Wakefit Innovations Ltd is betting that massive furniture stores will power its next phase of growth, as the omnichannel home retailer looks to make furniture its largest business within the next three years.
The company is opening its first jumbo-format furniture store, which co-founder and chief executive Ankit Garg said would be “even bigger than Ikea”, with a second outlet to follow within a few months. Rather than rapidly rolling out the format, however, Wakefit plans to spend about a year refining the concept before expanding further.
“We expect these stores to significantly accelerate the growth of our furniture business,” Garg told Mint in an interview.
To be sure, Ikea has seven stores in India, including three big-box stores and four compact city stores. Its large stores average 300,000-500,000 square feet.
The stores are envisioned as destination experience centres rather than conventional furniture outlets, each featuring more than 200 fully curated room setups across bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens, designed to inspire customers looking to furnish their homes.
Garg likened the concept to creating “an offline version of Pinterest”, where consumers can experience complete home designs instead of simply browsing them online.
Wakefit is investing roughly ₹100 crore in each jumbo store while strengthening its manufacturing, supply chain, and installation capabilities to support the format, he added.
The strategy comes as Wakefit looks to diversify beyond mattresses, which remains its largest and fastest-growing business. The company reported a 16.6% year-on-year rise in consolidated revenue from operations to ₹405 crore in the June quarter, while net profit rose 19.2% to ₹23.3 crore.
Mattress revenue grew 27.3% on-year, helping offset slower growth in furniture and temporary supply-chain disruptions in the furnishings category.
Ikea India reported a revenue of ₹1,750 crore in FY25, with wider profit after tax of ₹1,325 crore compared to ₹1,299 crore in the year-ago period. FY26 financials are not available yet.
The company also continued to deepen its offline presence, adding 27 company-owned stores during the quarter to take its network to 165 outlets, while expanding its multi-brand outlet presence to 2,250 stores across 701 cities.
Furniture takes centre stage
The jumbo-store strategy underpins Wakefit’s ambition to make furniture its biggest business over the next three years, overtaking mattresses, which currently drive the bulk of its sales.
“Over the next three years, we expect furniture to overtake mattresses and become our largest business,” Garg said.
Rather than chasing rapid expansion, Wakefit plans to use the first two stores to fine-tune the model before rolling it out widely. The company expects to open two jumbo stores initially and spend about a year studying customer behaviour, operations and execution before resuming expansion from 2029 at a pace of roughly two stores annually.
Garg said the measured approach reflects the complexity of the format. “Once we’ve built the playbook, scaling becomes much easier. But building that playbook takes significant time and investment.”
While the first stores will target larger cities, Garg believes the concept has nationwide potential as consumer aspirations converge across metros and smaller towns. “Anyone living in a city with a population of more than 400,000 should eventually have access to a store like this,” he said.
Investing ahead of growth
Garg said furniture is fundamentally more complex than mattresses because it requires industrializing a fragmented manufacturing ecosystem while maintaining affordability, quality and design.
“The challenge is to industrialize furniture manufacturing without compromising on quality, design or affordability,” he said. “In many ways, it requires the kind of systems thinking that transformed the automotive industry.”
The heavy investments needed to prepare the jumbo-store model also explain why furniture growth has remained subdued in recent quarters, Garg said.
The company has prioritized building supply chains, expanding its catalogue and strengthening installation capabilities before attempting to scale the format nationally.
Beyond furniture, Wakefit also plans to introduce more innovative products, such as AI-enabled personalized mattresses, this quarter and continue expanding its retail footprint, which Garg said could exceed its earlier target of opening about 80 company-owned stores during FY27.
Over the longer term, the company expects to sustain a compound annual growth rate of more than 25%, even if quarterly growth fluctuates.
“There are multiple growth levers coming together, from new product innovation and a wider catalogue to store expansion and supply-chain improvements,” Garg said. “Over the long term, we’re confident of sustaining more than 25% annual growth.”
Despite concerns over raw material inflation following disruptions in West Asia, Garg said the company remains optimistic heading into the festive season.
“We’re entering the festive season with confidence,” he said. “If we execute well on availability, pricing and product quality, we believe we’ll outperform the commitments we’ve made to investors.”
Wakefit’s shares on Friday closed 0.31% lower to settle at ₹127.50 apiece on National Stock Exchange.