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Online buying boosts ‘touch, feel’ business of home decor furnishings

Online buying boosts ‘touch, feel’ business of home decor furnishings

home decor furnishingsBy Nivedita,

New Delhi : Indians are becoming more conscious about the way their homes look and this has given new wings to the home decor segment on online platforms.

Perhaps in response to the growing demand, Walmart announced this February the launch of redesigned home shopping experience on the web. This move was a part of the company’s reorganisation of its home group division, and highlights home products like furniture, accessories and other decorative items.

According to a joint report by KPMG and CII, the e-commerce retail logistics market is valued at $35 billion (Rs 2.35 lakh crore) in 2018, and is projected to witness a growth of 36 per cent in the coming five years.

Hussaine Kesury, Chief Category Officer at Pepperfry, says India’s furniture market looks promising with a sharp growth forecast for online sales.

“While the total offline market is growing at 10-15 per cent year over year (YoY), the online component is growing at 300 per cent YoY. Over the next few years, we expect the online home and furniture (H&F) business to become nine per cent of overall e-commerce and six per cent of the overall H&F market,” Kesury told IANS.

Pepperfry provides customers a choice through its portfolio of over 100,000 products across categories like furniture, home decor, lamps and lighting, furnishing, kitchen and dining, housekeeping, and hardware and electricals.

“In the last six-and-a-half years, we have witnessed a significant jump in our traffic. With seven million unique visits a month, we dominate the segment at 60 per cent plus online traffic share. Having established its leadership in the furniture and home products segment in India, Pepperfry’s revenue has grown at 83 per cent over the last few years,” said Kesury.

At e-commerce portal Shopclues.com, home furnishings clock about 150,000 orders a month out of which 55 per cent orders are for bedsheets. It is one of the fastest-growing portfolios in the home division and contributes 20 per cent of the home and kitchen business and six per cent of the overall business.

According to Ritika Tanjeja, Head of Category Management at ShopClues, the home decor market has seen an exponential growth in the past few years.

“India’s online home and furniture market was pegged at about $1 billion in 2017 and is expected to grow at 36 per cent. The general perception is that home furnishing online buyers are primarily from the metros, but over 60 per cent of ShopClues customers in this category come from tier 3 and tier 4 markets and our numbers in terms of orders per month has seen a surge over the years,” Taneja told IANS.

She says that there have been inhibitions pertaining to the “feel” factor for online shopping, but things have changed now.

“We have seen, and this is across segments and online marketplaces, that Indian consumers are opening up to the idea of choosing merchandise based on visuals and product information,” she said.

Sameer A.M., CEO and Founder of Bonito Designs — an interior space creator that offers cost-effective designs for home — too has seen the change.

“Home furnishing market has soared in visibility, reach and affordability with the wider acceptance of e-commerce marketplaces as a reliable business dimension. With innovation in e-commerce on proactive quality and experience check combined with community driven reviews, feedback, the whole game is only getting better at an exponential rate,” he told IANS.

Raghunandan Saraf, CEO and Founder of sheesham wooden furniture online retailer and manufacturer Saraf Furniture, said Indians are more conscious than ever of the way their homes look and the vibe they exude.

“This growth in demand is propelling online players to push the envelope of excellence and introduce the best of international styles and trends on their web platforms so that discerning Indian buyers have the choice that they desire. It’s this demand-supply circle that is driving the explosion in this segment,” Saraf told IANS.

(Nivedita can be contacted at nivedita.s@ians.in)

—IANS

Five tips to start your new online business this Diwali

Five tips to start your new online business this Diwali

Online shoppingBy Anurag Avula,

Diwali is a great time to start your new online business or to take your existing business online.

So what is your next step? You’ve created your online store, taken some amazing photos of your products and activated an appropriate payment platform. Congratulations, you are up and running. Now you just need to sit back and wait for the customers to come pouring in, right?

Well, yes, in an ideal world — but with the explosion of growth in e-commerce, you still need to make your store stand out from the crowd, grab your customers’ attention, hold it and keep them returning for more. Here are five golden rules to start a successful business this Diwali.

1. Make your site clear and simple to use: When a customer reaches your site it should be obvious what you sell. Use a clean and professional template design that is simple in its message. Don’t allow the customer to be distracted by countless and un-needed information. Show your most popular and best-selling products first as a way to draw people in to start exploring your site. Consider using a “carousel” picture collage so that they can easily scroll through the images and see what’s on offer.

2. It’s the little extras that make a big difference: Free shipping, great returns policy (or free returns over a certain purchase value), a toll free number — making use of incentives to attract users is a great way to encourage loyalty. If you are able to offer these great advantages, make sure you shout about them loud and clear on your homepage.

3. Testimonials and reviews: Take one of your glowing references and put it somewhere obvious on your homepage. If you can accompany this with a picture, it reinforces the fact that real people trust and use your products and services. Customer reviews are trusted 12 times more than marketing by a company

4. Daily deals and other discounts: Daily deals are another hugely popular idea. By selling a limited quantity of products for a short amount of time you can generate new interest and increase your client base. Once you have drawn them in — invite them to preview your other products.

5. Make a connection: Try to re-think your site as a content site that happens to sell products. Talk to your customers as you would to a friend and engage them so that they keep coming back for more. If you can demonstrate that you are passionate about your products and give tips and ideas on ways to use them, such as a demonstration video or a pinboard using your products, it adds more value to your site.

(Anurag Avula is the CEO of goshopmatic.com. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at anurag@goshopmatic.com)

—IANS