Furniture rental space heats up with Pepperfry's entry

Mumbai-based Pepperfry, a furniture and home furnishing marketplace, is planning to explore furniture rental space as it aims to strengthen volumes and increase its customer base, according to an ET report.

The company plans to first introduce the rental service in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Noida and Ahmedabad followed by Cochin and Chandigarh over the next six months.

“We expect to rent a lot of beds, wardrobes, book cases, etc. These are more functional requirements,“ CEO Ambareesh Murty told ET.

He added that the move will help the company to increase its relevance in the age group of 22-28 years who it can later convert to customers.

Currently, Pepperfry clocks an average order value of Rs 18,000 and boasts of a 4 million strong user base. Its rental offering will offer about 1,200 of its 14,000 stock keeping units for rent along with free delivery and assembly service.

According to Pepperfry, one of the key differentiators for Pepperfry, through the rental offering, will be its ability to churn its low-use pieces.

In the homeware and furniture online retail market, which is expected to cross $1.1 billion in revenues in 2017, the entry of Pepperfry will make the space more competitive.

Furlenco, Rentomojo, CityFurnish, and many other city-based startups are also meeting the requirements of the rental market.

Of all the existing players, Furlenco is one of the most prominent players in the space. The platform claims to clock an average ticket size of Rs 3,000 and is looking to break even by March 2018.

RentoMojo is another formidable player in the category. Since its inception three years ago, RentoMojo has gained 25,000 plus subscribers, across eight Indian cities and is growing by 10-15 per cent on a monthly basis. Furniture and appliances are the prime requirement inevitably contributing the maximum business for the Bengaluru-based company.