The company gives extreme importance to
customer support and brings a wide range of home decor products to their
consumers relying upon their expertise in the home decor category
The rapidly booming furniture sector, over
the next 5 years, online furniture and home sales are expected to be growing at
a strong 39 percent CAGR, has garnered a lot of attention in recent years. The
sector is heavily driven by niche products as we see that the average selling
price (ASP) on verticals is 10x higher for furniture and 2x higher for decor
than horizontals, indicating the difference in target customer base. This
suggests that there is a lot of consumer demand for unique and specific
products allowing for a lot of innovation from the start-ups.
Founded in 2015, home decor D2C brand
Décorkart has been building a solid furniture brand with around 200+ suppliers
across 5 countries (India, China, Czechoslovakia, Italy, and Thailand) and
plans to open 2-3 stores every year going forward. The company gives extreme
importance to customer support and brings a wide range of home décor products
to its consumers relying upon its expertise in the home décor category.
“We give extreme importance to customer
support. For any grievance, or query, our support numbers, and WhatsApp numbers
are readily available on the website – so much so that our customers have
started to recall our support associates by their names. This level of trust
has helped bring down the initial hurdle that stops a user to try a brand,”
Nihal Kalra, Co-founder, and CEO, Décorkart.
The company caters to most price points –
our prices start at Rs 250 for certain kitchenware products and can up to Rs
60,000-70,000 for handmade oil paintings, large mirrors and furniture pieces.
The company which started as B2B (Business
to Business) had collectively as an organization decided to phase out of the
model and solely focus on selling products directly to customers (D2C). As a
natural step, the company also realized that the opening of stores helped
inculcated the trust: “Web-influenced sales in the stores and store-influenced
sales on the website. Customers could try out our products in stores and order
them at their convenience from our website and vice versa,” the company
reported.
The company’s current revenue split between
online and offline is 70:30 – 70 being online. Currently, the brand has 4
stores.
Understanding Home Décor Market
Home décor which is traditionally run by
unorganized players has seen tremendous growth in the online channels: the
online furniture category will foresee 3X growth in shoppers in the next five
years with a 1.8x jump in annual spending per shopper. Given the D2C sector is
rapidly booming with a multitude of investors interested in D2C, the home décor
is expected to experience major developments with competition rising rapidly
going forward.
“It’s wonderful to see the space gathering
a lot of attention. I see the increase in competition as an expansion in the
overall market. More players are getting involved, a higher percentage of our
population is getting involved leading to more jobs, growth in the economy, and
an overall increase in awareness about the indispensability of the home
industry,” Kalra said.
On the company’s personal strategy, Kalra
stated: “We want to keep supplying uncommon and unique homewares for our
patrons. Give them a high-quality experience – be it in terms of product,
customer service, or our stores. I believe if we can keep doing this, we won’t
have to worry too much about competition.”
Future Plans
After having success in the D2C segment, it
is solely in serving the customers, however, the company is also said to be
considering the B2B channel again given the many queries they receive on a
regular basis where retailers ask for its portfolio of products.
Besides the offline expansion plan of 2-3
stores going forward as per their cash flows, the brand is working to refine
its customer’s experience and improve its portfolio of products. Also, increase
its retail footprint in a sustainable manner and open its international website
– starting in the UAE.
Along with to further scaling and improving
its efficiencies, the brand is working to introduce AR on its website, live
commerce being in the pipelines, and live design consultation for any design
queries.
“We want to grow sustainably and not try to
scale before our time,” Kalra added. Courtesy:
www.indianretailer.com
