Pepperfry expects break even by Q1 of 2018-19

The company is planning to start furniture service business early next year, offering services to customers who bought furniture through them

Furniture and home marketplace Pepperfry.com has said that the company is looking at break even of its business by the first quarter of year 2018-19. The company is planning to enter into services business, launching furniture service business early next year, and may look at acquisition if some opportunity emerges in services and logistics businesses.

"We are well on our path to profitability. We would have improved our margin by 13-15 per cent in the last one year. We plan to break even by the first quarter of 2018," said Ashish Shah, founder and COO of Pepperfry.com.

"Our products make margin of 35-50 per cent. Breaking even and moving ahead in the path of profitability would be one of the key focus areas for our areas starting from now," he added.

He said that the company has crossed a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore last year and expects to grow at three digits this year. It has been recording a growth of over 250 per cent in the last three years.

The company is planning to start furniture service business early next year, offering services to the customers who have bought furniture through Pepperfry.com. The customers can buy a package under which every year the company representatives will visit the home for refurbishing the furniture.

"For us the question is always build vs buy. If you are able to build, then why you should buy?", said Shah when asked whehter it would look for an acquisition. However, if something interesting in the services and logistics sectors, the company is open to look at acquisition, such as a home service company, he said. Initially the company is looking at furniture services, since it is close to its business.

This year, the focus would be on expanding its on setting up Pepperfry Studios, the experience centre it opens in various cities, and the expanson in the logistics business named as Big Box. The company has launched its nineth Studio Pepperfry in the country in Chennai today and plans are to complete 21 such studios by January, 2017. It would require an investment of around Rs 30-60 lakh to set up the studios, which would also work as a consulting centre.

The company already has a business model, Pepperfry Bespoke, which addresses the design needs of the customers. The business, launched last November, currently contributes to around 10-12 per cent of its business, said Shah.

Pepperfry.com currently has around 17 distribution centres which can reach to 500 cities with the furniture products and a total reach of over 1,000 cities with its other products.