When Nishant Kumar, Vice President and National Head of Studios, at Pepperfry, recently said, during the launch of Pepperfry’s largest company-owned and company-operated studio in New Delhi, “As market leaders, our goal is to empower customers to make the right decision to build beautiful homes,” he was reflecting a larger sentiment and trend of home decor and interior brands leveraging the growing consumer need to embrace newer offline experiences.

The offline expansion of Pepperfry, whose studio footprint is 195+ across 100+ cities, is of course, interesting in more ways than one. For one, it shows the growing focus of online brands to step up their offline presence. Secondly, it reflects the growing focus of home decor brands to raise their experiential quotient in the brick-and-mortar space, in keeping with the prevailing consumer sentiment.

As Dipali Patwa, the Group Head of Brand, Community and Digital at Fabindia Limited said, at the launch of their largest Experience in Bengaluru’s Hebbal area, “In-store retail is still the dominant retail channel and part of our customer journey. Fabindia Experience Centers are more than a destination to shop. It’s for our Fab family and community to have a unique experience and gain memorable moments with family and friends.”

More recently, lifestyle brand elementary has announced the launch of five new stores in five cities, responding to the “call to embrace a handcrafted, sustainable, and mindful lifestyle has reached more places in India”. The company statement adds, “The activity of personally hand-picking favourites from decor, furniture, kitchenware, serveware, tableware, and much more is nothing short of amazing”.

Similarly, home decor brand  Renovation Factory specializing in lighting, furniture, barware and home accents, recently launched its design gallery to showcase the range of products with the idea of enabling customers to “witness the ethos of different objects in synchrony with each other”. The company informs that the Design Gallery is also open for private curated appointments with interior designers & architects.

In another instance, Ultrafresh Modular Solutions Limited, an independent subsidiary of TTK Prestige Limited, launched its first studio in Chennai located at Keelkattalai. Spread across around 665 square feet, it is what the company calls a  ‘One-Stop-Shop’ format, again leveraging the newer consumer lifestyles and behaviour trends.

Well, these trends in the home decor space point to some interesting possibilities in the offline retail space.

Some key takeaways: 

• Store experience for home decor brands will increasingly mean consumer engagement & community building, involving the whole ecosystem
• Technologies such as AR and VR will become more crucial to offer the right experience to consumers at the store for enabling the purchase
• Store aesthetics would necessitate a subtle blend of store branding and product highlights, without taking away the spotlight from the latter
• Store elements such as lighting and fixtures would need to contribute to the brand narrative of inspiring a new home space and way of living