IKEA is aiming for 99%

1% is the percentage of furniture that’s sold online in India

IKEA is entering India where 90% of the market is unorganised, aiming to capture a large share of it

Existing online furniture retailers like Urban Ladder and Pepperfry have known about this for years

Despite this, they have gradually moved a large part of their business offline, driven by pragmatic business needs

The question is why, and what does this mean for the future?

Ashish Goel, the CEO of Urban Ladder, is a design geek.

Early in our conversation, we start talking about bookshelves. His eyes light up.

“Bookshelves are unique. There aren’t too many manufacturers who get it right. Especially in India.”

Really?

“Yes. One thing people always miss is that to design bookshelves properly, you need to understand books. People always design for the western market—where people predominantly buy hardbacks over paperbacks. In India, it’s the other way around. So you should adjust accordingly. You need to have bookshelves with shelves 9.5 inches tall.

AUTHOR

Praveen Krishnan

Praveen is the Head of Product at The Ken. Before joining The Ken, his last role was Director of Product at InMobi - the world's largest independent ad-network. He holds an MBA from IIM Bangalore and an engineering degree from NIT Trichy.

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