Rajiv Srivatsa and Ashish Goel co-founded online furniture and home décor company, Urban Ladder, in 2012, when they themselves found it difficult to furnish their homes with quality products after relocating to Bengaluru.
Nearly three years later, the Bengaluru-based company is planning to expand to 30 cities by December this year.
Recently, the company added four new cities – Mangaluru, Kochi, Chandigarh and Kolkata – taking its presence to 16.
“We intend to be present in 30 cities by the end of this year,” Rahul Srivatsa, COO and Co-founder, told BusinessLine .
According to him, the company is also looking to clock a turnover of $100 million (around ₹600 crore) by this year-end.
Profitability, though, is not an immediate focus.
Business model According to Srivatsa, the business model involves having a light inventory and manufacturing tie-ups.
Most products are pre-built. Logistics and services are handled directly by the company.
Urban Ladder competes with the likes of FabFurnish and PepperFry.
Products on the cards Immediately on the cards is product expansion, especially in the home décor category.
“We intend to be a complete home solutions provider in the coming days,” Srivatsa said.
The company has already launched products such as carpets, mattresses and lamps.
Curtains and upholstery, cushions, bed-sheets and kitchen stuff are also on the cards.
Urban Ladder has also launched two apps – Urban Storage and Living Spaces – through which it provides home trials and consultation on sofas and wardrobes.
Under the home trial options, three sofas are brought to customers for testing for a charge of ₹299.
In the case of wardrobes, the swatches (representative portions) are brought.
The initiatives, Srivatsa says, have led to a 40 per cent conversion – from enquiries to actual sales with average sales value ranging around ₹20,000.