BY JAGDEEP KAPOOR

• Walk into an ICICI Bank branch and be astounded and be surrounded by excellent ambience and furniture, making the customers feel comfortable, safe and at home with an elegant and well done environment. Not only do you feel that your money is safe, but you also feel welcome, taken care of and having a sense of importance given to you. You can now bank on good aesthetics and ambience.
• Walk into Hinduja Hospital at Mumbai and you are able to get a feeling of well being and a sense of well done interiors, appropriate furniture and an environment wherein the patient has already begun his journey towards better health. Hospitals are no longer dreaded places with a gloomy outlook, but now have a certain sense of vibrancy making the consumer feel relaxed and upbeat. Furniture and ambience marketing has done wonders in making patients feel better.
• Walk into Ecole Mondiale World School which offers IB and get pleasantly surprised with world class furniture, a spacious library, a relevant music room, a well designed laboratory and of course class rooms adorned with world class furniture. No longer is a school just a school, infact these days a school is pretty cool Furniture Marketing and ambience and environment has made the educational institution a better place to learn and develop oneself.

India wants to look good. Virtually every consumer in India wants to be well groomed and wants to look good. Similarly, every home, office institution also wants to look good. This is the age of good looking homes and offices and good looking men and women.

In this scheme of things there is a critical and crucial role played by furniture. Infact, furniture marketing has reached high levels of performance and sophistication. No longer is a furniture just a piece of wood or metal but it is a critical element helping to enhance the entire ambience décor and looks of a home or of an office or of an Institution.

At home, there is a tremendous amount of aspiration to make sure that the furniture at the house looks very good and reflects the life style and the personality of the inhabitants and the residents living in the home.

In Indian furniture market is valued at approx. 18,000 crores with almost 75% of the market being in the unorganized area. There are thousands of unorganized players and the market is divided between metal, wood and plastic hard furniture and a host of soft furnishing options.

Right from the selection of furniture to the design and choice of material there is full involvement of the consumer. In fact some consumers prefer some ready made furniture others prepare modular furniture and still others would like to have a carpenter or a contractor customised furniture for them and make it under their supervision.

In fact architects and interior designers are able to provide tremendous expertise in lending style and elegance to the homes of consumers.

Now we come to various rooms within the home which requires a special sensitive touch, it could be the living room or the kitchen or the bathroom or the bedroom or the children’s room or the family room. In each case the choice and the appropriate setting and placement of furniture makes a world of difference. Each consumer has his or her own taste in terms of design or colour or shape or size. This must be considered carefully before a marketeer is able to brand and position his product.

Similarly in offices and institutions like banks, corporates showrooms, malls and other retail outlets, furniture marketing is gaining ground. It is not only a piece of chair, or a bed or a cabinet or a carpet or a wall painting but it is the reflection of the inner personality and desire of the consumer which is projected in the outer form of furniture.Whether it is at home or restaurant or in a corporate board room or a bar at the club, each of these locations require furniture marketing. It is important that brand marketeers understand that it not only advertising or pricing which will drive sales but also the understanding and appreciation of consumer behaviour and their needs and desires, which could make furniture marketing, succeed.

Furniture marketing has come of age and can now move to a higher level if proper brand strategy and positioning is applied and the aspirations of the consumers are attended to and fulfilled. If you would like your furniture sales to go up, make sure, that apart from durability, you make the consumer look good.

Copyright © 2005, All rights reserved with Jagdeep Kapoor – Managing Director, Samsika Marketing Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
No part of this document may be modified, reproduced, stored, deleted or introduced in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (Electronic, Mechanical, Photocopying, Recording or Otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of the document.

The author is Jagdeep Kapoor, Brand Guru and Managing Director of the successful Samsika Marketing Consultancy.
Tel: (022) 28477700/7701 (022) 28470214/15
Fax:022 28477699
E-mail : jkapoor@samsika.com