Ambareesh Murty, CEO and Co-Founder of Pepperfry, on Wednesday, May 24, said demand for furniture from tier 2 cities continues to surge ahead, but the metros and tier 3 cities are lagging behind.

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Speaking at the PwC CEO Dialogues hosted by CNBC-TV18, he said omnichannel is the default state for businesses today as customers could be at a mall, or phone, or laptop at some point in time.

Murty said seven years back, furniture was a classic example of local business and Pepperfry created a massive disruption in the sector by enabling local businesses to expand.

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Murty noted that in the furniture and home goods sector, more people are coming to the workforce as nuclearisation is here to stay, which means more houses and therefore, more furniture, more home goods, etc.

"What happened during COVID-19 was another fillip to the industry and I think that's sustained or that's held up. Normally on a waking day, we would have spent three or four hours at home, during the COVID pandemic, we started spending 14-18 hours at home. And that built a serious consciousness of what you have in your house," he said.

In the short term, Murty said, they are seeing some headwinds. In the longer term, "I think the fundamentals behind why India is going to be a great consumer story for the next 5-10 years, I think none of that has changed and I think that's going to continue," he added.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:May 24, 2023 7:39 PM IST