Furnishing success with furniture biz

To provide comfort, the ultimate luxury of life, is the sole purpose of furniture industry. Furniture whether it is for home, office, hotels, shops or any other location needs to suit the requirement of the occupants. Apt furniture can surely turn bedrooms, dining rooms and other areas into comfortable, enjoyable and effective functional spaces. Besides comfort style and look also contributes to a large extent in making homes appealing and working in offices enjoyable and pleasurable. With this thought some of the national and international brands are working on making the furniture industry more organised.   To make the stylish, affordable and comfortable furniture available, the furniture retailers, national and international have opted for the franchise route. People nowadays keep on trying new things and modify old ones. Assorted decors, themes, furnishings make the furniture business lucrative opportunity for aspirants.

Taking up a franchise of a furniture business offers a   promising opportunity for aspirants.

From unorganised to organised

Though furniture industry in India is dominated by unorganised players, organised players  are making their presence felt and are growing immensely with time via franchising. Highlighting the growth of furniture industry Anant Maloo, CMD, Timbor Home Ltd said: “The furniture industry in India is valued at approximately Rs 71,000 crore. The organised sector comprises just about 15 per cent with the unorganised players making up the rest of the entire industry.”

Many international brands are also foraying into the Indian markets realising the potential in the market.  Speaking on the FDI and emergence of international players  DK Jairath,Chief Executive Officer, Hindware Home Retail (P) Limited (HHRPL) said: “The days ahead will see broadening of horizon with FDI opening up, international players along with best international practices and new formats coming in. I believe that the best thing to do is to stay committed to the core belief in customer-focus and alignment, develop and nurture key win-win partnerships with suppliers, constantly align employee-teams with the organisation goals, and develop growth opportunities for the enterprise with long term avenues considering market and competition dynamics.”

Stimulating factors

The development in this sector can be ascribed to various factors. Change in consumer demographics has made a great impact on the growth of the furniture industry. People today have dual-earning due to which they do not hesitate in spending money in redesigning their home or workplace.Maloo said: “The increase in income levels has caused an increase in consumer spending as well as an increase in the consumption of lifestyle products such as furniture and modular kitchens. Currently, the organised furniture sector is growing at a rate of 30 per cent CAGR.”

Moreover, the lifestyle of people has changed extensively over the years with the  society becoming modern as people are highly aspired to follow western culture. People today like to go along with the trend whether it is for apparel, home or office. Also, people have a wide array of national and international furniture available in the market. The furniture business enjoys strong demand as people continue to buy new furniture or move into new homes, and remodel old ones.

Key franchise players

The 15 per cent organised furniture industry is integrated with various well-known brands offering a promising business opportunity and quality products and services. Some of them are Timbor Home, Evok, Godrej Interio, H&R Johnson’s, Tangent, Nautizzi, and many other national and international brands.

Furnishing franchise success

Franchising helps the brand to capture the market according to the consumers taste and location.

Commenting about franchising Maloo says: “The franchising model has worked for us. Having a local franchisee enables the company to tap into specific consumer segments since customer preferences vary by geographic location to quite an extent. As stated earlier, having local affiliates boosts the growth of our stores and thus our company to a great extent. The franchising model of business allows for us to expand all across the country.”

Franchise challenges

People today are highly influenced by TV and movies. They desire what they see. This can be a big problem for franchisee to convince the customer. Maloo explains how to overcome challenges: “Customers are very demanding these days and come with very specific choices about what they want and most of the time they are highly inspired by movies or serials. To help overcome these challenges, we offer the franchisee complete support in terms of training, back-end-support as well as advertising.”

Selecting franchisees

Every work needs passion and devotion. Aspirants need to work hard to achieve success in the furniture sector as franchisors provide support and training programs for their help. Having local contacts and a keen eye on customer trends definitely helps.

On the franchisee selection Maloo says: “Anyone with a passion to work and dedication to follow through is the right person.. Since we offer training, support and at times even give re-training if necessary – the Timbor Franchisee is equipped with all the necessary information and education.”

Prerequisites

Buying a franchise business of a furniture brand requires an aspirant with sound financial background and who has an area of 1,000-1,500 sq. ft.

It will be apt to say that the furniture market is becoming organised and provides a promising business opportunity for passionate entrepreneurs. Speaking on the future growth Jairath rightly said: “Undoubtedly, the retail sector is the sunrise sector in India and poised for consistent high growth, providing tremendous opportunities for the organised and modern retail players. Furniture industry is also a high octane sector, full of challenges which require constant innovations, localisation and adaptations.”