Home decor portal Livspace hires ex-Hettich exec Dwivedi for modular furniture play

Home decor marketplace Livspace has appointed Gopal Dwivedi, former India business head of German furniture maker Hettich, to lead its newly launched modular furniture and wardrobe division.

Dwivedi has replaced Arpit Khandelwal, the co-founder of DezignU, a marketplace for design professionals that was acquired by Livspace this year.

In a statement announcing the launch of its modular kitchens and wardrobe systems, Bangalore-based Home Interior Designs E-commerce Pvt Ltd, which operates Livspace, said the new service will be available in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Bangalore, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. It will expand its services to Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and select tier 2 cities later.

"Streamlining and moving the modular kitchen and wardrobe segment online will be an exciting challenge. We have a great opportunity to disrupt this high potential home design market," said Dwivedi.

Dwivedi has earlier worked at Hindware Home Retail Pvt Ltd, H & R Johnson India Ltd and Sleek International.

According to Livspace, the size of the modular furniture industry-- comprising modular kitchens, wardrobes, and wall fittings-- is around $5-7 billion with the kitchen segment alone growing at over 43% year-on-year. According to market research firm TechNavio, the online home décor market in the country is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 50.42 per cent between 2014 and 2019.

"With this launch, we want to make buying modular kitchens and wardrobes as easy as buying t-shirts online," said Anuj Srivastava, CEO of Livspace.

Founded in 2012 by former Google and Myntra executives Anuj Srivastava, Shagufta Anurag and Ramakant Sharma, Livspace enables home-owners to discover thousands of pre-created looks for rooms, kitchen and storage areas. Customers can select and purchase these looks, which are created by international designers and personalise them for delivery on the basis of material, colour, style, etc.

In August this year, Livspace secured $8 million in a fresh round of funding from existing investors Helion Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and Jungle Ventures. According to data available from VCCEdge, the company has raised a total of $12.60 million till date.

Livspace competes with other startups such as Intruo, JBR Interio, BedBathMore and Gloob. Dwll.in, an online network of interior designers and YoFloor, a mobile platform that offers a virtual trial room facility for home designs, also operate in this space. Online furniture players such as FabFurnish, Pepperfry and Urban Ladder besides horizontal e-commerce majors such as Flipkart.com, Snapdeal.com and Amazon.in also have a strong position in this space.