We plan to add 20 stores by next fiscal: Rajat Singhi

How do you see home furnishing market is growing in India? Kindly mention few numbers to quantify the same.

The market size of Home Furnishings is 44000 Crores per annum in India. The furnishing and Home décor market size is 10,000 crore. It’s growing at the rate of 25 to 30% per annum. Over the years, the Home Decor Shopping trend in India has seen a definite shift from consumers investing only in Furniture to now delving into Home Decorative Products & Home Linen. The customers have been traveling extensively and as a result have a good knowledge of the products – they know what they want, they know where to exactly get it from. Home Decor serves very well for gifting too, and in fact we are seeing growth in the international gifting through our online portal as well.

Analyzing the growth rate of Address Home's Hard Goods and Soft Goods. Hard goods which include sculptures, vases , décor accessories, dinnerware and candle ware is growing at the rate of 53% of the total sale and soft goods which includes Home & Bed Linen is growing at the rate of 47% of the total sale.

Kindly shed light on the journey of brand Address Home so far? According to you, what are the key challenges when it comes to luxury home furnishing retailing?

Address Home was conceptualized with a vision of bringing a world class premium home decorative line with global sensibilities to Indian homes. We are a stylish, innovative, home decor, gifting and lifestyle destination focusing on quality craftsmanship with unique and eclectic styling ideas. It started in February 2008, and in a decade we have grown to 14 stores pan India, along with an online portal that ships worldwide. Further, our scope is really growing in the metros and tier 2 cities.

No challenges but opportunity, of keeping abreast with the global design world, and marrying the sensibility to bring it to our Indian customers. It is a constant endeavor of moving with the evolving tastes of the customer that drives us to provide the customer what they are looking for. The industry is very competitive and raising one's own bar is all that we focus on.

Since the brand operate in luxury space which is becoming crowded with constant foray of international brands. What is your USP over them? Also do you remain price competitive to other premium international brands? Also mention your starting and exiting price point along with average bill size?

We differentiate ourselves with our design, where we modulate global tastes to suit Indian sensibilities for our customers. We are a concept driven store with contemporary and eclectic design aesthetics– where we create stylized collections for all areas of a home. Our USP is our signature premium linen and dining collections, created with inventive design inspired from various cultures of the world, meticulously crafted in the finest quality. With these we curate themed collections of home decor accents and furniture to create a unique style.

Yes we remain price competitive to other premium international brands. Our price range is Rs. 1500 - Rs. 1,00,000. 

Kindly highlight your current retail footprint in online and offline space? What are your strategies to scale-up the same?

At the moment, we have 14 boutique stores in the brick & mortar space. And our online ecommerce portal that ships pan India and worldwide. We want to scale this luxury brand to Tier 2 cities to make into 20 stores by next fiscal year.

What is your strategy on franchise distribution? Would you focus on franchise expansion or company owned outlets?

We will be concentrating on both, company owned stores and franchise, with more focus on Franchisee expansion.

Presently, how many categories are retailed under Address Home, and which is your best selling category? Also what are the plans for category expansion?

We retail a comprehensive collection of decorative linen, signature premium dining, contemporary home decor accents, stellar candle ware & lighting along with bold, edgy furniture line. Linen carries cushions, euros & bedspreads. The tableware range has dinner & crockery collections, along with cutlery, serving platters & trays, glassware, coffee mugs and napkin rings. The home decorative range includes decor objects, vases, faux flowers, sculptures & statues, photo frames, bath accessories, decor platters & bowls with a signature creation of leather accessories collections. Candle decor has premium decorative candles, hurricanes & candle holders, lanterns & votives with exclusive candelabras. Our lighting is always in demand with chandeliers, ceiling & pendant lights with floor & table lamps. The furniture line carries a range of side & centre tables, consoles, pouffes and chairs. Wall mirrors  and accents are also sought after much. All our categories do well since they come together as a concept that blends in with each other that we sell.  Our linen and dining are our biggest strengths and USP. 

We are planning to grow aggressively our furniture line and our bath line in the next two years. Also, looking at more of glass based products.

What are your strategies on online business? Do you also retailed via your exclusive web store or leading market places? Furniture is usually a high priced Do you think online is a viable trade channel for furniture like category?

Address Home's online foray in 2014 was timed well enough to fill in on the gap that the online luxury market observed & response has been tremendous just as expected. We are shipping worldwide and covering all tier 2 & tier 3 cities with our ecommerce portal pan India. 

Our focus is to remain exclusive. So we are resisting to go on mass market places and are just exploring some exclusive web stores.

Accent furniture sells online, although it is a very individualistic choice with a lot of focus being on the material used. Hence as a rule, a part of the sale is still driven through touch and feel experience. To which, For Address Home, having a large offline presence through our 14 stores pan-India, helps the consumer get the best of both the worlds. The stores serve the experiential factor along with the ease of access through our portal for the online consumers.

At last, mention the growth plans of the brand? How many new stores the brand is looking to open over next two years?

We are looking to grow to 20 stores by the next fiscal.