How this former engineer is stitching a gap in the home furnishing and decor market, and clocking Rs 25 Cr revenue
Founded by Radhika Koolwal in 2018, Ahmedabad-based Urban Space offers products like bedspreads, curtains, comforters and quilts, and table linens at affordable prices.
Former engineer Radhika Koolwal started Urban Space when she noticed that the middle-class population could not access affordable home furnishing and decors.
“The home furnishing products were majorly in retail in the form of big brands like D'Decor, which are too expensive, or local products that are poor quality,” she tells HerStory.
In 2018, Radhika started her own home furnishing and decor brand – Ahmedabad-based Urban Space, beginning with educating the customer on the quality difference.
A computer engineering graduate, Radhika worked at Infosys for three years before pursuing MBA in marketing. After her wedding in 2016, she got a close look at the textile industry as her in-laws ran a textile business.
A clear target audience
When Radhika started Urban Space, she had a clear target audience in mind and the price point that would work for them. She says the middle-class population increasingly has more disposable income and feel the need to decorate their home spaces more than ever after the pandemic.
Priced between Rs 699 and Rs 2,499, the brand offers products including bedspreads, curtains, comforters and quilts, table linens, and cushion covers. In addition to selling on its own website, the products are also available on Amazon, Myntra, Flipkart, Pepperfry, and Ajio, among others.
Bootstrapped so far, the startup has clocked a revenue of Rs 25 crore in the financial year ending 2022.
The entrepreneur is tapping into India’s home decor market that was valued at $682 billion in 2021, and says there is 'little direct competition'.
“There are small-scale sellers but I don't see any brands with a strong brand identity in this space offering products at an affordable rate,” she notes.
While Urban Space mostly operates on the B2C model as a consumer-facing brand, it also manufactures for white-label brands.
(Representative image)
The challenges
Radhika is well aware that challenges are part and parcel of entrepreneurship. However, she says there are unique challenges of operating in the ecommerce space.
“Managing operations is challenging, especially in the ecommerce space. One has to keep track of all the new launches and have quality checks in place,” she says.
While growth and scaling were initially slow, Rohit Agarwal, her husband, who takes care of the operations and finance, says they are finding it difficult to keep up with the growth and expansion, adding, “We are understaffed right now for the scale of operations we are having.”
Working with a team of 15 people at the moment, the brand is hiring aggressively and hopes to be a 40-member team by the end of the year.
Although Urban Space is based in Ahmedabad, it is building a team in Bengaluru exclusively for digital marketing, and has recently hired a senior digital marketing professional for the same. While that will further drive demand, its other focus is hiring for product development teams to keep up with the demand and boosting their offerings across categories.
“The operations team will also be strengthened as customers these days expect things to be delivered quickly,” he adds.
Moving forward, Urban Space is eyeing a robust retail presence across India.
Radhika says, "While there is a growing penetration of smartphones and the internet, if you want to be out there in everybody's mind, retail presence is equally important."
Edited by Kanishk Singh