about Rs 44,000, which is not easily matched to online portals.

Together they stand

With the strategy to increase sales and business expansion, several retail brands are partnering with online big shots. These mergers not only prove to be a win-win case for both the parties, but both offer the end users with the options of purchase as per their convenience. 

Shanu Singh, e-commerce Head of Godrej Interio said: “We are looking at a long-term partnership with Flipkart to make its offerings available to a larger online customer base across the country.” Meanwhile Sandeep Chandrakant Patil, Senior Director- Business, Flipkart opined: "Our combined strengths in product development and marketing and distribution is going to help expand the footprint for the brand, while at the same time enable an all new furniture shopping experience for our customers."