Pepperfry launches rental services for customers

Pepperfry.com, furniture and home products marketplace, has launched a furniture rental service for customers in key cities across the country. Customers from Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Noida and Ahmedabad can now rent furniture from Pepperfry.com.
In keeping with its stature as the market leader in the Furniture segment in India – Pepperfry is launching a differentiated and an ‘at scale’ service that is likely to create a disruptive impact in the furniture rentals industry in India.
Perfect Product Market Fit
Pepperfry’s Furniture Rental service presents consumers with a simple, hassle-free and economical option to rent furniture. The process to rent furniture on Pepperfry is very convenient and easy as consumers don’t need to deposit any security or Know Your Customer (KYC) document. Pepperfry also provides customers with free delivery and assembly service. Additionally, customers can also benefit from the zero cost EMI options for payment made using their credit cards. Customers can rent furniture across various categories like beds, sofas, wardrobes, kids’ room, entertainment units and dining sets from a selection of 1200+ products available at affordable rentals for a term of six/nine/12 months. Customers can choose to extend the rental tenure at the end of service period or buy new products on Pepperfry.com. The 1,200 unique pieces can be made into literally thousands of combinations for each home as per the budget and utility requirements of the consumers.
New Consumer Segments
Speaking about the new launch, CMO, Pepperfry, Kashyap Vadapalli said, “Based on research and internal data Pepperfry has identified Furniture Rentals as an additional growth driver in its journey towards establishing 20 million beautiful homes. As per our research, the new class of consumers that is participating in the sharing economy that consists of 22-35 year-old, online-savvy, migrant millennials across the country can spend upwards of US $1 billion per annum on furniture and related items’ rentals alone. They are in a life stage where they value experiences more than ownership of physical assets. The furniture rentals business will help us build and consolidate our franchise among this new class of consumers, thereby helping us tap into not only a new segment but a segment that will grow and contribute hugely to the core Pepperfry furniture selling business in the coming years. We are addressing a new segment while creating a solid pipeline of future business”.
Differentiated Offering
Head of Furniture Business at Pepperfry, Hussaine Kesury said, “Most of the current options that consumers have today for renting furniture are very limited in nature and scope. There are less than 50 unique designs and are primarily utilitarian in nature across all the product groups. The Pepperfry offering is diverse and comprehensive – not only are we providing 5X – 10X more choices to consumers across price points and designs we are aiming to fulfill both the utility aspect and the aesthetic or design aspect that consumers are looking for. We have the most extensive high-on-design solid furniture available for rental in the country. Discerning millennials can do up their homes for less by using Pepperfry furniture rental services.”
Underlying In-House Technology
CTO, Pepperfry, Sanjay Netrabile said, “The extensive catalog and supply chain that Pepperfry owns is supported by a robust in-house technology layer. The rental interface has been made very intuitive and part of the Pepperfry regular check-out flow. Users may choose to buy or rent as they see fit within the same experience, truly making Pepperfry a one-stop-shop for all things home.”
Right To Win
Co-Founder and COO, Pepperfry, Ashish Shah said, “Pepperfry is far larger than the existing furniture rentals players in the county in multiple dimensions – according to Similarweb for the last 6 months, Pepperfry’s traffic of close to 5 million visits a month is 10X-20X of the existing players’ monthly traffic. The differentiated Pepperfry product catalogue of over 1.2 lakh products sourced from more than 1000 merchants is distributed using our stellar delivery network covering 500 cities served from 17 hub centers, 400 owned last-mile delivery vehicles and a dedicated fleet of long-haul movement trucks that daily cover more than 2 dozen hub and spoke routes. Pepperfry has also developed strong post-sales and customer service capabilities – with a network of more than 250+ carpenters who provide free installation within hours of request. All of these capabilities are directly transferable to serving the high potential furniture rentals market, giving Pepperfry a ready and capable infrastructure and services network that is many times larger and better than the existing furniture rentals players.”
He further added, “Pepperfry is known for being ahead of the curve. We understand the pulse of changing consumer needs and we are confident about pioneering a new way of helping the new class of sharing economy consumers to create beautiful homes, without having to necessarily “buy” products. We will continue to leverage our strengths by offering them with a convenient and economical solution that will fuel the new future economy and, along the way establish a formidable Pepperfry rental furniture business in the next few months”.