Godrej Interio to unveil assisted home furnishing

Kolkata: Continuing its push towards technology,

Godrej Interio

now has plans to introduce assisted home furnishing.

According to the brand’s chief operating officer Anil S Mathur, the company is working with Indian startups to introduce a software, using which customers will be able to plan their house interiors by looking at 3D models of furniture and rooms.

The system, referred to as Room Planner so far, will be made available by November this year. “Customers will have to visit our stores to avail this facility. They can explain their preferences and the dimensions, colours, etc of their houses, and we shall help design furniture according to their choice. Going ahead, we could introduce a similar system that customers can use on our website from their homes,” Mathur said. Earlier, the company had introduced IMOS, a software with similar capabilities, meant to design kitchen furnishings.

Mathur was speaking at the inauguration of the brand's new store at Axis mall in New Town.

Godrej Interio also plans to launch its standalone e-commerce website where customers will be able to place orders online. It is likely to come up by the end of August. Speaking about the augmented reality-based furniture designing system that the company had announced last year, Mathur said a pilot project will be launched early next year. “We have a planned an investment of around Rs 300 crore this year to develop our technology,” he added.

Mathur said Godrej Interio will open 65 exclusive stores this year across India, including five in Bengal.

Mathur further said that the firm had shelved its rent-a-furniture project after a pilot run last year as it was focussing more on omni-channel sales. The company garnered revenue of Rs 2,500 crore at a CAGR OF 20% last fiscal, of which around 70% came from B2B sales. Around Rs 60 crore was raked n from exports.

The overall furniture sales market in India is pegged at Rs 50,000 crore, of which 20% is in the organized segment. Godrej Interio commands commands a 25% share in this market.