Finding that dream home may remain a challenge for many, but getting a new house done up isn’t likely anymore with more and more companies offering hassle-free, end-to-end furnishing solutions and products online. Modular kitchen, wardrobes, cabinets, wall entertainment units, and even fixed furniture, you name it, the long list of wood work to suit your taste and wallet is just a few clicks away.
Be it mixing, matching the colours and materials, comparing prices, visualisation right up to placing orders all these are possible from the cool confines of your house. This is bound to bring relief to householders harried with the ways of carpenters, with many repenting and feeling cheated.
Make it simpleMaking it simple for the customers is the mantra of such companies. The latest to announce a foray into this space in Hyderabad is HomeLane.com, a website that allows a home buyer to choose from hundreds of possible kitchen, wardrobe or wall unit combinations with different layouts, designs, colours and finishes.
“Once a home buyer places an order, our interior designer works directly with the buyer to help customise the kitchen or wardrobe keeping in mind the apartment space,” says CEO and co-founder Srikanth Iyer.
What may give HomeLane.com an edge is its 45 days’ delivery guarantee or rent policy. “The company will pay rent for the house in case the installation is not done within the promised time period of six weeks from the date of the order,” he declares. Hyderabad, which he describes as a hugely important market, is the first major expansion of the company outside the home market of Bengaluru, where it was established last year.
Huge marketHyderabad is poised for a real, complete turnaround as far as realty market is concerned. “It is going to be a big market... we are betting big,” he says, adding that the average transaction of the company is around Rs.5 lakh.
With the fixed furniture and home solutions market size estimated at a big $10 billion in the top 10 Indian cities and market said to be growing at 20 per cent CAGR, ventures such as those of HomeLane.com are only bound to increase. Serial entrepreneur Madhukar Gangadi, whose ventures include the popular MedPlus pharmacy chain, had a couple of months ago announced the launch of CustomFurnish.com, which allows customers to turn interior designers. They can do up their home furniture according to their choice of colour, style, design and size.
“Our aim is to remove the constraints of catalogue-based model of selling and replace it with an interactive approach that allows an infinite choice of designs,” Dr. Gangadi, who is founder and CEO. With customers ready to pay so long as the service and product is of quality and completed as scheduled, the moot question going forward is will the trend be last nail for the unorganised sector, comprising carpenters and brick and mortar furniture stores.
