Furniture Marketplace Growth During the Pandemic

The Large-Scale Social Restriction Policy (PSBB) adopted by the government has been responded to by many companies or agencies with the decision to WFH or work from home. This condition has a positive impact on the demand for furniture or home furnishings in the furniture marketplace service. First, because many people feel the need to start beautifying their home or making their home as comfortable as an office and, secondly, shopping from home or online.

Previously, the furniture marketplace industry was quite far from the spotlight. A number of names eventually closed the service, such as Livaza, Decadeco, Vurnisio, and several others. On the other hand, some startups still survive and even start designing their business innovations.

This year Fabelio turns 5 years old. They claim, there has been some significant growth in retail furniture sales and services design & build. Wider delivery coverage, covering 750 sub-districts throughout Java and availability showroom which opens up more opportunities to more customers. Currently, in total, there are 20 showroom Fabelio in Greater Jakarta and Bandung.

"For growth, we have achieved significant figures, namely an increase of more than 450% since 2017. Until now, there have been more than 1000 projects handled by Fabelio Projects, ranging from residential such as houses and apartments, offices to retail," explained Co. -Founders Fabelio Christian Sutardi.

Ruparupa also experienced something similar. Chief of Many Things Ruparupa Teresa Wibowo explained that they experienced growth during their four years of operation.

"We are happy with the achievements we have had over the last 4 years. It shows a healthy sales trend that continues to increase year on year. Especially when the Covid-19 pandemic started, Ruparupa's online presence was tested further because in just a few days, sales were more than three times as much," explained Teresa.

Dekoruma also experienced growth conditions. Four years of operation, they claim to be able to provide services end to end to get the customer's dream home or residence. Not only retail and design & build services, but also help property developer marketing an apartment or house.

"[..] With the products we make now, we can run project well without being affected crown and PSBB. Meeting "We can still hold discussions with thousands of contractors digitally," said the Co-Founder decoration Dimas Harry Priawan.

A story about growth and challenges

Furniture marketplace services in Indonesia are slightly different from most goods. Size or dimensions that are large enough to be a serious problem mean that delivery is limited to a certain distance or range. Not to mention that the experience of buying furniture online and offline is quite different because many people are not satisfied just looking in image form. The pandemic and PSBB have forced people to get used to shopping from home, including for furniture. This ultimately increases first-time customer adoption.

"Online sales have almost doubled compared to sales before the pandemic. Apart from that, we are also implementing comprehensive health and hygiene protocols for all points of interaction starting from warehouse, showroom, until the product is delivered to your home customer. We take all these safety measures to ensure the safety and comfort of everyone stakeholders Fabelio; good for customer or our employees," explained Christian.

Likewise with Decoruma. Dimas said, "For the pandemic we have experienced an increase in terms of things retail. For example, for household furniture. Experiencing quite good improvement, over the last three months still growing month-of-month. PSBB reflects the potential of e-commerce [services] as an industry."

Ruparupa also experienced a growth spurt. During this pandemic they increased 3 times within two days. Having felt overwhelmed at the beginning of the surge, Ruparupa is now starting to be able to anticipate the surge.

"It was through this experience that we realized that we could not skimp on continuing to build our infrastructure and reinvest in it. Our omnichannel platform has really proven itself during this period because more than ever our customers are shopping in an omnichannel way. They no longer linger in stores to browse "Browsing is done on the website and even sending links to available products to the nearest shop to check availability (if it is an Ace / Informa product, the item can be picked up at the shop)," explained Teresa.

However, growth is not experienced by all players in the industry. Andoleto, a marketplace service that has been operating since 2016, claims a decline amid the pandemic.

"We have been implementing it for a long time online business, so in practice it works remote has become normal for us. We certainly feel our purchasing power has decreased in this pandemic. But we are optimistic about the start new normal, everything will come back slowly," explained the CEO Andoleto Aty Samadikun.

Regarding the challenges of surviving in the industry, everyone agrees. Fabelio, Dekoruma, and Andoleto assess that trust, experience and delivery are still challenges faced, at least to survive.

Dimas, for example, sees that logistics issues outside Jabodetabek and other big cities, such as Bandung and Surabaya, are quite difficult and a challenge. Apart from that, there is still the problem of trust from customers.

"Going back four years ago, people didn't imagine how to buy a sofa without seeing the item. Everyone experienced this obstacle and I think it's a normal obstacle. It takes time, it takes education. So with or without "pandemic, that's the problem we're experiencing," explained Dimas.

Meanwhile Christian said, "Customer needs for touch and feel [becomes a challenge], where customers still need to see directly and feel the furniture they are going to buy. But we can overcome this challenge overcome via features virtual assistants. We try to educate customer with more services customized via this service. Another challenge we have is distribution. "With larger item sizes, we have to prepare good distribution to reach more customers."

Funding

Aty didn't say much about Andoleto's next plans. He is trying to introduce Andoleto to more people for potential users. Meanwhile Rupapa continues to strive to improve their user experience and omnichannel system. Meanwhile for Fabelio and Dekoruma. This year both were successful in securing new funding.

Decoruma secures Series C pendanaan funding from InterVest Star SEA Growth Fund 1, Foundation, OCBC NISP Ventures, and Skystar Ventures. Investors in the previous round also participated. Temporary Fabelio receives Series C funding amounting to US$20 million or the equivalent of 283,4 billion Rupiah led by AppWorks, Endeavor Catalyst, and MDI Ventures, with the involvement of previous investor, Aavishkaar Capital.

Dekoruma is starting to develop a new platform to make it easier for its customers to design their dream home, including a platform to promote housing, both houses and apartments. Meanwhile, Fabelio has planned expansion to reach more areas, so it can be present to more people.

Update: Added information from Ruparupa