How The Decor Kart is Decorating Homes of its Consumers

Home decor is the art of aesthetically designing the internal and external spaces along with making them functionally useful for residents. It can be categorized as household furniture, home furnishings, and other decorative items such as lamps, artifacts, clay pots, and candles.

In India, the online selling of home decor products has gained momentum in recent years. Online vendors are able to offer a diverse range of products that can be used in indoor as well as outdoor spaces. Consequently, online customers have a plethora of options to choose from, including products from local and international manufacturers.

According to a report, “Driven by pent-up and deferred demand, India's online furniture and home market is geared up to reach $40 billion in the next five years.” Over the next five years, online furniture and home sales are expected to be growing at a strong 39 percent CAGR. The online home category includes home decor, furnishings, mattresses, and lighting.

Today, when we look at the market we see loads of brands that are putting every possible effort and making a difference in order to uplift the Indian decor industry. Pepperfry, Urban Ladder, Damro, @home, etc are some of the top players in the Indian décor market. The products and services they offer can be unbeatable in a manner, but not for everybody when it comes to balancing a consumer’s pocket and desires.

Another such brand that has attracted the eyeballs is The Décor Kart (TDK). The brand is trying to fill all the gaps and offer exactly what its consumer wants. Since its inception in 2015 till now, it offers some best-in-class products that can perfectly go along with their consumer’s budget and taste. The Decor Kart has always surprised and delights consumers with unexpected, distinctive finds for their home. The brand sources and crafts all the products with care, ensuring that any treasure they find at The DecorKart is unique, just like them.

While having the discussion with Nihal Kalra, Co-Founder, The Décor Kart, he shared some really good insights about the brand and its strategies. He shared, “Initially, for the institutional and B2B sales business model, my mother, Natasha Kalra used to travel to Ranchi to set up a store that procured products from us. It was my first job and exposure to the frameworks of the market and business. I got first-hand experience as to how a store is built up, right from the bare shell of a showroom to being ready for sales. I have been involved in this industry since childhood but formally it has been 6 years, after acquiring the business acumen and developing a keen understanding of the home décor and retail business.”

The brand is gaining success in a short span of time due to its unmatched quality, service, customer satisfaction, affordability, availability of the products and services, etc. When asked about the USP of TDK, Kalra said, “Fluid Design Sensibility - We focus on not restricting ourselves to a design sense. We understand how diverse the interests of our customers are and hence how diverse their decor needs would be.”

“Our design sensibility revolves around the excellence of classic elegance and contemporary style, and around a sophisticated search of materials to ensure we bring forth personalized elegant ‘treasures’, not swayed by fleeting trends. TDK offers a timeless range of products that have the luxury as a value and durability as a fundamental requirement. We aim to build one of the most customer-centric home decor brands, with a strong omnichannel presence across India,” he added.

Omnichannel Strategy

The basic motto of the brand-to-go Omnichannel is a fully-integrated approach to commerce, providing customers a unified experience across all channels wherever the user is present. 

On the omnichannel front, Kalra said, “We use a mix of physical retail stores, online stores, marketplaces, mobile browsing, social media - holistically in a way to fully realize the potential of each touchpoint - while providing a seamless experience to our customers. On a more technical level, we are working on an ‘endless aisle’ feature wherein if a customer walks into our store to reseek an uncommon product that isn't available in-store, our associate could process the transaction right there on the store floor, taking payment and communicating with its warehouse to ship that directly to the shopper.”

Future/ Expansion Plans

Taking the escalator instead of stairs in order to touch the new heights and grab new consumers in the market, The Décor Kart has some promising future expansion plans.

While discussing the same, Kalra shared, “I am working towards making The Decor Kart a go-to brand for home decor across India by exploring various other markets. We plan to expand the physical footprint with 2-3 stores at prominent locations in Mumbai in the next year. We are receiving a number of queries from a global audience; hence, we plan to open a facility in UAE, U.S.A., and Europe in the near future. We see a lot of potential abroad as only a handful of international brands with limited design capabilities operate there whereas the audience deserves better and more versatile designs. We are also planning to foray into new categories such as wallpaper, outdoor furniture, outdoor dinner ware+serve ware, rugs, and table linens.”

“Besides exploring new physical avenues for the brand, TDK is also investing heavily in improving customer experience on the website, have partnered with leading UI/ UX designers, and overhauled the website creating a seamless experience for the customers. Therefore, the brand envisions tremendous traction both offline and online. We also want to create a distribution center in an area and then open stores around it. For e.g. what we did in Delhi, a central warehouse and then stores around the region. So, the next aim is to do that around Mumbai - so we can take care of stores around that area. This would also help us reduce delivery time for online orders coming from that region,” he further added. 

Indian Décor Industry Outlook

Looking at the Indian decor market and these uncertain times, Kalra shared his opinion on the Indian décor industry, “Consumers have become more mindful in what they purchase. Also, more and more consumers have now shifted to buying online as opposed to going to the retail market to buy. The pandemic forced a vast majority of people to change buying habits. Sales numbers have gradually risen and reached pre-pandemic levels. One’s home should be a place that defines one’s individuality and should be customized as per their needs in all manner. Creative, home proud, individualistic personel, one who wants the home to reflect who they are. Minimalism, sustainability, and functionality will be the biggest factors driving the design and furnishing trends in 2022.”

“Purging belongings and unnecessary possessions to free up space for daily activities to be accomplished from within the home in an organized way leads to minimalistic choices with high and multi-functionality furnishings. Moreover, sustainability implications have become an important aspect when it comes to choosing material, product, and the brand that offers the same. The last couple of years at home have allowed people to be more conscious and brought attention to their environmental impact,” he added.

Amid the pandemic, in 2022 sustainable or recycled materials will become more common- people are beginning to make positive choices for our planet. It is a selling feature now when it comes to attracting the attention of designers and homeowners. Furnishings, flooring, and architectural elements that use environmental-friendly materials like reclaimed wood, cork, bamboo, jute, glass, recycled plastic, and metal will be preferred. 

“We are trying and aiming to provide consumers wide and in-trend choices to spruce up their interiors with their personalized choices,“ Nihal concluded.