The Chief Operating Officer of the Interio Division, Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co. Ltd., with an experience of over two decades in the furniture industry, Mr. Anil Mathur was instrumental in Godrej’s foray into Home Furniture, Mattress, Kitchens, Healthcare, Laboratory and turnkey solutions. In the best-selling book Future of Homes, curated by Mahesh M, visionary CEO of Pune's largest lifestyle mall Creaticity, Mr. Anil offers his insights into the future of the home decor industry.
Unprecedented challenges
Mr. Mathur opines that unprecedented changes bring about changes in lifestyle, behavior, work culture and habits and we are living through exactly that - unprecedented changes in the way the world functions. The COVID-19 pandemic has created both medical and economic challenges that are changing the way we interact with each other, as well as our homes.
He points out that this has made consumers develop strong bonds among families, whether they live together or far apart and these bonds are helping them rediscover their connections with each other, as well as their lifestyles, eating habits, passions and more. The more time the consumer spends at home, the more they find gaps in satisfying their emotional needs which were previously centeredaround offices, recreation centers, restaurants, etc. This means that customers are trying to fulfil all their latent needs at home rather than outside.
The future ahead
All of this means that furniture has new meaning in customer's lives, beyond just being functional. Home decor is becoming an integral part of their lives. In fact, according to recent surveys, consumers were ready to spend more than what they were spending on furniture and fittings in the pre-COVID 19 scenario.
Mr. Mathur also emphasisesit is of utmost importance that manufacturers or suppliers of furniture need to reinvent and remodel their strategies and product offerings. This will improve consumer engagement and build positive sentiments and much needed trust among consumers which may be tough to do on a one-to-one basis. The need of the hour is to gravitate towards the digital and personalized messages and product platforms.
He believes the furniture and furnishing category has an opportunity to rebound quickly, provided organizations stay connected to consumers, understand their problems and develop new solutions for their changing habits.
Lastly, organizations will have to focus heavily on digital while maintaining their offline channels as consumers of furniture will still want to feel a product's fit and finish with their own hands. Technology like AR and VR will play an important role in communicating digitally to customers as well.
Creaticity has come a long way in implementing these kinds of futuristic methods, via our new platform Creaticity Online. These include everything from 360-degree walkthroughs of stores to booking Curated Trails through the campus. Creaticity now offers never-before-seen features to its customers, facilitating a new level of convenience while exploring its massive range of products.
Read Anil Mathur's detailed report and much more, in FUTURE OF HOMES. To download, click here: https://www.creaticity.co.in/future-of-homes-ebook-download/
