How do you view the current market for the luxury segment in India- what is the market size pegged at, what is the growth projection going forward and how are you maximizing the trends?
The market in India is aspirational where consumers are willing to spend more on their homes. The trend has accelerated during Covid as people spend more time at home. The luxury market is further boosted by an increase in sales of larger-sized homes as well as second homes. As per the recent data available, the market for larger homes has grown by 20%, and luxury homes account for 9% of homes sold in Q1 2021 vs 6% in 2020 showing the growing trend for demand for luxury homes. As per our estimate, the luxury, upper, and mass-middle affluent segments account for nearly 2/3rd of the overall market for homes and home interiors.
Saint-Gobain India is rapidly transforming to meet the growing demands of the evolved consumers of today. To cater to the needs of these consumers the company is providing innovative solutions for homes under the premium MyHome umbrella. MyHome will leverage the Phygital (Physical plus Digital) approach to reach customers, fulfill their requirements, and provide an excellent experience. We have developed the MyHome website which houses all Saint-Gobain home solutions and provides visual content and design ideas. Equally, we are expanding the physical footprint by creating MyHome physical stores in leading cities to enable a touch-n-feel to the homeowners and designers.
How has the pandemic impacted your business in India and what are your plans to cope up with the situation?
Although COVID had an impact on our business like most other companies, however, Saint-Gobain India has seen a strong rebound during the past 1 year. This is due to an excellent demand from the residential segment. In the last two quarters, our business has grown beyond the pre-COVID levels.
COVID has brought a new focus to our homes, wherein homes are no longer simply living spaces, but today’s buyers are looking for smart and healthy homes. Be it for adults working from home, or children engaged in online education, the home has become pivotal to these activities. Consumers are focused on comfort, well-being, and hygiene. Saint-Gobain is focused on delivering solutions that provide wellbeing in living spaces. For example, we are improving acoustic and thermal comfort through double glazed windows with solar control glass, improving bathroom hygiene through luxury shower cubicles, providing easy to clean Kitchen & Wardrobe Shutters, etc.
We are shifting our focus and investing in building business through homes by introducing online consultations for home solutions, and opening a MyHome store, which is a revolutionary new concept, bringing all of Saint-Gobain’s services under one roof. Our target is to open more such stores in India by bringing developments in the home construction space.
What will be your strategic plan through the new concept of ‘MyHome’ in India? Who is our target audience? Are there any new product offerings in the pipeline?
Saint-Gobain has introduced MyHome to provide end-to-end home solutions under one umbrella that brings ‘Wellbeing Designed and Delivered in Homes’. We aim to expand our physical footprint in India by opening MyHome experiential stores in the leading cities of Southern and Western India to enable a more touch and feel home-like environment for homeowners, architects, and designers. We recently inaugurated the MyHome store in Kochi, Kerala.
We have observed that home builders, designers, and architects today are eager to adopt smart and luxury solutions that enhance well-being. Keeping this in mind, we introduced a whole range of home solutions, our very first product in this range is shower cubicles. A shower cubicle is an ideal solution for bathrooms as it is custom-made, hassle-free, sleek, and elegant by offering matchless performance that truly redefines the complete showering solutions.
We will now be launching the ‘Windows’ range through Saint-Gobain’s state-of-the-art window manufacturing plant. Windows provide an interface between the outside and inside of a home and are critical for providing acoustic, thermal comfort along with safety. Saint-Gobain will continue to design and deliver innovative, premium, and high-performance solutions that improve living spaces and daily lives. The company is closely working hand-in-hand with customers right from designers, architects, and builders through co-developments and strengthened partnerships.
Can you let us know about the products offerings by Saint-Gobain India in the luxury housing segment? What are your plans for investment and retail expansion in India?
India is a very fragmented market for home interiors and the customer is often receiving a very broken experience due to several touchpoints which are not fully coordinated. Saint-Gobain is investing in products, solutions, technology, digital, manufacturing, and marketing to provide a seamless experience to the customers. For example, we have developed a fully digitalized end-to-end solutions capability where we handhold the consumer right from design, measurement, selection, to final installation.
We are investing deeply into manufacturing and supply chain capabilities by investing in state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and operational excellence. We have recently set up a fully integrated window manufacturing plant to produce customized windows with unmatched quality and performance. We have also invested in shower cubicles plant, kitchen, and wardrobe shutter plants and we will continue to invest further downstream. We are the only company that has invested hugely in India to produce materials like glass as well as solutions.
Today, we provide a range of solutions to our customers – Shower Cubicles, Windows, Wardrobe Shutters, Ceilings, LED mirrors, roofing materials, wall coverings, etc. that are vital for building a dream home. The luxury housing segment is an important, vast part of the market. We aim to meet the rising demand by making premium and futuristic solutions that deliver comfort, convenience, modularity, and hygiene in the day-to-day life of homeowners.
We employ a vast number of well-trained personnel, we are investing heavily in R&D, developing digital and physical assets, and creating a vast network of partners for sales and installation across the country. We aim to open 20 MyHome stores in India by the end of FY2021.
