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Tag: Pepperfry

  • Pepperfry reveals 2023 trends with launch of its ‘Home Beat’ Report

    Pepperfry reveals 2023 trends with launch of its ‘Home Beat’ Report

    Mumbai: Pepperfry, the e-commerce platform for Furniture and Home Goods, has unveiled a compelling narrative in its Home Beat Report 2023. Based on all transactions made on the platform from January 1 to December 11, 2023, the Pepperfry Home Beat Report 2023 provides interesting insights into consumer trends as well as the home goods purchasing habits of Indians from different states and cities of the country.

    According to the report, Maharashtra led the demand surge for Furniture and Home Goods among Indian states in 2023. The other states that feature among the top five for buying Furniture and Home Goods in 2023 were Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi.

    In 2023, India witnessed a notable shift in home shopping patterns, revealing a surge in demand for personalized home decor and furnishings. Pepperfry’s comprehensive analysis highlighted this trend, indicating a growing consumer inclination towards enhancing their living spaces. Projections indicate Tier 1 and Tier 2 markets as pivotal growth drivers in the forthcoming 3-5 years, propelled by evolving consumer behaviour and economic advancements. The rapid rise of organized retail in the Furniture and Home Goods sectors underscores the significance of an Omni Channel strategy, pivotal in instilling consumer trust. With an increasing focus on home aesthetics, the Home Goods category is poised for remarkable expansion, fuelled by consumers’ desires to tailor their homes to reflect their personalities.

    Pepperfry chief executive officer Ashish Shah said, “Pepperfry’s Home Beat Report 2023 illuminates the evolving landscape of Furniture and Home Goods consumption, providing a comprehensive overview of consumer preferences in a country as diverse as India. It gives a fascinating insight into the lifestyle of each region and their home décor priorities. The report highlights how consumption patterns and preferences change from one region to another and how India is decorating their Homes.”

    Pepperfry chief category officer Kushal Budhia added, “We are excited to share significant insights gleaned from our customers over the past year. Whether in a bustling Metro city or a Tier-II location, the Indian buyer is making a distinct mark. The diversity in their purchases is truly heartening, ranging from sofas to shoe racks, wall art to dhurries, and home fragrances. As we step into 2024, it will be fascinating to observe the trajectory of these trends.”

    The products that were high in demand in 2023 from among Pepperfry’s more than 50 Furniture categories and more than 120 Home Goods categories were sofas, beds, study tables, office furniture, centre tables, bed sheets, cushions and covers, bath linen, mattresses, and lamps. The diverse range of high-quality products offered by the brand also witnesses impressive sales frequency. Brisk sales of specific products take place every 10, 15, 30 minutes, and hourly intervals, catering to the diverse needs of valued customers.

    When it comes to pan-India appeal, there was a high demand for 2-seater sofas, Queen Beds, Queen-size bedsheets, and office chairs across India. Remarkably, among sofa categories, sofa-cum-beds emerged as the most sought-after product, with a substantial number of purchases recorded in Mumbai, a place where space is precious to come by. Mumbai, ranking third among the top five cities to witness substantial traction in furniture and Home Goods purchases, is leading in several categories.

    Pepperfry, in its 12 years, has gone on to become the largest marketplace in e-commerce Furniture and Home Goods. It is consistently living up to its commitment to excellence and relentless pursuit of making every house a warm and inviting home. With over a lakh listings representing more than 1,000 brands, and a presence in 170 stores across 90 cities, the e-commerce furniture brand is dedicated to serving customers in over 300 cities. The company boasts an impressive, owned supply chain, ensuring timely deliveries to more than 200 cities.

  • Pepperfry appoints Nishant Kumar as vice president & national head of studios

    Pepperfry appoints Nishant Kumar as vice president & national head of studios

    Mumbai: E-commerce furniture and home goods company Pepperfry announced the appointment of Nishant Kumar as the vice president & national head of studios. Kumar will be spearheading the expansion of Pepperfry’s studio footprint across the country. His appointment is effective immediately and he will be based at the company’s office in Mumbai.

    Kumar comes to Pepperfry with 21 years of experience working in sales, business strategies, financial planning, operations, and zonal planning. In his previous stint with Vodafone-Idea, Kumar was managing an ecosystem of 2700 retail stores. At Pepperfry all studio regional managers will now report to Kumar.

    He is a postgraduate in marketing from Welingkar Institute of Management and holds a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from IHMCTAN, Kolkata.  

    On the appointment, Pepperfry co-founder & COO Ashish Shah said, “Nishant joins the team with vast experience in managing a large footprint of retail stores and has an impressive track record of leading businesses during a hyper-expansion phase. With his expertise, we aim to strengthen our omnichannel capabilities for our customers and provide them with a visual, highly engaging, and interactive shopping experience. It gives me great delight to welcome him, and l am looking forward to work with him in transforming the furniture retail landscape in India.”

    On his new role, Kumar said, “I am delighted to join Pepperfry and super enthusiastic to be a part of the company’s mission – To spark a feeling called home across the world. I look forward to making significant contributions in charting a high growth path for the stellar Studio business at Pepperfry.”

    Omnichannel is a very big strategy for the brand and Pepperfry Studios are a key consumer touchpoint. Pepperfry Studios operate in two formats – COCO (company owned and company operated) and FOFO (Franchise owned and Franchise operated), and are located at prominent locations across respective cities. The company has a good omnichannel footprint in India with 180+ studios in 90+ cities. 

  • Pepperfry appoints Anand Batra as the chief financial officer

    Pepperfry appoints Anand Batra as the chief financial officer

    Mumbai: The e-commerce furniture and home goods company, Pepperfry announced on Friday the appointment of Anand Batra as its chief financial officer (CFO). This is Batra’s second stint with Pepperfry, his first being a five-year stint during the early days of Pepperfry’s inception. In his role as CFO, Batra will spearhead the organisation’s corporate strategy, fundraising efforts, financial operations, legal and secretarial functions. His appointment is effective immediately and he will be based at the Pepperfry corporate office in Mumbai.

    Batra is a seasoned finance professional with more than a decade of experience in venture capital, business management, financial planning and operations, fundraising, strategy, and investment banking.

    Before joining Pepperfry, Batra worked as executive director at Z3Partners, a leading tech and digital fund, where he was involved with the fund’s investments in Dealshare, Shipsy, Gramophone and Cyfirma. Earlier, Batra was a principal in the investing team at IvyCap Ventures, focusing on early-stage investments in Indian consumer and technology-enabled businesses.

    Before starting his career as an investor, Batra headed up category management for the home goods business at Pepperfry. During this stint, Batra transformed the home business unit economics while maintaining high levels of customer experience. Batra headed up the financial planning and strategy function at Pepperfry, where he led fundraising efforts, apart from helping shape the company’s omnichannel strategy and launching business categories.

    A graduate of the London School of Economics and Narsee Monjee College, Mumbai, Batra started his career as an investment banker at Lazard and Avendus Capital in India.

    Pepperfry co-founder & CEO Ambareesh Murty said, “We are thrilled to welcome Anand back home. His contributions during Pepperfry’s formative years were invaluable and had helped steer our business through several transformational changes. I am a fan of his wide world view and look forward to working with him to chart Pepperfry’s future through India’s rapidly evolving digital and retail landscape.”

    “It gives me great delight to rejoin the Pepperfry family. The company is a differentiated brand in the e-commerce space and has undisputedly built a community-based platform defining home and living. In its decade long journey, Pepperfry has shown all the makings of a strong consumer brand. I look forward to working closely with the team to drive the next phase of growth,” said Anand Batra.

  • Pepperfry onboards Naveen Murali as VP and head of marketing

    Pepperfry onboards Naveen Murali as VP and head of marketing

    Mumbai: Homegrown furniture and home products marketplace Pepperfry continues to strengthen its leadership team as it announced the appointment of Naveen Murali as vice president and head of marketing. 

    In his new role, Murali will lead Pepperfry’s marketing and brand strategies with an aim to drive brand awareness across lucrative untapped markets as well as capture a share in the furniture and home décor industry.

    As a new-age marketing evangelist, Murali will work towards charting out a strategy that helps to break the barriers that consumers have towards shopping online, especially for big-ticket items, said the company.

    Commenting on the appointment, Pepperfry co-founder & CEO Ambareesh Murty said, “Our mission is to spark a feeling called home across India and I am confident that Naveen’s addition to team Pepperfry will help expand and accelerate our marketing agenda towards cementing our leadership of India’s home and living market.”

    Murali has extensive experience of over ten years in marketing, sales and building business competencies. Prior to joining Pepperfry, he was associated with brands like Asian Paints and Oracle across business and marketing roles. 

    He is an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode and holds a degree in Engineering from NIT Warangal. 

    Commenting on the new role, Naveen Murali said, “Pepperfry has transformed the way Indians shop for furniture and build their dream homes. Over the years, Pepperfry has secured a significant consumer mind share in the country. I am super excited to work towards enabling Pepperfry to further increase this share and build an unrivaled brand of the future.”

  • Pepperfry names Ruchir Aswal as VP of product – business

    Pepperfry names Ruchir Aswal as VP of product – business

    Mumbai: Homegrown furniture and home products marketplace Pepperfry has named Ruchir Aswal as vice president of product (business). 

    In this role, Aswal will be responsible for driving products for channel expansion (franchisee and other programmes), merchant or seller network, pepcart logistics, distributor management systems and sales systems across the country, said the brand in a statement.

    “At Pepperfry, our goal is to spark a feeling called home amongst consumers by democratising the furniture and home products category in the country. Even as we continue to scale up our existing business, provide a seamless experience to our stakeholders, we are also working hard to expand into adjacent categories,” said Pepperfry co-founder and COO Ashish Shah. “Technology will be a key differentiator and I am certain Ruchir with his vast experience and perspective will accelerate Pepperfry’s journey.”

    A post-graduate diploma holder (MBA) in finance and marketing from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, Aswal has over 13 years of experience in business and product management having worked for global brands like Jio, Intuit, Nium, Shaadi.com and Rediff.com. Prior to joining Pepperfry, he was associated as an angel investor/consultant for startups like Goodify, qonsept, ethnic, squeakee, etc.

    “Today even when Pepperfry is already a household brand I feel we have just scratched the surface,” stated Ruchir Aswal. “I am super excited to be a part of this truly differentiated journey and look forward to taking some strategically bold initiatives & making a lasting impact in the hypergrowth future for the brand.”

  • Pepperfry names Piyush Agarwal as head of supply chain

    Pepperfry names Piyush Agarwal as head of supply chain

    Mumbai: Furniture and home products marketplace Pepperfry on Monday named Piyush Agarwal as the head of supply chain. His appointment is effective immediately and he will be based out of Pepperfry House, here.

    In his new role, Agarwal will be responsible for leading the next phase of growth in Pepperfry’s supply chain agenda across the country, said the company in a statement.

    “Piyush’s appointment is to further strengthen our capabilities and beef up our distribution as we look to significantly expand our reach going ahead and offer our services to more clients in the space,” stated Pepperfry co-founder and COO Ashish Shah.

    Agarwal has close to a decade-long experience in supply chain functions across various verticals like – materials, planning, operations, inventory management, warehousing, forecasting & transportation. Previously, he was associated with Colgate Palmolive where he was instrumental in leading large-scale warehousing projects. He is also an alumnus of NITIE where he pursued an MBA in supply chain.

    “Pepperfry has exhibited disruptive growth over the years and has displayed exceptional abilities in building a highly specialised supply chain for big boxes,” said Agarwal. “I am thrilled to join the team and look forward to making this domain the strongest pillar of growth going forward.”

  • Pepperfry launches Diwali campaign with Kareena Kapoor Khan & Saif Ali Khan

    Pepperfry launches Diwali campaign with Kareena Kapoor Khan & Saif Ali Khan

    Mumbai: Furniture and home products marketplace Pepperfry has onboarded Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan as its first-ever brand ambassadors. The star couple features in the brand’s new Diwali campaign that aims to showcase how great furniture can bring about a change in people’s lives.

    In the fun yet relatable brand film conceptualised by Upward Fall films, Saif and Kareena play a couple that is on the verge of taking their relationship to the next level of commitment, except with a few twists. While Saif proposes, Kareena is not ready to accept because their apartment is suitable for a bachelor’s pad and not for a family. Enters the furniture brand to the rescue and wins the hearts of the most demanding patrons. 

    “We are delighted to have Kareena and Saif on the Pepperfry team. They are a perfect personification of the brand’s attributes. As we kick start this association with our most significant campaign of the year, I am confident that our new brand ambassadors will further strengthen the brand’s position amongst consumers,” said Pepperfry chief marketing officer & business head Kashyap Vadapalli.

    “Through our Diwali campaign, we highlight that the right furniture can help build your dream homes, and we are the best enablers for it,” he added.

     Pepperfry has adopted a multi-pronged campaign approach wherein the film will be aired on various digital media like – video platforms, OTT, social media platforms, and OOH.

    On the new brand association, Kareena said, “My home is my world. Pepperfry’s wide range and designs open the door to help create beautiful homes. We connect with the brand and are thrilled to be a part of their journey.”

    “Pepperfry feels like home already. The collections on Pepperfry are stylish and aspirational. The brand is an expert on everything furniture,” said Saif Ali Khan.

    This Diwali campaign will be present on the T20 World Cup Live matches on Hotstar, La Liga & ATP Tennis on Voot, and UEFA Champions League on Sony Liv. Advertisements will run on popular shows like “Big Picture,” “Bigg Boss,” “KBC,” “Kapil Sharma Show” to target the brand’s TG. In addition, the DVC will air on all the major video and social platforms, the brand stated.

  • upGrad appoints Ankit Khirwal as VP – marketing

    upGrad appoints Ankit Khirwal as VP – marketing

    Mumbai: Homegrown ed-tech company upGrad on Saturday announced that Ankit Khirwal has joined the upGrad management team as vice president – marketing.

    As part of his new role, Khirwal will lead the end-to-end marketing efforts across the organisation. He will manage all aspects of brand marketing and public relations, performance marketing, CRM marketing, creative and content marketing.

    Khirwal was earlier associated at Pepperfry as marketing head. As a part of its senior leadership team, he managed the entire marketing function. In addition to marketing, he has also led various verticals including category management, financial planning & strategy. Prior to Pepperfry, as an analyst at RBS International, he worked on key Debt Capital Market transactions for Indian corporates.  An IIM-Bangalore alumnus, he is a CA by qualification and a graduate of the Shri Ram College of Commerce.  

    Welcoming Khirwal on board, upGrad India, CEO, Arjun Mohan said, “We are thrilled to have Ankit onboard. His proven experience in deepening brand presence, expanding the consumer funnel, and scaling up revenue will be invaluable in helping upGrad maintain its rapid growth to meet the strong demand with the expansion of our footprint in international markets and new verticals.”

    Talking about his new role, Khirwal said, “I was the first person in my entire family to pursue studies beyond under-graduation. I understand and value the importance of education in life. It is an exciting time to be part of the global online education revolution and it will be a fulfilling experience to take upGrad’s philosophy of lifelong learning ahead.”

  • Brands halt retail expansion; focus on online models

    Brands halt retail expansion; focus on online models

    NEW DELHI: As the digital media started to pick up pace in India, retail brands like Pepperfry, Zivame, Nykaa, Lenskart, UrbanLadder, cropped up with entirely online business models. Slowly, they began to enter into the offline space to help customers engage with the brand in multiple ways and maintain recall factors. But with almost a 50 per cent drop in footfall and high rent rates, companies are unable to sustain. It’s not uncommon to hear of layoffs as well.

    The reverse phenomenon is happening now. Offline retailers are going online as they see that’s where maximum sales will happen. Most of them have paused omnichannel expansion across India.

    Furniture e-commerce brand Pepperfry had delayed its plans to launch new stores to mid-June due to the lockdown but has now resumed their offline expansion. The brand used to get 38 per cent from offline sales. As per media reports, fashion retail brand FabAlley is also dealing with the same issue. The brand has around 430 stores across India out of which only 200 are currently open. However, its online sales have picked up at a higher pace.

    Even cosmetic brand Nykaa, which extensively forayed into offline stores, has also taken a blow due to the lockdown. According to reports, the brand believes online is the only option to bounce back. 

    Business strategist and angel investor Lloyd Mathias explains, “Shutting down brick n mortar stores will certainly impact business revenue in the short term. Categories which are overly dependent on physical stores such as spas and salons and luxury goods will take a big hit and some permanent loss of revenue.”

    However, Brand-nomics MD Viren Razdan feels, “It depends on the digital maturity of the product category and within that, the role your brand has played up until now. Have you been a late entrant to the digital play or were you up ahead in the game? New categories would have teething issues such as jewellery shopping might not have the comfort of first-time digital shoppers.” 

    According to the Retailers Association of India (RAI) report, malls in India have registered negative growth and the street retail shops have also seen a decline. 

    The lower demand for offline shops in India is due to the touch-based factor and even brands like FabIndia have started a new category of ‘experimental zones’ for better engagement. Once the situation returns to normalcy, brands will prefer an offline medium again.

    Independent communication and marketing consultant Karthik Srinivasan shares, “Offline behaviour in India is deep-rooted, and the fact that digital money and internet availability is not 100 per cent, an offline presence is a necessity. Offline is an experience-led medium. Most brands that go back to offline would probably start questioning what they are bringing in terms of the experience that cannot be mirrored online. And that difference is what will help them continue because if everything else can be done online, there is no need for the offline version.”

    Mathias also feels that brick and mortar presence will remain relevant for consumers who want the look and feel of real shopping. “A large section of consumers will always like this option available to them. So, while the Covid2019 pandemic has been a set back to the offline stores – over time they will come back. However, for many this period has broken the stranglehold of brick and mortar with increased adoption of digital payment options and the sheer number of first-time online shoppers,” he asserted. 

    “India will always have markets with our country operating at varying levels of sophistication in technology adoption, so a phyigital reality will have room to play for some time to come,” Razdan shares.

  • iProspect India to handle SEO duties of Godrej Interio

    iProspect India to handle SEO duties of Godrej Interio

    MUMBAI: iProspect India, the digital performance agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has bagged the digital media duties for the online business of one of India’s largest furniture brands, Godrej Interio. The account was won after a multi-agency pitch.

    As part of the mandate, the agency will provide SEO services to the brand and will service the account from its Mumbai office. Godrej Interio is building its online business, wherein now one can order furniture online and get it delivered to their doorstep, as it plans to expand its business footprint across the country.

    Commenting on the win, iProspect India CEO Rubeena Singh said, “Godrej Interio is a leading name in furniture business. And as it plans to strengthen its online footprint across the country, we look forward to support the brand in its omnichannel expansion plans. We are excited to provide Godrej Inerio opportunities to enhance their business performance that will help the brand reach out to the right customers in its next phase of growth.”

    Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd head- ecommerce Ashish Jain said, “Godrej Interio is leveraging technology to create an omnichannel experience for its customers across India. The brand will soon launch its e-commerce website and introduce other digital touch points to deliver superior customer experience across all channels. iProspect joins us at a crucial junction, as we strengthen our online presence.”

    The agency services e-commerce players like Pepperfry, Metro Shoes, Kalki Fashion, Nykaa, and Grofers as its client across its offices.