kitchenware retailing

Modular Kitchen - Catching up in Modern Retailing


Gone are the days when women cooked with a simple stove, choolahs, the walls will be dirty, smoky & every weekend comes relief to kitchens. As women begin to move from home to corporate world, the kitchens were the first ones to reflect the change of mindset in the society. It evolved and with the advent of LPG women were slowly getting used to non-smoky and non-greasy kitchens.
An Indian woman spends a good part of her time in the kitchen, Nowadays kitchens have become the fashion statement, exhibiting the mistress style, her lifestyle and her status in the society.
In the present era as the retail sector tends towards better organization, the haunting question that comes to the mind of most retailers and marketing managers on kitchenware retailing.


Paradigm Shift: The innovation of kitchen utensils and cooking appliances, their introduction into the market and their appropriate pricing, promotion and distribution in order to make it easily available to target customers can be summed up as kitchenware retailing.

Kitchens are the cores of activity for any household. Nowadays a major portion of the urban population leads a highly migratory lifestyle. They change their locations during their education and career and this trend continues well into the initial marital period. This call for the need for kitchenwares which are reconfigurable (i.e. modular) and can move and move along with them. Thus a “Paradigm Shift” can be observed in the pattern of kitchens and kitchenware.


MODULAR KITCHEN???

With the passage of time kitchens have prioritized to become the most expressing place in our houses. It has been very rightly perceived that one who has an organized kitchen leads an organized lifestyle. Modular kitchens are the latest forms of organized kitchens that have brought in a revolution in the industry of kitchenware retailing.
As the name suggests, modular kitchens are so called because they comprise of reconfigurable kitchen cabinets that are designed to properly suit the dimensions of any kitchen. In addition to these, important kitchen accessories such as sinks, chimneys, ventilators etc, come as inbuilt facilities along with the cabinet structures.
Modular kitchens have some striking edges which clearly make them the hot choice for majority households. Since the constituent parts are reconfigurable, therefore problems faced with shifting of residence become less. Kitchen parts are dismantled, packed in boxes, shifted, and reorganized in the new house. Secondly kitchen designs have a wide variety and customers get the best design according to their choice. In addition to this maintaining, cleaning and repairing of defected kitchen parts become very easy owing to fact of modular design.
Thus defining modular kitchen with a new dimension as:

During its inception in India most of the early players imported modular kitchen parts. Keeping this fact in mind it can be stated that many of the earlier players pulled out primarily due to three reasons, firstly they took too long to import, secondly they failed to fit the requirements of space, and thirdly 10-15 years ago this concept was very much ahead of time. Today, with fewer players, the market has matured, and architects and interior designers are increasingly making space for them in their projects. To gain a competitive advantage most of the interior designers are coming up with innovative designs in a way to give a perfect blend of style and functional efficiency by optimum utilization of space, thereby making “cooking” a wonderful experience.
Advantages Modular Kitchens : “Less smoky” and “less oily” are the calls for modern day housewives. Modular kitchens are the latest thing in kitchen iterior designing with high style and gloss finish. It further makes cooking fast and effective. These are customed made,and assembled at the customer’s home. Empty places can be used more efficiently with modern day modular kitchens. Designs of racks and cabinets can be changed as per convinience since these parts can be easily dismantled.

Major Players: The principal market for modular kitchens lies in the unorganized sector, and the organized market is worth only Rs 500 crore Rs 5 billion (but growing at a 50% rate).The Indian kitchen, has gradually witnessed a total 180-degree shift in every aspect, be it the basic look of the kitchen to the cooking habits and the kind of utensils used! With the markets more mature and changing lifestyles modular kitchens.TTK Prestige, added "Modular Kitchens" to its portfolio in 2004. Some of the other major players like Timbor Home Pvt Ltd, the Ahmadabad-based manufacturer and marketer of modular kitchens are launching wood-less, eco-friendly doors in the country in markets such as Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. The Indian market has recently witnessed innovative products lines introduced by players such as Faber, Godrej, Kaff, Hacker, Carysil,@home from Nilkamal etc.

Opportunities:
Modular kitchen retailing is being driven by changing lifestyles and by strong disposable income growth, which in turn is supported by favorable demographic patterns. Nuclearisation of families is also leading to more housing especially in the urban landscape which has a direct positive bearing on the business. The number of working women is also on a rise. This along with increased international lifestyle exposure and strong media influence is increasing the demand for home improvement retailing.
Behavioral Changes: Kitchens in India changes with change in food and culture. Each Indian kitchen is designed to facilitate the preparation of local food preparations. The style of cooking depends on regional food type, community taste preferences, weather, geography etc.
Moreover Indian foods require a lot of pre processing since Indians believe that spicier food builds up better taste. With modern pre-processing appliances the task of preparing has become easier for most of the urban ladies. Modern Indian population desires for consumption fueled lifestyle and hence Indian kitchens are reshaping today.
In the past the dinning area was included within the kitchen. The typical joint family structure showed women preparing different items in large quantity for the whole family. They were techno-savvy and rely on electronic cooking appliances. In today’s scenario urbanization and migration for better opportunities have given rise to nuclear families. They now dine in a separate dinning space.
Increase in the Number of Working Women: The fact that more and more women are taking to jobs has redefined the rules of social behavior. Family incomes have increased, as has the exposure. Women with disposable incomes will also feel the strong desire to look good in their kitchens.
Easy Bank Credit boosts retail: Easy availability of finance has increased giving an unprecedented boom on buying a house and renovation consumer durables has transformed into consumer revenue expenditure because of the easy availability of finance.
Social Indicator: The present India boasts of a 550million population that is below the age of 25 years. Furthermore, the market size at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is estimated to be above US$1.5 trillion. It produces a large pool of educated professionals such as scientific and technical manpower, graduate engineers, managers, and computer professionals. This has thus provided large number customers for modern kitchenware & modular kitchens with a sound technological knowledge.


Buying Power & Consumption: It is estimated that the consuming class and the climbers are expected to grow from a level of 120.8 million households (in 2001- 02) to a level of 157.2 million households (in 2006-07) thus registering a growth of 5.5% p.a.The Marketing Whitebook has estimated that out of the total consuming class and the consumer class, almost 56% (~ 46 million) is expected to be concentrated in urban India. The proportion of the consuming class and the climbers in the urban markets are likely to drive the demand significantly especially for lifestyle products.

Kitchen Ergonomics
What is ergonomics? The word ergonomics is a Greek word where means ‘ergo’ = work and ‘nomos’ = law. Ergonomics deals with the design of system that would help people to help in making their work effective. Really, it’s just a long word to describe a simple concept - don’t make things more difficult than they need to be. Ergonomic planning in the kitchen is based around three main activity points: They are Man, Kitchen appliances and Environment. In kitchens the introduction of modern cooking appliances makes work faster and more efficient. The planning for efficiency and ease of use remains more important than ever. Even in the kitchen, ergonomics is now a new ingredient in the overall design. Convenient positioning of the main kitchen activities includes proper depth of the kitchen sink and correct height countertops.

Don’t fit in the kitchen. Let the kitchen fit around you!


Fast and efficient work is the prime call for all urban households in India. Hence an innovative technology is the prime requirement that can help women in the cities to cook and at the same time have the ability to look at other aspects of the family. The introduction of kitchen appliances such as microwave, electronic ovens, refrigerators, electric chimneys and other electrical appliances used for cooking along with other aspects such as organized kitchen cabinets serves the purpose of working in the kitchen and simultaneously interacting with the environment to accomplish other tasks in the outside world.


FORCES INFLUENCING MODULAR KITCHENS
In modern days a lot of steel and glassware has been replaced by plastic ware. Nowadays plastic utensils play an important role in the designing of modular kitchens. Plastic ware is unbreakable, easy to wash, light in weight, more durable, visually more decorative, and cheaper in cost. Some major players of course believe that an effective supply chain is very much necessary for incorporating them into modular kitchens. Plastic ware retailing however has a bulk market share in the unorganized sector.
Challenges:
Lack of retail space: The biggest challenge facing the Indian organized retail sector is the lack of retail space. With real estate prices escalating due to increase in demand from the Indian organized retail sector, it is posing a challenge to its growth. With Indian retailers having to shell out more for retail space it is affecting their overall profitability in retail. Where to physically locate a retail store may help or hinder store traffic. Well placed stores with high visibility and easy access, while possibly commanding higher land usage fees, may hold significantly more value than lower cost sites that yield less traffic. Understanding the trade-off between costs and benefits of locations is an important retail decision.
Poor Infrastructure: The traditional realty players don’t have retail property development experience as reflected in their exterior focused design and improper tenant mix. The shortage is mostly visible in the larger metros due to the mall revolution & lack of town planning. Owing to space scarcity in major metros many retailers are entering tier 2 & tier 3 cities. Unless real estate costs lower, retailers would take a long time to break-even.

Product mix: With an increase in the marketshare, homebuyers have simultaneosly become more sophisticated. Hence designer and architects have to constantly revise their plans to fulfill customer demands.
Pricing: The determinants of retailer pricing strategy and tactics are likely to be influenced by manufacturer/brand, category and customer factors, as well as by market, chain ,and store factors. Different markets or cities may witness different pricing practices for the modular kitchens. In particular, market type, in terms of whether the market is a metropolitan city or a small city, may be associated with a particular pricing environment and thus may be related to pricing practice.

Engineering: The designs for modular kitchens are made on CAD sofwares which further creates a problem for the manufacturer or carpenter to implement and meet the specifications accordingly.
Promotions: The communication channels are very limited in this segment. Hence consumers hardly have any awareness about brands. This is a major challenge for competitiors in the market. Television advertising is almost nil in this segment, rather they are more focusing on home decor magazines for their promotions.

Future of Kitchens:


India is moving on a path of globalization. With progress in time Indians are looking towards means of livelihood that are efficient, economic and fast. Based on these factors any forecast would suggest that the demand for modular kitchens will constantly be on the rise in the coming years.
Retailers believe that with greater availability of designs and increased number of companies’ people will get products in this segment at affordable prices. Products will have good resale value and retailers will be able to throw up better offers for promotional purposes. Modern marketing managers claim that the India is thus walking the “MODULAR PATH”
With the advent of newer technologies in the Indian market people are looking towards facilities that would be more time saving and easier to operate. Hence a claim can be made that in the coming years more and more advanced technology would be witnessed in the field of kitchen appliances. A new form of “INTERACTIVE KITCHENS” will be used wherein a man-machine interface shall be incorporated in the future Indian kitchens. One might expect another paradigm shift from “modular” to “interactive-modular” kitchens. Future designs will have reconfigurable kitchen modules with fully integrated and networked facilities that will take care of a number of practical and emotional daily requirements. Such new designs will focus on aspects such refrigeration, storage, cooking and cleaning works synergistically in a new light. Engineers have already incorporated efficient facilities such as water saving improved washing and waste management techniques in western kitchens that makes them more eco friendly. Companies in India are now looking forward to get these facilities in the Indian market at affordable prices.
GREEN KITCHENS
However nowadays consumers have imbibed an eco friendly sense among themselves which we term as the “GREEN ATTITUDE”. Other energy efficient kitchen appliances if used properly can minimize environmental losses to a great extent. For instance an efficient dishwasher can use a lot less water than washing dishes with hand. But a dishwasher is not very common in the Indian households. Hence in order to achieve eco friendly kitchens, Indian customers should be made aware of the utility of such appliances. The usage of wood is an environmental hazard. Builders and developers, who are aware of this fact, are looking forward to the usage of alternative eco friendly materials for the construction of kitchen cabinets.
While going green in the kitchen will save you money on energy costs. Earth-friendly products are available in a wider range of styles and costs than ever before, letting you go any shade of green you desire. Moving in this direction one can conclude that in India, the way a marked shift has been observed in designing of kitchens(i.e, from unorganized kitchens to modular kitchens), similarly there can be a future shift observed wherein consumers will go for eco friendly “GREEN” modular kitchens.

Conclusion:
As discussed above, consumer demand in this segment has been more positive towards light and elegant. Today's employed youth are much more mobile than the elderly bread earners and therefore will always have a higher preference for the modular imported units. The demand for Modular Kitchen and kitchen appliances is also on the rise. Overall, consumer now would prefer to shop for these items at a place where they are confident consistency in quality of the product, be it in the premium range or the value range. There is good potential here for the Organised players.