Kurlon set to foray into omnichannel retail

Bengaluru-based mattress and furniture maker Kurlon Enterprise Limited has lined up an aggressive foray into the online business by opening an omnichannel platform.

The company, which currently gets a little over 1% of its total sales from e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart and its own website, is set to launch its omnichannel platform in the next two weeks.

“We are already selling online through e-commerce platforms. To attract young, and net-savvy customers, we are developing our website where customers can check our wide range of products and choose what they want,” T Sudhakar Pai, Chairman and Managing Director, Kurlon told DH. He said the company will also give tips to customers on measuring their cots and order mattresses accordingly. The customers can also visit offline stores to touch and feel the mattresses and furniture, before placing an order online, he said.

“Many customers need odd-sized mattresses and they are not available easily in the market. So, customers can place orders for any size on our website and we will customise mattresses as per their preferences and deliver within 48 hours,” Pai said.

Kurlon clocked sales of Rs 1,050 crore for 2018-19. The company is currently running a Beta version of its new website and will launch in two weeks. “This will be our O2O (offline to online) platform. Our in-house software developers are building the website and will be ready shortly,” said Prashant Deshpande, Head, Marketing, Kurlon. The company is aiming at a double-digit sale from the new O2O platform by end of 2020, he said.

Besides, Kurlon is also entering new categories such as modular kitchens and expand its furniture range. It plans to launch new products by January next year.

Delays expansion

Meanwhile, the company has slowed down its Rs 250 crore capacity expansion programme in view of the economic slowdown impacting sales.

“We have postponed our expansion projects by one year due to the slowdown. This year, we are investing around Rs 50 crore to expand capacity in a small way. Our capacity will go up to 150,000 mattresses per month this year,” Pai said.

The company has also scaled down its growth numbers for the current fiscal. It expects to grow by 15-18% as against 25% envisaged earlier. It expects to touch Rs 1,200 crore sales mark in FY20 and aims to achieve a higher 25-30% growth in the next financial year.

This year, growth will be driven by new products like wedding mattress and designer bedsheets. Last week, Kurlon marked its foray into the wedding market, valued at Rs 33,000 crore annually, with the launch of customized wedding mattresses. Kurlon also plans to expand its retail footprint from the existing 100 stores to 250 stores by the end of March 2020. Currently, Kurlon operates 10 manufacturing facilities and sells over 200 products in the mattress and home furnishing segment.