Single-brand retail licence critical to our survival: Urban Ladder CEO

HYDERABAD: Online furniture marketplace Urban Ladder is looking at a strong offline push, multiple partnerships, and deeper engagement with customers in the coming months, but says it can scale up significantly only after getting a licence to function as a single-brand retailer.

"This licence is critical to our survival," said Ashish Goel, chief executive at the Bengaluru-based firm that sought approval of the department of industrial policy and promotion ( DIPP) to undertake single-brand retail trading in September last year. "Without the single-brand-retail approval, our hands are tied... We will not be able to go all out and build the business," said Goel, who in the past has spoken about competing with Swedish furniture maker Ikea.

A single-brand licence would allow Urban Ladder to stock products and sell them directly to consumers, eliminating middlemen and procuring directly from manufacturers. At present, as a marketplace, it cannot function as a retailer and can only provide a platform for others to sell their produce.


Urban Ladder is already making an offline push with stores expected to come up in Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad. "We are trying to give customers an additional trust factor thro ugh the presence of an offline store,“ said Goel. “The offline store that comes up will contribute an additional 20-25% to the Bengaluru revenue," he said.

The company is also looking at partnerships in multiple verticals, including one with the classifieds advertising platform Quikr in the coming months. It had recently announced a partnership with Tata Housing.

Goel said Urban Ladder aims to become a part of the customer's lifestyle by providing multiple offers like exchanges, buybacks, and access to credit, among others.

"If you look at companies around the world who have done an incredible job of creating great brands, the only way they have done that is by being deeply engaged with customers," he said. Goel, who founded Urban Ladder along with Rajiv Srivatsa in 2012, is confident that the firm will be profitable by 2018-19.