Godrej & Boyce launches premium furniture range Script, aims Rs 320 cr sales by FY20

New Delhi: Godrej group firm Godrej & Boyce on Thursday announced its entry into premium furniture market with its mid-premium home furniture and decor brand Script. With an investment of 50 crore in the new venture, the plan is to launch 3 stores across three cities in the first year and focus on further expanding the brand in metros. It would also invest around Rs 50 crore per annum in the coming years – Rs 20 crore on expansion and Rs 30 crore for branding and marketing expenses. The company would open 18 stores in seven major cities – Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Bengaluru – in the next three year. Script is the first brand from Godrej & Boyce in the attainable premium furniture category, said Jamshyd Godrej, MD and Chairman, Godrej & Boyce, who was confident that it would become a ‘preferred’ brand. With Script, Godrej is eyeing sales of Rs 320 crore from its mid-premium home furniture and decor brand Script by FY 2020 as it expands its sales network, a top company official said on Thursday. “We are expecting sales of Rs 320 crore from Script by FY2020,” Script Business Head Rajat Mathur said. As part of its expansion, Script would open five stores in Delhi-NCR in the next three years as the company is expecting the region to be a major market. [caption id=“attachment_5136621” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Script range of furniture . Pic courtesy: Godrej & Boyce[/caption] “With all five stores in the Delhi NCR region, we are expecting sales of over Rs 60 crore in next three years,” he said, adding that the company opened its first store in Delhi on Thursday at Kirti Nagar. It plans to open another at Defence Colony by the end of this year. Besides the traditional brick and mortar format, Godrej & Boyce is looking to tap the online channel. “Presently, our around 20 percent customers are digitally influenced,” Mathur said. In the brick and mortar space, the Godrej group firm also plans to experiment with small format stores (1,500-2,000 sq feet) where customers would be assisted through hand-held digital devices. Presently, all Script stores are large format outlets. As per its strategy, the company is looking to cater to the mid-premium segment which is estimated to be an around Rs 20,000 crore market. According to Mathur, the Indian furniture market is estimated to be around Rs 50,000 crore, in which around 60 percent is home furniture. “The segment is largely…around 80-85 percent… dominated by the unorganised players but it is gradually changing,” he said, adding that now people are shifting towards branded furniture.