Flipkart eyes lead over incumbents in furniture vertical, contemplates Rs 750 Cr GMV in 2018

The online furniture category which is largely dominated by a few players including Pepperfry and Urban Ladder is going to heat up as e-commerce major Flipkart has been planning an aggressive push to accelerate its GMV in the segment.

The e-commerce platform is targeting to churn out a gross merchandise value, or GMV, of Rs 750 crore by the end of this year in the furniture vertical. The number is not surprising as Flipkart has been working to increase the offerings from the segment for the past one year.

Alike the fashion category, the e-commerce company plans to focus on private labels in the furniture segment as well. It expects its private label 'Perfect Homes' to account for almost half its revenues in the furniture category by next March.

Besides, to push the sale of furniture, the platform has introduced ‘FurniSure,’ a certification that assures customers ‘quality and durability’ of furniture available on the website.

With private labels and improved supply chain, it aims to become the largest online player in this category in 2018.

But, is the path so easy?

Pepperfry claims to have 65 per cent market share of India’s organised furniture market. It clocks an average order value of Rs 18,000 and boasts of a 4 million strong user base across 500 cities in the country. It also claims to have a variety of 1.2 lakh products with a transaction happening at every 25 seconds.

The company had clocked revenues of Rs 127 crore during the FY17, a 22 per cent growth from the previous fiscal.

Talking to TOI, Pepperfry founder and CEO Ambareesh Murty said that it aims to clock a GMV of Rs 5,000 crore by 2020, beyond Rs 1,000 crore last year.

Cracking supply chain and maintaining consistent quality and experience in furniture vertical are not easy affairs. Unlike other standard verticals in e-commerce space, furniture requires a different set of sourcing and logistics skills.

Meanwhile, Flipkart counters the incumbents claim with the more robust roadmap. The company believes with its own logistics, fulfilment and installation network, a durability certified furniture range and the introduction of private brand Perfect Homes, will help it to emerge as the leader in the category.