Home services platform Urban Company on Wednesday announced its entry into the home-solution products category. It introduced two reverse osmosis (RO) water purifiers under its new sub-brand, Native, signifying a transformative shift from offering services only to providing products as well.
The two water purifiers, M1 and M2, with an introductory price of Rs 13,499 and Rs 17,499 respectively, will be available on the Urban Company app, website, as well as on Amazon. They will also be rolled out through Croma stores and other modern trade channels, the company stated.
“Over the past few years, we have repaired and serviced over a million water purifiers. One pain point we constantly hear from customers is the need to change filters and service the product every few months. We decided to address this problem head-on. Our native water purifiers perform flawlessly for two years without needing any service — we give a warranty for the same,” said Abhiraj Singh Bhal, co-founder and CEO, Urban Company. The first service will extend the warranty of the product by another two years, he added.
The company also claimed that its products will help the consumer save up to Rs 18,000 in servicing cost every year. The M2 smart water purifier will be fully integrated with the Urban Company app, it will track filter health in real-time, and trigger service requests automatically.
Smit Shukla, vice-president, marketing and growth, said competing products with similar features sport price tags 1.2x that of Native products. Technology — such as rapid reverse rinse and multi-micron filter — would be the key differentiator.
“M1 and M2 models, of which the latter is a smart device, are aimed at second-time buyers of water purifiers. Consumers buying the product for the first time are not aware of the hassles that come with it. By the time consumers complete their first ownership cycle, which is about 4-5 years, they start looking for better options. These buyers are mostly urban consumers, and they are our target demographic. Our sales are going to be the strongest in the top 8 urban cities.”
These second-time consumers constitute 50% of the Rs 5,000-crore water purifier market, Shukla added. The company plans to garner 5-10% market share in the segment in two years.
The water purifier market in India is highly consolidated. Over 70% of the market share in the RO purifier segment is held by 10 players. Kent and Eureka Forbes have, together, cornered over 50% of the market. Other big players include Hindustan Unilever, Tata Chemicals, Ion Exchange, and Blue Star.
Talking about the company’s overall scheme of things, CEO Bhal said, “Services are still our core business but our goal is to become a home solutions company.” He said the company will soon launch automatic door locks among a handful of other products.
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