The Furniture Rental Market Will Continue To Grow Rapidly: Neerav Jain

In India, 70% of the accommodations are unfurnished. Thus, the only option available for people was to either buy new or old furniture, which seem like a broken market. The problem increases in the case of college students while renting an apartment, as they are already on a shoe-string budget and purchasing furniture throws them out of balance. There wasn’t any other alternative.

That is how the Idea of Cityfurnish came into being, India's fastest growing furniture, furnishings and consumer appliances rental platform that is revolutionizing the on-demand rental economy in the country. Cityfurnish has also raised funding of $5 million from investors from global founders capital recently.

In conversation with Franchise India, Neerav Jain, Founder & CEO, Cityfurnish, shares his valuable inputs on the furniture rental industry.

Consumer Trends

Taking note of consumer behaviour is the key to a company’s survival and profitability. The sooner and better a company can identify and satisfy unfulfilled consumer needs, the higher the growth.

“The basic key trend in the furniture rental industry is that lots of furniture buyers are shifting to furniture rental. This trend has not only been visible from the tenant side of the community but also from the landlord or homeowner side of community as well,” said, Jain.

Business Model

Cityfurnish is a subscription-based model. The brand takes care of everything from designs, to installation to marketing, on their own, to ensure the customer experience.

“We control the complete lifecycle of customer’s experience as that is the most crucial thing for the success of a business. We don’t outsource anything at any level, this way we can ensure that the quality level of the product and service offered to the customer is far more supreme than what he would get if he would’ve purchased the product,” explained, Jain

“Our business model is consumer friendly; the customer does can choose the furniture rental package or a la carte option, for a minimum duration of 3 months. They also upgrade the furniture later on,” he added.

Growth Drivers

One of the major factors propelling the growth of the rental market is the trend of the job or corporate industry. The average time of shifting between jobs has come down from 2.5 years to 1.8 years now. So, almost every 25-28 years old are changing their jobs in every 1.8 years.

“With the change in jobs, comes the relocation of homes/cities for most of them. In such cases, the whole process of selling and buying of furniture can be gruesome. This is where furniture rental comes into play and this is the major trend we are capitalising on,” commented, Jain.

Current Challenges

One of the foremost challenges, which the industry is dealing with for past years, is the awareness of rental as a mainstream option.

Jain, said, “We are planning to invest our funds into creating awareness about the brand and the category, for the users to be actually aware of the furniture rental, as a mainstream option or a substitution for mainstream brands.”

Future of Furniture Rental

The furniture rental is booming at an unprecedented rate and the future looks positively bright. “Currently, the rental market as a whole at the global economy has been increasing at 220% year-on-year (yoy), and I think at this pace, the furniture rental market will continue to grow rapidly,” Jain stated.