Climb online for urbane designs

Urban Ladder, the online furniture seller in Bengaluru, present in 7 cities across India, offers a range of products such as beds, sofas, wardrobes, and dining ware among other furniture categories.

How did Urban Ladder happen?

Urban Ladder was started by Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa in 2012. Ashish Goel previously worked with McKinsey and Company and served as the COO of Amar Chitra Katha. Rajiv Srivatsa previously worked with Cognizant and Yahoo! before co-founding Urban Ladder. Both are IIM graduates of Bengaluru passed out in 2004. They wanted to set up homes in Marathahalli Bengaluru, unfortunately it took a year-and-a-half to set up their homes. They were not happy with the offline retail furniture stores in India. The lack of designs to choose from eventually led to setting up of an online retail store in furniture business.

Why is it named as Urban Ladder?

We wanted to target the urban audience. Taste for contemporary designs that are stylish, unique yet affordable in a proper price range.

How is the company doing?

We want to cater to the urban audience. Our first market is in Bengaluru from which we have a great demand. This is followed by Delhi which is our second market which has also given us great business. This year in April we have opened stores in Kolkata, Mangalore, Surat Chandigarh, and Cochin. We have had great response to our business.

How is the Indian market for furniture today? What are the loopholes which need attention?

Most Indians do not have enough choice from the offline retail stores to choose from. Yet, people go with the limited choice. With people getting trendy, the designs have to be trendy with affordable price range. One has to evolve always to survive and sustain. The offline retail stores do not have much to offer when it comes to variety.

How does UL perform?

“Urban Ladder” caters to the distinctive designs. We have a team of eight to ten people who specifically make designs for us. They are graduates from NID. These designs are modern and contemporary. People like it. Besides we don’t want to give extravagant prices to the customers. The prices have to be just right enough. We have our own exclusives like the “Modular wardrobes”, we are also moving into cookware and lights and lamps, curtains and linen. All this add to the beauty of the homes. We also have home trail wherein the customer can choose in the portal three designs of sofas. We carry the sofas to the customers place and then he can check which one to choose from.

Are your designs global?

We don’t have any specific theme. Our designs are unbounded and its all to do with the creativity of the designs. Basically they are distinctive and made especially keeping in mind the space constraints.

How is E-retail responding to your business?

Well, we wanted to reach the urban market and hence, e-retail can get maximum exposure and they do very well if it is a retail online store.

What were the initial hurdles in your business?

The initial hurdles in the business were capital pooling.

Where is the demand more? The North Indian Market or the South Indian Market?

Our major market is in the south, the first being Bengaluru and the second being Delhi.

What are your new ventures?

We are planning to move into 25-30 cities in the next five years. We want to expand ourselves to the cities of Bengaluru and reach ourselves to all those looking for contemporary designs and modern homes.

How do the founders know each other?

They were classmates.

You were awarded the best digital start up. What was the one marketing quality that fetched the award?

We feel great and everybody’s ideas, designs, innovation and taste has made it all.

Any special designs for garden?

We have exclusive furniture for garden like the outdoor chairs.

What are the tips for budding entrepreurs who want to start in furniture?

The opportunity is large and one should focus on the customer. You should know your customer.