BackUrban Ladder ties up with Amazon India to boost sales
Urban Ladder to retail 300 furniture items and mattresses on Amazon India; the service will be available in 10 cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai
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Bengaluru: Online furniture store Urban Ladder Home Décor Solutions Pvt. Ltd has opened a store on Amazon India (Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd) in a move that is likely to boost sales for the furniture store as well as strengthen Amazon’s furniture business, which will, in turn, increase gross sales because of the higher value of furniture.
Urban Ladder will list about 300 furniture items and mattresses on Amazon.
The next phase of launch will entail launch of 400 home décor products, Urban Ladder said in a statement on Friday.
Urban Ladder, which is currently operational in 19 cities, will entertain booking through Amazon for only 10 of these cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai,
Barring leveraging Amazon’s customer base, Urban Ladder does not immediately plan to leverage Amazon’s delivery network.
Delivery and installation of furniture will still be handled by the company’s own executives.
“The common ground for both Urban Ladder and Amazon was the principle of customer obsession. Amazon has been seen as an online powerhouse which shoppers have been increasingly gravitating towards. This platform will give us the accessibility to leverage multiple channels and offer new customers an experience of shopping for furniture online," said Ashish Goel, co-founder and chief executive officer at Urban Ladder.
Urban Ladder is one of the most well-capitalized online furniture businesses, backed by TR Capital, Sequoia Capital, Steadview Capital, SAIF Partners and Kalaari Capital. The company has raised about $77 million so far, the last being a $50 million round in April 2015.
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It competes with Pepperfry (Trendsutra Platform Services Pvt. Ltd), which has so far raised $128 million from Goldman Sachs, Norwest Venture Partners and Bertelsmann India Investments, among others and Livspace, which has mopped up $28 million from Bessemer Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners and Jungle Ventures.
The move to list on Amazon will provide Urban Ladder with an additional channel of sales.
Industry experts, however, said this might signal stunted growth in Urban Ladder, which prompted the move.
Traditionally, internet-only brands, especially in the fashion and jewellery segments, have partnered with larger online marketplaces which have higher traffic and bigger customer base. But, none of them are at Urban Ladder’s scale.
For instance, Amazon opened a store on Alibaba-owned Tmall.com in China last year, after it failed to edge past Alibaba in Asia’s biggest economy.
Online marketplaces such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon have been increasingly focusing on furniture as a category as it helps significantly improve gross sales.
Flipkart is aiming to become the largest online furniture store in the country by the end of the year, aiming for furniture sales of $400 million by December, The Economic Times newspaper reported on 18 April.
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