Vaaree is the only curated F2C (Factory-to-Customer) marketplace for home decor and furnishing products across multiple categories – bedding, furnishings, kitchen, dining, decor, bath and garden. Startup Reporter recently conducted an interview with Ms. Garima Luthra, Co-Founder of Vaaree.
Kindly brief us about Vaaree & its specialization
Vaaree is the only curated F2C (Factory-to-Customer) marketplace for home decor and furnishing products across multiple categories – bedding, furnishings, kitchen, dining, decor, bath and garden.
At Vaaree, we want everyone to have authentic and beautiful homes. Our aim is to offer great quality home products at affordable prices. We have an amazing curation of stylish and innovative products as well as designs which are sourced directly from the manufacturers.
We have an Inspiration section on our website which is one of a kind. Our in-house designers put in time and effort into curating the perfect set of products and themes for our customers. This way customers don’t have to break their head over what designs and colours match! We want to make decorating a home easy and convenient.
Additionally, this team of experts also offer personalised curation service for our customers free of cost. We are the only ones offering this kind of a service.
Thus, Vaaree is the go-to store for all home decor needs.
Can you tell us a little bit about your background and what inspired you to start Vaaree?
Coming from an entrepreneurial background, I have always been inspired by the stories of my mother, father and close family members who are entrepreneurs. But I had not thought that one day I too would be an entrepreneur.
The story about starting Vaaree is a personal one, it comes out of my own experience. After getting married when I was setting up my home, I started looking for home decor products that were of good quality and affordable at the same time. However, I could not find such products. Either, the quality was not up to the mark or the price was too high.
So, I started digging deep into this and realized that Indian manufacturers make premium products but they all get exported. Most of it is not available for Indian customers. We have good quality manufacturers, but they all cater to international or luxury Indian markets. That’s when I decided to make available these premium products at affordable prices to Indian customers.
Therefore, Vaaree was born.
Please share with us the team structure in place and details about the founders.
We are 3 Co-Founders who started Vaaree. Varun Vohra is a BITS Pilani alumni and a serial entrepreneur. He has successfully scaled and sold Genii, a technology services start-up to Practo and Akna Medical (Aknamed), a healthcare supply chain startup to API holding. Pranav Arora has 11 years of experience in manufacturing and understands the manufacturer’s problems and needs. Whereas I have worked with consumer internet startups such as Groffers (now Blinkit), Acko and CRED in the past wherein I managed growth and marketing.
We have a team strength of 32 who cater to several crucial roles across various departments such as Operations, Technology, Customer Support, Finance and Marketing. It’s worth noting that 60% of Vaaree’s workforce comprises women and 50% of the leaders are also women.
As Vaaree recently completed one year, what trends have they observed in the home-furnishing marketplace segment?
India is a dynamic and value conscious country. While the home products market is thriving with growth and potential, we realised the gap in this market which was to find good and premium quality home products at affordable prices. Hence, by getting manufacturers’ list the good and premium quality home products directly on Vaaree which were earlier only exported, we opened up a whole new segment for Indian customers. Because of our F2C (Factory-to-Customer) model, the price of the products is staggeringly low and we are able to cater to diverse customers from various parts of the country. Since our inception a year back, we have witnessed rising numbers of shoppers who are looking for quality products and honest pricing.
Being a F2C platform, how does it efficiently eliminate the middlemen and offer the best price for the consumer?
We all want beautiful homes and aspire to have great home products. This was otherwise only possible with premium brands. But now with Vaaree, we are offering great quality home products at honest prices as we are sourcing directly from manufacturers.
We work with manufacturers who make home products for the premium and luxury markets nationally and internationally. By working with them directly, we are able to get these products at the right value for Indian customers.
How is Vaaree able to produce a new design every day?
We add new products every day across categories for our customers to explore and shop. Our curators work round the clock to ensure that we have all the globally trending designs listed to offer to our customers. We keep refreshing the products and designs to ensure that our customers get what they are looking for. Today, Vaaree has 10,000+ products at amazing price points. “Quality at honest cost” is the motto for our sourcing team!
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while launching Vaaree, and how did you overcome them?
One of the biggest challenges that we faced was not being prepared for growth. We had systems in place when we launched and they were designed to ensure that our customers have the best experience when shopping at Vaaree. However, a couple of months later when the number of customers grew rapidly, we weren’t able to delight every single customer. It took us a few months to make changes to our fulfillment capabilities and ensure that we are back to delighting every customer.
Vaaree’s expansion plan for FY 23-24.
We are looking to double our team strength this year. The team will be built across functions – Sourcing, Technology, Product and Marketing.
