Starting Furniture Business – In India

Introduction of starting Furniture business in India

Irrespective of the fact whether you have a professional qualification in furniture design or manufacturing you can own a successful custom design furniture business as long as you have the projection about what customers want. Presently, people are bored with the mass-produced and boring furniture and are looking for good-looking furniture pieces made by some creativity and manually, implying that there is no better time to initiate your furniture brand and bring to the market beautiful, motivated, and made with passion exclusive furniture.

A step-by-step guide to starting Furniture business in India

Market potential for starting Furniture business

Growth in the furniture market is increasing due to an upsurge in demand from the domestic sector and of the varied exclusive designs. The furniture industry is developing and is predictable to grow until 2025 at a CAGR of around 4%. Customers with modest incomes are projected to make half of the metro population by 2025 making them the fastest-growing section in the housing market and implying a continuous development in furniture demand. The international trade of furniture amounted to US$ 129 billion in 2019 and is estimated to be similar in 2021-2022.

Raw materials required for starting Furniture business

Of course, the main raw material is wood, and as you are aware that is the most versatile, renewable, and sustainable resource. It is sturdy, durable and usually, one lengthy plank of wood can give a piece of furniture. Each wood has various characteristics adding a different grade of warmth and stylishness to the ambiance. It is machinable and can be made-up to fit any shape and size. Traditionally wood is categorized into two types– hard and soft.

Traditional Classification

• Hardwood
• Softwood

Modern Day Classification

• Manufactured wood
• Solid wood:  Types of solid wood: Solid wood – Hardwood: Oak, Walnut, Ash, Maple, Cherry; Solid wood – Softwood: Pine, Poplar, Fir
• Particle Board

Other Items required to start Furniture Business

Other than wood following things are also required to make furniture.

• Steel/ Metal
• Plastic
• Glass

Manufacturing process of Furniture

The manufacturing process has various stages as described below:

1. Hewing and Saw milling: – Obtaining a log of wood after chopping or cutting. Logs are properly sorted and stored according to various sizes. One should figure out the conveyance of logs, storage area, electricity supply to sawmill units, and handling machinery like front end loaders, and overhead cranes. The Longest possible straight length of needful measurement is cut with the least waste.

2.  Kiln Drying: The process of keeping sawn timber/lumber into kilns so that heated air can be circulated and the temperature is maintained to create an optimum level of moisture. Done to dry green lumber/ timber. This is done for 4-6 weeks and causes the timber to shrink up to 7-15 % based on the thickness.

3.  Splitting and Cutting: The wood is split and cut into the needed size with a cutter saw and SERCLE machine.

4.  Planning and Drilling: Planning is done with a plane machine to get a smooth wood surface without a line saw. Drilling is the process of making blind and through holes to combine the furniture. Drilling machines are known as a drill press. Machines used for this are popular as tenoning machine and mortizer machine.

5. Sanding: it is performed to refine the furniture. This task is mostly done manually and can be time-consuming. Machines such as portable belt sanders, orbital finishing sanders, random-orbit sanders can be are also employed to achieve the finesse. The grade, or grit, of sandpaper, is based on the number of sand granules per square inch of paper. The higher the number, the finer the grade.

6.  Assembling and Finishing: Assembling different constituents into finished products. Usually, it is done before finishing to avoid prevent any scratches later. The final stage comprises layering the wood surface to make it look attractive and protect from insect damage.

7.  Molding: There are several ways and mostly all of them include metal molds carved into the desired shape. Three different types of molding are mentioned here-

 (i) Rotational

 (ii) Injection

 (iii) Gas Assisted Injection molding

The basic equipment needed to make plastic furniture is the injection molding machine.

Tools and machine list required for starting Furniture business

Earlier it is mentioned a few machines and tools which are sort of essential to any kind of furniture business. Though these tools are not complete and you will need a lot more based on what quality you are producing and in which furniture area you are working

• Circular saw
• Hand saws, a router, and two router bits.
• Jigsaw
• Chain Saw
• A power drill
• Chisels and a wooden mallet
• Hammer and some screwdrivers
• Sanders
• Band Saw
• Double Side Planner
• Timber Sizer
• Radial Arm Saw
• Spindle Moulder
• Tenoner

Once the furniture is manufactured you can sell your furniture in two manners i.e. B2B and B2C. One can either sell it directly to clients or you can make B2B contracts for this purpose. For the B2B model, one must contact the store owners and online dealers. For B2C one should have a plan, budget, and good support staff which we will be dealing with in our next section i.e. furniture selling business.

Choosing a location for starting Furniture business

It’s not easy work to choose a perfect area, consider a space will cater to the needs of the customers. If you plan to do cabinets check for a large space useful for showcase and display of your products while catering to residential customers a space that accommodates children, parents, and strollers are preferred. It is highly recommended to choose a place that is easy for delivery to your suppliers that should be a region where your suppliers can easily reach and deliver the materials needed. Do compromise for a lower rent but an efficient useful space thinking about all the above-said aspects? Listed are some important aspects to be kept in mind:

• Advertising using neat billboards notifying people about the store area
• Offer unique accessories that match the furniture.
• The frequent and new addition of your stock to retain the customers.
• Personalized care and specialized package for the walk-in customer.
• Well trained sales staff, one which is aware of the product and prices, offers, properties and promotes the product and the brand with sureness.
• Try to establish a relationship of trust and reliability with the customer by presenting high-quality customer service

Licenses, permissions, and registrations required for starting Furniture business in India

The licenses needed for this business are:

• GST registration
• MSME registration
• Factory license
• Trade license by CEPC
• NOC by the state pollution control board

Steps in Furniture Selling/Trading business

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Two wide methods of furniture trading are-

 (i) Selling Offline – having a store or

(ii) Selling Online – selling only through the website. Besides this determining niche and ideas in Design is also crucial in the furniture selling business which I have mentioned above in Furniture Manufacturing Business, please have some ideas from that section.

Now let us see the stages involved in the furniture selling business.

Investment required for starting Furniture Business in India

A significant step to make your business successful is to precisely budget the company. An accurate list of costings not only helps in projecting the fixed costs and operational costs but also helps to impart an idea of expected gain and makes it easier to approach banks and capitalists to avail loans and capital. The list below comprises most of the costs, but not all, that are mainly there in this business:

• If you can estimate roughly, you will need around Rs. 15-25 lakhs in the following sections like-
• Costs incurred to structure your business might involve fees or other charges for appointing an advisor.
• Charges associated with obtaining a license and other permissions from governments.
• Store rent or lease costs.
• Costs associated with equipment.
• Expenses related to inventory, ready-made pieces, or raw materials such as wood, glass, etc.
• Marketing and advertising costs
• Employee salaries and bonuses.
• The cost of operating the store includes utilities like water and power bill.
• Costs related to website maintenance

Charges associated with Online Furniture Selling

Roughly, you will need around Rs. 40-50 lakhs on the initial level unless you are selling some innovative products which are only exclusive in your store. In that case, Rs. 10-15 lakhs will be sufficient.

• Domain
• Hosting
• Office
• Publicity and Promotion
• Quality Management
• Employees Salary

Online Store

If you are preparing to sell online that also demands a warehouse to keep your inventory and completed products. That place must be ample enough to keep the products without causing any destruction. Selling online implies having an attractive website that allows the customer to select the quantity, size, delivery time, and date, also if possible ‘send as a gift’ option and the perfect payment options. Listed are few aspects that should be kept in mind:

1. Establishing a long-term association with wholesale sellers. Keeping a full stock is a key step for buying in bulk from wholesale sellers will fetch a good profit margin.

2. Boost your online store by adding a shopping cart solution on the website. Allowing the customers to select the color, zoom, size, like options, high-quality HD pictures, a rapid check out will all necessary information are the key aspects of a successful website.

3. Associate with trusted brands that deliver your products on time without causing any mutilation. Make agreements only with quality brands so that a delivery does affect your reputation.

4. Try to keep your brand out in the market using various types of online advertising platforms ranging from social media to Search Engine Optimization.

5. Delivery is the final point of contact with the customer, make sure it is done comfortably at the consumers’ end. It is necessary to take the the date and time of delivery with the customer and also to maintain a polite and presentable staff.

6. Your website should tell about the specific information about the company’s history, vision, mission, and objective to engage the customers meticulously in your brand.

While selling through the sellers like Amazon, OLX, or eBay, don’t forget to mention your main website.

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Expected profit from starting Furniture business in India

The profits from this furniture business is around ₹50000-₹100000 monthly. That’s all folks about starting furniture business in india.