Mumbai: The year 2023 is a special year for home improvement retailer MR.D.I.Y. The company celebrated the grand opening of its 100th store in India on 6 January 2023.
The store is located in Inorbit Mall, Vashi is the company’s fifth store in the Navi Mumbai region. This 100th store brings the total number of stores worldwide to over 2500.
On the occasion of the grand opening, MR.D.I.Y CEO Maneesh Sharma spoke to Indiantelevision.com on the USP of the brand and how stores will benefit customers in the Navi Mumbai locality.
MR.D.I.Y. stores offer a wide selection of approximately 15,000 SKUs across 10 major categories, namely, ten categories like household, hardware, electrical, car accessories, furnishing, stationery, sports, toys, gifts, computer accessories, fashion accessories, and cosmetics.
Edited Excerpts:
On the store opening
The feeling is phenomenal because you can see the fruits of your labour when you open the 100-plus code in the country, and then we opened our stores in the western North Region. So the feeling is phenomenal.
MR.D.I.Y. is fast becoming India’s favourite shopping destination for all things fabulous. MR.D.I.Y. is one of the largest home improvement retailers across Asia, with more than 2,500 stores across 10 countries. In India, MR.D.I.Y. now has more than 100 stores across 44 cities and 12 states.
The company strives to always put customers first by operating an innovative business that is flexible when it comes to providing a wide variety of products, good quality, shopping convenience, and value for money, holding to its company motto: “Always low prices.”
On the challenges of opening 100 stores
In December 2019, we opened our first store, and then the pandemic hit. We have all experienced a roller coaster ride over the past 15 to 20 months. Expansion from 1 to 100 was tough. But, through dedication and a relentless focus on helping our customers add value to their everyday lives through our products, we’ve been able to grow to 100 stores across the country in what is likely a record-breaking amount of time.
On the brand name
It’s DIY (Do it yourself). It’s been a new category in India, and our customers have liked it very well. We deal in 12 Plus categories across like hardware, household, car necessaries, and kitchen, so there are many different categories like jewellery and cosmetics, so we have all housed them together and ensured that we give things that are required for day-to-day running in the house and home improvements, even if you go there today will shop something for your family. So that’s how we have taken care of our customers. And that’s why customers visit us again.
On the USP and what is the differentiator in the crowded retail space
The primary USP is the price. So customers whenever they enter the store, they see the product, they see the uniqueness of the product which typically is difficult to find in other schools. When they see the product, they are also surprised to see oh, it’s at so a low price. Yeah. And that’s how the customers get attracted. And that’s why they become loyal fans of us.
MR.D.I.Y. is a brand loved by all ages for its widest range of products for multiple daily use categories. We strive to always put our customers first by providing a wide variety of products of good quality, shopping convenience, and value for money, holding to our company motto: “Always low prices.” Thanks to our loyal customers and dedicated team, we continue to provide the best home and life improvement products.
On the presence of the brand
We are already there globally. We have a presence in ten or more countries around the world and have had great success in Southeast Asia. Then we entered India; we are opening; and we are already open in Spain and Turkey.
In India, MR.D.I.Y. has more than 100 stores across 44 cities and 12 states. The home improvement retailer has been dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of its valued customers by offering convenience at all of its stores nationwide.
On the marketing strategy
The three days of promotions and activities are our way to express our appreciation to the customers and thank them for making us their favourite home improvement retailer.
The business strategy is simple: to ensure that customers are happy, we make sure that we open the store wherever the customer comes, wherever the customer is roaming around, and where we can be near to them so that they can regularly come and shop and you don’t have to scout a lot for our store.
On the plan
The plan is big. Everything is dependent on how the external factors are. But we are determined to open a good number of stores and ensure that we reach our customers day by day.
In the year 2022
We started with the covid lockdown, but I believe we started and delivered very good sales numbers towards the end of the year. So it’s been very good for us. It’s challenging, but good.
On the learnings
The learning is to be consistent and provide customers with what they require. Customers will always come into your stores if they are enjoying and enjoying good value for money products.
On the factors to open the store
There are many factors that we consider while we open the store.
Our primary focus is on residential elements. We also consider where a large number of customers are coming from and where a large number of people are.
What are the statistics that you are filling in for us? Yeah, and then we take a call on whether we should open the store. For every store that we open, we ensure that we go into the catchment area and communicate to the catchment that we are there, which is part of the below-the-line marketing for the brand.
From the Indian context, Indians aspire to being self-sustaining, independent, caring for the environment, loving animals, and living a happy family life – these are examples of values that drive us to do more. Life improvement is relevant to every Indian family, whatever community, lifestyle, or life stage they belong to.
These are the values that MR.D.I.Y. empowers its customers with. For us to be part of the life improvement of every Indian family is equally exciting and rewarding. We aim to provide the widest range of good-quality products for multiple daily use categories to make our customers’ everyday lives easy and fulfilling.
On social media presence
We are very active on social media; we have many face-to-face interactions on Instagram, and we also take part in many flyers and BTS activity recordings. That we can do something that people are aware of.
In the year 2023
2022 was a challenging year. But for 2023, things have opened up, and we will deliver the same number of resources to our customers. We are looking forward to it, and we’re looking at good numbers.
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