New Delhi: Flooring solutions company Sharper Image plans to consolidate its position as `flooring professionals' offering complete flooring solutions from pre-sale advisory service to after-sales support. As a beginning, it intends to expand its reach through exclusive franchisee retail outlets by the end of this fiscal. Besides Delhi, the company has offices in six cities and will open six more regional offices this year to cover more markets. Currently, Sharper Image functions through a dealer-distributor network. It is targeting a turnover of Rs 15 crore this fiscal and Rs 100 crore in three years.The company is spending Rs 1 crore on advertising in trade and lifestyle magazines, besides direct mailing and participating in workshops and seminars. Its direct marketing efforts are targeted at influence groups like architects, interior designers, institutional buyers like developers and builders. Says Anand Datwani, managing director, Sharper Image, ``At least 50 per cent of business comes from referrals from satisfied customers.''
The company has recently expanded its portfolio with the launch of ContractFloor, wooden laminated floors imported from Vesterby Parket, a leading name in wooden laminates in Denmark. With a `taber value' of 21,500 revolutions that increases its resistance to abrasions and impact, ContractFloor is made of the highest density fibre board and is being positioned as `floor for a lifetime', with its triple warranty (against stains, fading and normal wear and tear) of up to 20 years.
The size of the wooden laminates floor market in India is 1.5 million sq ft per year and is growing at the rate of 50 per cent. Moves are on to increase indigenisation in order to reach a larger cross-section of price-sensitive Indian consumers.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.