It was on Nov, 2012 that Rahul Agrawal, Nikhil Saraf, and Ranjeet Vimal decided to contribute towards organizing a largely unorganized industry and build an asset light true transactional business with MebelKart, on online furniture marketplace. Since its inception, the focus of the company has been more on getting the basics right rather than on funding. This includes refining the customer experience, the products and perfecting the business model. Thus, it is only after the first three years of its inception that the founders of MebelKart approached AskMe.com for funding.
Today MebelKart not only sells furniture, but also is a one of its kind of marketplace which specializes in end-to-end designing of homes. If you are moving into a new house and you want to get the interiors done and/or buy furniture, MebelKart can manage the end-to-end process for you, from hiring an interior designer, getting the materials procured to ensuring the set-up of the furniture. It is now a 200 people strong organization headquartered out of Bangalore.
It is no wonder then that MebelKart is India’s most preferred online shopping destination for furniture, décor, furnishings, household items, and more. And it is growing from strength to strength over the last few months. The company is focused on making furniture and home decor buying easier, reliable and cost-effective, while providing a world class experience to its customers at the same time. The company has over 1, 50,000 satisfied customers and offers product delivery in 20,000 pin codes across 100+ cities. MebelKart operates with the vision of organizing the entire furnishing and home decor space in India by providing its customers with a transparent pricing model, better design and ample options to choose from.
Mr. Rahul Agrawal, CEO MebelKart is proud of where his company is today, “Our product portfolio includes 1.75 Lakh SKUs live and about 30,000 visitors a day on our website. We have a current annualised GMV run rate of Rs. 96 crores and as many as 2,500 sellers associated with us. We are currently present in 70+ cities in India through our partners.”
What differentiates MebelKart from its competitors in the online furniture marketplace arena are lower shipping costs owing to their innovative business model based on the hyperlocal category that ensures lesser product damage (chances of 3% as against an industry average of 9%). Also, MebelKart has tied up with over 27,000+ interior designers and boasts of 1500+ factories as partners who are involved in giving a one-stop home solution to the online customer. The brand promises the best quality products at a competitive pricing, industry best delivery timelines and a servicing facility that is available at a later date.
The products which are the most sought after by the customers are beds, sofas, shoe racks and kitchen appliances. The fastest growing category is modular kitchens, seeing a growth of as much as 75% month on month.
“The success story of MebelKart is an ongoing one as now we are in the process of tying up with big real estate players and online portals. They are expecting their GMV to rise to Rs. 100 crore a month and a Rs. 1,200 crore turnover annually by October end, 2016.” says Mr. Agarwal.
Rahul concludes, “Through our experience of building a startup, there were many lessons that we have learnt. Some of them are perseverance, innovation, being open to new ideas, hiring the right people and managing them right and being honest through the brand message. We are confident of scaling new heights as we diversify our portfolio and strengthen our hold in the market. We are working aggressively to roll out our hyperlocal business model in more cities in the country.”