Mumbai is trying to find its feet, as it emerges from a near three-month lockdown. For those engaged in the business of selling non-essential goods, this feat is proving harder, as the tables turned the hardest on them.
One such is the furniture industry, which took a tumble amid the pandemic. Furniture used to be a direct seller-to-consumer product, mostly sold through retail shops, with not many online portals, and e-commerce companies offering wood furniture options.
According to those in the business, the rug was pulled from under their feet right in the middle of the peak selling season, when inventories are full of brick, wood and other raw materials and most of the polishing work is lined up for summer.
"The lockdown was imposed in the middle of the season, as from February-end to May, we procure raw materials and polish furniture, as this is not possible during monsoon" said Amrish Desai, 58, a furniture retailer in Kandivli, who has been in the business for the last two decades.
However, says Desai, as the state government has begun relaxing the lockdown, there has been a surge in orders for plastic and fibre furniture, mainly used in offices.
"Most people are working from home and as a result, there has been an increased demand for plastic chairs, office tables and related furniture in the past few months. This has helped us cope somewhat with the losses incurred in the lockdown," says Desai.
In the last one month, there has also been an increased demand for modular kitchens, office goods and fibreboard because home-bound people with means are taking time out to redecorate their homes.
A second-generation furniture dealer in Goregaon, Hasmukh Patel, told The Free Press Journal that in the lockdown, most sellers and manufacturers had tied up with e-commerce giants, as not many people were visiting shops. But while this tie-up may have kept their business going, they had to pay steep commissions to these giants.
"Most of our furniture is now being sold through online portals, which we have not done before. We realised that direct selling will take some time to resume and we don't have many options now, other than falling back on e-portals" says Patel.
"However, we are forced to pay high rates of commission. But what choice do we have, our business has already suffered immense losses and gradually, we have to get back on our feet," he adds.
Wood products have taken a hard knock, claim sellers. Demand for these is considerably lesser than that for fibre and plastic goods, although business has resumed.
"The demand for wood products is down because online portals are reluctant to sell them. Also, monsoon has arrived and polishing work will not be feasible in this damp weather," reasons Desai.
"Also, we could not procure adequate wooden raw materials, as the supply chain was cut for non-availability of workers in the transport sector," he recalls.
"For sometime now, prices of wood products will be comparatively higher because of the dearth of raw materials. However, things will ease once everything starts getting back to normal," says an optimistic Patel.
