Buying furniture for the home is a second-most major investment in India. It has an emotional component attached to it like owning a property.
Buying furniture for a home is as equally important as buying a house. It is the second -most large substantial investment for making a home. Many Indian banks provide consumer loans also to do it.
It is the furniture and furnishing that makes it into the home. Generally, it is done by the lady of the house after substantial investment in time and energy in researching, finding & sourcing the right type of furniture. After investing a substantial amount of money in owning a home, beautifying home with interior decoration is the utmost priority.
The core theme of any interior decoration idea revolves around furniture & furnishing. Home Painting is done to match the color and aesthetic look of the furniture. Furniture design which gel in harmony with the interior of the home is most sought.
Following factors are most important for choosing a furniture brand provided by a vendor :
Price
The furniture industry in India is highly segmented based on price. For the residential segment, the furniture industry is dominated by the following players :
Furniture made by carpenters
Furniture made by MSME manufacturers
Furniture made by large companies, like IKEA.
Luxury furniture brands that are imported.
Furniture prices also vary as per manufacturer of the furniture. It depends on the type of ownership of home also. People who stay on rent generally do not spend on major furniture brands. They need to shift the home frequently, so the damage factor in furniture in transit is very high. House owners invest a substantial amount of money on furniture brands Overall household income & type of ownership plays a very important role in India.
People who own businesses tend to buy costly furniture than people who belong to the working class. So the concept of lifestyle furniture is very popular among upper-middle-class and business circles. Business people need to entertain guests as well as clients sometimes in a gathering or a party at the home. Price is also determined by keeping the longevity of the furniture in mind.
People usually change furniture when the interiors of the home are redecorated or new painting is done. The average duration of this activity is 5 years. So we can safely assume that a person takes the decision to buy a substantial amount of furniture 4 to 5 times in his/her lifetime. Though there may be some exceptions.
Newly married couples are more likely to invest in furniture first rather than costly white goods or cars and scooters.
Materials used to make furniture
The material from which furniture has been constructed plays a big role in selection and usage. Until now, the trend has been to buy furniture made of wood. It is found in any city or village of India that generally furniture shops have a huge inventory of wooden furniture with a wide variety of choices. Commonly used materials are as given below:
Wooden boards
- Ply
- Commercial Ply
- Marine Ply
- Block Board
Pre-laminated boards
- MDF
- HDF
- Particle Board
Finishing materials for the surface of the furniture
- Laminate
- Acrylic
- Correa
- PU Coating
- Powder Coating
- Wooden Grain on Powder coating
Furniture crafted with the above materials have the following qualities:
- Elegant design
- Sturdiness
- Durability
- Longevity
- Almost free from maintenance
- Ready to gel in any interior design
- Flexibility
- Strength
- Re-usability
- Low weight
Size of home & Color of furniture
Usually, the decision is taken by Interior Designer or the lady of the house. The color of the furniture must gel with the overall theme of decoration of the home. A new trend is shaping in the matters of choice of color & theme that these are chosen based on Feng-shui principles.
Durability
The life of furniture becomes very important in India as it is done with a substantial amount of investment. Indian culture perceives furniture as the immovable & irreplaceable part of their home and hence life.
Features
There is no concept of “one design fits all” in the furniture industry. Unlike the apparel industry, furniture is made in a highly customized way to add features as per the people who are going to use it.
Comfort
Furniture should elevate the comfort levels for the people living in the home. Customized designs of furniture play a vital role in this. It also becomes of utmost importance for old people or physically challenged people to have furniture which is ergonomically designed.
Ergonomics is becoming very important in this modern age as major people are working in desk-job in offices or at their workplaces. At least home furniture should be designed with ergonomics in mind to give maximum comfort to the working population. A company or brand who is highly expert in customization is highly sought for this. Modern furniture brands are focusing on ergonomic designs to give maximum comfort.
Why is it a wise decision to buy a home or office furniture from a manufacturer?
There is wisdom in buying a home or office furniture from the manufacturer having modern tools and machines. Rarely manual labor is required to follow the processes in the making of furniture. Furniture manufacturers have modern machines like a panel saw, through feed machine,multi-boring machine, powder coating machine, hot press & post forming machine.
They buy raw materials such as particle boards, ply, laminates & other hardware in bulk at the wholesale price so the cost of input material is less compared to custom made by the individual carpenter. This cost is passed as a benefit to consumer thereby reduction in the overall price of the furniture.
Since hardly manual labor is followed, the finishing & the quality of the product is of high quality.
They are capable of providing life-time support to their customers because of their infrastructure. Substantial warranty and customer support at a reasonable cost is the icing of the cake which makes investment in furniture rewarding in the long-term.