CHENNAI MARKET FOR FURNISHINGS

Chennaibest.com spoke to Showkath Kapoor of Kapoor's Furnishing Fabrics, one of the leading names in Furnishing fabric in the city.

Only in the last five to seven years have people started going in for interior decorators and paying more attention to interior decoration as such.  People most often follow the designs from Mumbai and Delhi.  Customers in Chennai are very flexible in terms of allowing people like us to choose the designs for their curtains.  Only a small percentage of people know what they want.

There are about five to six big showrooms like Kapoors. Raghurams, Drapes Avenue, India Silk House and Chellarams.   Drapes Avenue is from Bangalore and is new to Chennai, while Chellarams is a big name in furnishings even though they deal more with furniture at present.

The market in Chennai is improving by the day.  All the major manufacturers are coming down to Chennai.  They feel that there is great scope for furnishings, as this is a virgin market, which has been left untapped.  They did not consider Chennai a big market previously, but now that the market is coming up, there is a lot of growth especially in the handloom sector.

I speak about the threat to the dealers in the market.  According to me, new dealers are still shy of the market.  They feel threatened by the big showrooms.  Because they are new, they are not aware of the risks involved in stocking.  I could be marking up my price by say 10% without realising that I have to give a discount to the customer and make up for wastage.  The full roll of the fabric does not sell, you know.  If you have 60 metres of fabric, only 55 metres may get sold.  So the five metres cost also gets added to the fabric cost.  Then the range of fabric is also wide, which in turn means that quantity is more, varieties are more. 

New imported machines have come.   Computerised looms have come.  So the designs are changing fast.  Overstocking is a major threat to the dealers.  I have got a clientele of my own, so I buy a certain kind of fabric, knowing that I have the client to whom I can sell it.  But if a new dealer is going to buy what I stock, then he is going to get into a problem, because he may not have a Client to sell it to.

The difference in the market is that, compared to other cities, Chennai is coming up only now.  People may build a house for one crore, but they will think twice about investing in furnishing.  Most often, furnishing is a last minute job.  But now the scene is changing.  More importance is being given to furnishing in Chennai.  Furnishings are planned at the building-conception stage itself. 

As far as the price goes, prices in cities like Mumbai or Delhi are very high. Their overheads are high.  For example, for a shop of 7,000 square feet near Anna Salai, I pay a rent of just Rs. 60,000.  In Mumbai, you cannot rent because there is hardly any rental over there.  You will have to buy the property.   Buying a property of that size alone will cost over five to seven crore rupees.  Here people bargain, so prices will have to be fixed according to that.  Only a small percentage of people do not bargain. They like the design and they buy it.  Mumbai and Delhi being the centres of manufacturing, a dealer need not stock so much.  He can manage with the samples and sell it, whereas in Chennai if I am going to survive, I have to have the material here in my showroom.  The stocking capacity is more and the variety available in a showroom in Chennai is definitely more than in Mumbai or Delhi. 

In Mumbai and Delhi, the manufacturer segregates the designs.  He will not give all the designs to all the dealers.  If there is a manufacturer in Mumbai manufacturing 10 designs and there are 10 dealers in Mumbai, he will not give all the designs to all the dealers.  He may give two designs to each dealer. In Chennai, because there are only a few showrooms, the manufacturer cannot segregate and has to give all the designs.  In Mumbai, the dealer need not stock and can get the required goods from the manufacturer when he gets the order.  In Chennai, the dealer has to stock all the designs because the customer cannot afford to wait.

For most people using curtains, including middle class families, climate is not the criteria.  Almost everyone has an Air Conditioner in his or her house.  And we have the same weather all the twelve months in our city.  So it is not like we have to change the curtains for winter or summer.  Most customers ask for cotton.  But once we tell them that cottons are not washable and hard to maintain, they go in for other material.  Now the most popular fabric are the polyesters.  Any fabric that is machine- washable is okay for the majority of customers. 

All the bulk buyers, like hotels and other big projects are customized orders, unless they want to buy the design off the shelf.  Bulk orders are 500 to 1000 metres in each design.  Customized option is available, but only for bulk buyers.

A decent air-conditioned showroom is a must and the display should be good.  Price and quality is very important. The customer doesn't benefit by the showroom having granite or marble. It is the product that matters. The most important thing is that the customer should feel comfortable.  At Kapoor's we talk to the customers and not our salespersons. So a customer feels that even if he were to buy five metres, he can speak to Mr. Kapoor.  We are easily accessible to our customers and this makes them feel important.  In Chennai, the customer would like to be handled by the owner.

The furnishing of the house or showroom is based on the interiors.  When the interiors are imported, then the furnishing cannot be indianised.  The interior designers themselves are imported. Then how can the furnishing be based on the Indian culture?  When the Indian mind is not there in the design, then it cannot be in the furnishing.

The lady's decision is the clinching factor, as far as purchase decision is concerned.  Price matters a lot, but when you are able to explain the difference in quality, the customer generally accepts. For instance, the design might be the same, but the fabric may be different.

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