Due diligence on Furniture e-tailing market in India for a PE Fund

The client was a private equity fund who wanted to understand the furniture e-tailing market landscape in India. RedSeer helped them perform due diligence on the industry which entailed competitor benchmarking, gauging customer preferences and understanding the target firm’s brand image and position in the market versus its competitors and alternatives.

We used separate approaches for the two different markets; making it a two-pronged analysis. The first was the e-tailing furniture market in India. We identified the key issues to be answered from the analysis; market sizing the opportunity and identifying the growth drivers, understanding the consumer psyche towards furniture e-tailing companies, the current brand image of the firm and its positioning across different product categories, and lastly, landscaping the competitive environment and the position of target brand in the market. We began by establishing a framework and background for the research.

As the first step, we used RedSeer Knowledgebase and other secondary sources to understand the general market behaviour. Next, our approach was to gather primary data across the entire market to understand the characteristics and strengths of each of the furniture categories. We reached out to our exports across all retail formats to understand the aspects of each market segment. These discussions also provided us with an idea of the key players and their performances. We also established the average lifecycle of different categories of furniture products. The market could be segmented in many ways; by usage type, by material type or by place of origin (imported or non-imported). Further, we looked at the consumer attitude and preferences towards these categories and mapped the buying cycle of a consumer. From primary consumer surveys, We measured customer satisfaction with pricing on various furniture e-tailers.

We provided the Private equity fund with our findings and recommendations on the market positioning and customer preferences in the furniture e-tail segment, along with market dynamics of the industry and performance of the key players. Further, we also guided the fund on the consumer preferences and focus areas for a long-term investment. The insights from the benchmarking of the target fashion brand against its competitors were also shared with the client. The client was able to assess the view of consumers towards the target and its competitors.

Furniture and fashion e-tailing due diligence for a PE Fund (1/2)

To help the fund understand the furniture market competition landscaping, consumer preferences and target positioning vs. competition/ alternatives

KEY ISSUES

• What is the current opportunity sizing and the growth drivers?
• What is consumer psyche towards furniture e-tailers?
• What is the current brand image and positioning category-wise?
• How does the competitive landscape look like and where is the target brand
  positioned here?

APPROACH

• Primary trade research across retail formats to understand the strength and
  disposition of category
• Primary consumer research to understand the consumer disposition towards
  category and map the buying cycle
• Discussion with industry experts to understand the market and trade dynamics.
• Secondary Research from various resources, RedSeer Knowledgebase, etc..

RESULT

• Helped the fund understand market dynamics and identify brand positioning vs
  competitive landscaping
• Guide on consumer preferences and suggesting the focus areas based on a
  long term market assessment

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