Eastern India gives us the greatest sale
Eastern India gives us the greatest sale
With the Eastern Home Furnishings market under hold, Skipper Furnishings issurging ahead with 30-40 per cent growth every year and finds the overall market really good. Vishal Jain, National Sales Head, Skipper Furnishings, converses with Retailer on their brand positioning and new expansions ahead.  
What has been your strategy to stay ahead in the Home furnishings market? Tell us about your product mix. 
The strategy has been simple, we carry the widest product mix catering to all segments of society. We have fabrics starting from about Rs 100 a meter and going up to Rs 20,000 or more. Same goes for all other product categories-rugs, bedsheets, bedcovers, cushion covers, wall papers, drapery rods, blinds and mattresses. Our focus is to provide the best of home furnishings at the most reasonable price to make home fashion more affordable and involve more and more people in decorating homes leading to a better life. 
 
How has been your growth like?
Our growth has been slow and steady, we have grown in the last 30 years from one store to 22 stores. But with a very strong back end operations set we are focusing at growing very fast, we have about eight stores opening up in the next two-three months.  
 
How are you placed inthe current Home furnishings market? 
When it comes to retailing of furnishing fabrics and related products we believe we are leading  the way. We see some organised players entering the market and some existing players also putting in serious efforts to organise and grow. We are more than happy to see such competitors entering the market. We are a strong believer of omni-channel retail. Also, we have covered almost 70,000 sq ft of retail space in the home furnishings segment across India. 
 
With growing purchasing power and consumerism, how has been the demand like for home furnishing? 
The demand for Home Furnishing has really been good. Nowadays, people are focusing on decorating homes in a better way and change the decor frequently, almost in a year or two, and that is good for us. Good disposable incomes which they have is being spent on products which they are liking, not getting deterred by pricing, which is again, good for us. 
We have recently seen a huge amount of money being invested in real estate on developing very interesting residential projects with really great architectural concepts. This will definitely increase the urban living standard and should definitely contribute very strongly in the growth of home decorating products.  
 
Which products go off the shelf more?
Curtain and upholstery fabrics have been our bread and butter for ages, and they still remain our main product. However, wallpapers, wooden floorings, and mattresses are growing very strongly to contribute to the total sale. They used to be just a complementary product but now are jointly contributing almost 20-30 per cent of the total sale.  
 
What kind of activity have you recently indulged in to build new segments? 
We have recently launched three stores-one in Kolkata and two in Mumbai for Skipper Home Fashion that deals in bed and bath products such as-ready curtains, cushion covers, shower curtains, doormats, bed sheets and so on. Also, we are investing a lot in developing new brands in mattresses, wall papers and curtains.   
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