Constituting merely 3 per cent of the organised furniture market in India, the online furniture industry has emerged as one of the fastest-growing e-commerce segments in the country. While the segment has been growing at 35-40 per cent for the past five years, the pandemic COVID-19 has resulted in a sudden upsurge.
"Two megatrends driving the demand for online furniture were the increased digitisation and growing share of urban millennials. However, in today's scenario, with people spending a significantly substantial time indoors in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a rise in the demand of various home improvement products - especially over the last couple of months," says Rakesh Kaul, CEO & Whole Time Director, Somany Home Innovation Limited (SHIL).
Growth trajectory
The pandemic has given rise to new market trends and helping manufacturers explore new business possibilities. With a large percentage of India's corporate employees working remotely and almost all students pursuing their studies online in the wake of the pandemic, demand for home-office furniture such as study tables, office chairs, laptop tables, and others, has almost tripled.
"With home spaces also doubling up as work zones, we have seen an increase in demand for furniture. Customers are searching for ergonomic furniture to set up a comfortable workspace at home with an upsurge in demand for office furniture (3.5x growth), living room seating like recliners (1.8x growth) and bean bags (2.2x growth), among others. Bedroom furnitures such as beds and mattresses (1.5x growth) have also seen a significant uptake," says Suchit Subhas, Director - Large Appliances & Furniture, Amazon India.
Echoing the sentiment, Manish Kumar, Senior Vice-President, Furniture, BGMH and Grocery, Flipkart, says, "There has been a fourfold growth in sales of baby chairs and kids seating. With the options for outdoor entertainment shrinking significantly, online gaming has grown in popularity, which, in turn, has spurred demand for gaming chairs. There has also been an increase in swings for kids for their in-house entertainment. It has been noticed that consumers are preferring comfort over cost, and opting for ergonomic furniture."
The online furniture market in India has been on an upward growth trajectory and one of the key contributors behind the swift growth of the segment is the transition in consumer behaviour from offline to online. Also, given that the preference for purchasing products online has gone up significantly due to the pandemic and the apprehensions around stepping out, industry leaders are optimistic about the segment's growth. The ongoing pandemic has led to increased reliance on online retail for purchasing needs, even among traditional consumers. Pepperfry's online business has risen to 120 per cent of pre-lockdown levels, indicating amplified use of e-commerce options. "This growing transition from offline to online is not only restricted to tier 1 cities but is also penetrating into more traditional markets in tier 2 and 3 cities. In fact, Pepperfry's first-time buyers (FTB) numbers grew at a faster rate than repeat buyers in Tier-2 cities. Our FTB business contribution increased nearly 500bps for tier-2 cities and beyond," says Sanjay Netrabile, CTO, Pepperfry.
Undoubtedly, the new work-from-home culture has triggered massive demand for home-office furniture. Pepperfry's home-office furniture category currently contributes around 25 per cent to the overall sales volume, a category which accounted for about 10 per cent of total sales prior to the lockdown. With increased time at home, consumers are seeing merit in making small additions and changes to their home environment, to make it more aesthetically pleasing as well as functional.
source - https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/online-furniture-segment-sees-sudden-spurt-in-growth-post-covid-19/story/419078.html
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