Online marketplace for furniture and home-décor products Pepperfry plans to deploy the ₹210 crore that it recently raised on automation and increasing physical presence in major cities. It hopes to break even by 2018.
“We are hoping to break even in the next 12-18 months. There is a huge scope for online players in this space. A large chunk of the estimated $25-billion industry is still in the unorganised sector. Only 10 per cent is organised, and of that the online market forms a small part,” said Kashyap Vadapalli, Chief Marketing Officer, Pepperfry.
In Hyderabad on Thursday to release ‘Buyology’, a survey of shopping trends on the Pepperfry platform, Vadapalli said the firm will use a part of the proceeds to automate the processes in logistics and warehousing. “We are going to double the physical store number to 20, in the next six months.”
“The physical stores are not money spinners for us. But they act as an experience zone for the prospective customers. We are going to strengthen the store presence in top cities such as Mumbai and Bengaluru.”
The firm, which has raised ₹1,000 crore so far, sees no need for fund-raising to achieve the break-even in 2018.
Buying trends“With the average age of a buyer being 35 years with an average price tag of ₹18,000, Pepperfry distinguishes itself from other e-commerce players. The buying patterns, too, are significantly different. Most of the buying decisions happen towards the evening as the decisions are collectively taken at home,” Vadapalli said.
The firm analysed buying trends using data from the purchases made on the platform from July 1, 2015. “We analysed data of about 8 lakh purchases.”
While Chennai bought ‘colonial’-style furniture more, Bengaluru led the sales in study lamps. Kolkata purchased more of bookshelves, while people in Madurai are found to be lovers of avant-garde style furniture. Customers in Jaipur love chandeliers, while Goans bought dining products.