JSW Group is eyeing at capturing a big chunk of the market share with its ‘thoughtful’ portfolio of products, writes Payal Gulati
Give a thought to furniture and you realise that it’s no longer about getting the basic necessities in place. In fact, next to buying a home, furniture is the second biggest item on the lifestyle list and it comes as no surprise then to find huge furniture showrooms catering to customers who are likely to choose each of the products with much care and deliberation – the idea being to make their home reflect their own personalities and their way of living. Comfort therefore goes hand-in-glove with style. And so, it’s but natural to find the Indian furniture market one of the most lucrative opportunities.
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK
Take the entry of JSW Group, for example. A USD 13 billion Indian conglomerate with interest in steel, power, cement and infrastructure, it is now entering the furniture segment by creating products that can be categorized as ‘thoughtful furniture’ to help usher in that additional dash of comfort and elegance in the lives of people. “The foray into furniture business is a progressive extension to the group’s steel business,” says Bedraj Tripathy, CEO - Furniture Business, JSW Group.
JSW is betting big on making the traditional steel furniture more contemporary and suited to the lifestyle of today. “Steel furniture in India is seen as old-styled, cold, heavy and unattractive. We want to change this image of steel furniture to make it more contemporary, simple and something that addresses the latent needs of people from a functionality perspective. We want to rewrite the
furniture and accessories story in India, ensuring thoughtfully designed products at affordable prices,” Tripathy states, adding, “We are focusing on every aspect of the user experience, right from selection of material, design sensibilities, availability of products, managing real time delivery commitments and finally addressing the end of life of the product.”
STRONG DISTRIBUTION NETWORK
JSW is looking forward to entering the market using a well-established distribution channel. Elaborating about the distributor’s profile, Tripathy says, “We are looking for large distributors of furniture, each of whom must have over 50 productive retailers, and are looking forward to working capital turnover of over 10 times. This will help them generate the highest return on investments compared to any other distribution business they have been into.”
The handholding from JSW will be at various levels that will include getting the distributors to understand
the products in terms of the nuances in design and providing support in helping them sell to their retailers. Secondly,technical training on material, products, installations, etc. will certainly be a part of this package. “We also want to help distributors' sales staff gain soft skills that are essential for today’s markets,” Tripathy shares.
Further, all products that will be available through retail outlets will also be available online. It’s just that the orders that are booked online will be directed to the nearest retail outlet registered with the company. “Initially we will obviously start with distribution, but will come back with a full-fledged e-commerce platform in the next six months. It is all about the user. Our objective is to be as close to the user as possible, hence, an omnichannel platform. That’sthe
reason we are tying up the internet and mobile platforms since it will help us grow with our physical last mile connecting outlets without creating any channel conflicts,” Tripathy reveals.
DISTRIBUTION FACTS
Investment:Rs 5-50 lakhs
Warehousing area: 5,000 to 10,000 sq. feet
Number of retailers per distributor: 40 and above
Expected return on investment: 100% returns
with 10 turns of investments Expected breakeven:3 months (3 turns)
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UPGRADING HOMES
Bedraj Tripathy, CEO - Furniture Business, JSW Group further discusses the company’s plan forward and the support they will offer to distributors.
Why should one choose to be JSW’s furniture distributor?
There are many benefits from choosing our products as a preferred brand for a distributor. There are two key ones that I would like to bring to the fore:
What were the initial challenges that you had to face? How did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge in the furniture business is to understand the user’s needs. Through our differentiated design proposition, we are trying to provide products to cater to those ‘need’ gaps. The only way to do this is to spend time observing users at their homes and identifying pain points which are abstracted as insights.
Every aspect of the brand, from product design to usage experience, from retail experience to post sales service, from communications to display, are driven by these insights. The second challenge is to penetrate the market and get users to experience our products. Each product has been designed with a slice of life in mind and each one has a role to play in providing for a user experience. The real success for us to measure will be to see the translations of insights into final experiences for the users.
Who is your target audience?
We are operating at the mid-segment, which is possibly the largest segment in India. We are addressing every middle-class family in India that is looking at upgrading their homes to a better living quotient at affordable price points. We are focusing on households that are modern in their outlook and where the users look at value for design as well as attempt
to reduce the complexity of spaces in their homes and offices.
What kind of training and support will you offer your distributors?
The trainings would be done at four levels – user insight training (distributor); product material, design and usage training (distributor and sales staff); product management training – installation, maintenance and servicing (sales staff) and soft skills training. These will be provided at the beginning of the relationship and then periodically for new
inductees and as a refresher course to the existing resources. They are an integral part of our growth in the market. Hence, it is essential for us to follow this up with rigour. The support will range from pre-sales to post-sales:
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