Merging technology with design to meet demand

India is a vast country known for its myriad cultures and its people. And so is its unity in this diversity. This unity is also seen in the way Indians purchase knick-knacks to decorate their homes.

“The trend is that cutting across geographies and cultures in the country, there is not much difference in purchase patterns. While there are individual preferences, which are pretty wide and you do find some amount of influence of culture, they are not that varied in terms of design preferences or colours. We find that the differences are almost negligible across classes or geography.  A person sitting in Indore or Nainital goes for the same things and has similar purchase habits as their brethren in mega cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai or Delhi,” Avrine Roy, a young Industrial Engineering and Business Administration graduate from Georgia Tech, Atlanta, USA, says.

No. He is not stating this as someone who has got theoretical knowledge or has carried out a survey on consumer preferences. This Indian-born former investment banker from the US acquired this knowledge via his entrepreneurial venture Cyahi.

“Indians appear more influenced by their social environment, the festivities and their experiences. They are getting more and more geography-agnostic. We saw this during the season of colours – Holi. Suddenly the demand for floral and colourful products multiplied. Similarly, post summer vacations, when many Indians travel to foreign shores, they suddenly begin looking for designs and colours similar to what they have seen there,” 28-year-old Roy adds.

The purchase habits are also influenced by age groups. If the executives in early 30s to mid-40s prefer to buy accessories for their travel, college students are buying designer phone cases. “The Indians do not get restricted by particular income group and those with disposable income do buy basis aspirational value,” he adds.

Roy feels that tremendous exposure to global trends via the power of internet and technology has now established this sea change in consuming patterns of us Indians.

Even the multinational firms such as Amazon or Ikea already test and sell their products in global markets before introducing them in India. All this has facilitated the paradigm shift and it is such insights that Roy hopes will stand entrepreneurs like him in good stead, especially when it comes to taking on the might of global retailers to carve out their own niche and serve the Indian buyers with the best.

Roy and his spouse JahnaveeSinhRoy, Mechanical Engineering graduate from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), gathered a team of engineers, industrial and product designers and data analysts from India’s premier educational hubs in Ahmedabad, to build and begin a venture that now seeks to serve Urbane Indian’s need for stylish home décor and personal accessories.

Home décor is a very underserved market in India and the consumer is forced to buy what is available with limited updates in designs. The market is largely unorganised with less than half a dozen big players making their mark in a sector dominated by mom and pop stores. The advent of online retailers has helped expand this niche market as it now provides reach and option for buyers and youngsters who till now had to rely on local retailers for designs and quality.

As per some estimates, the home décor market in India stood at about $13 billion at the beginning of the current decade and is expected to at least double by end of the decade in 2020. No wonder, Indian online home decor market is witnessing a growth of a high of 50% annual compounded since 2014.

The major players in this segment are Good Earth, Nicobar, India Circus, Fabfurnish, Urban ladder, The Label, Zanzaar etc. However, all of these brands are either in Delhi, Mumbai or Bengaluru.

Through their Ahmedabad-based venture Cyahi, the Roys want to ride this scalable curve.  “We are not interested in riding the wave of ecommerce as it is just a means or sales channel. We are passionate about technology and design. A lot of technology companies don't understand design and design companies don't understand technology. At Cyahi, our process is to bring the two together to form a seamless, hassle free experience for Fashion Forward customers,” Roy says.

The technology is used in all aspects of business, from spotting trends to having just in-time inventory to delivering our products.

The customers are also a part of our social circle, where ideas, inspirations and knowledge are exchanged to create an aspirational living. He claims that the key to growth would come from use of big data and micro data for agile development of products.

“Sitting in a small office, small design house, you can draw a few things, design something and do test-marketing. There have been instances where a large segment of customers create demand. Cyahi sold only dinner plates but customers said that instead of having them just on their dinner table, they would want to display them on walls. So we launched designer wall plates. It is such listening and reaching out that would help market grow,” Roy adds.