About HomeLane: 
Started in Bangalore, HomeLane is India’s leading end to end, vertically integrated interior design and manufacturing provider with its operations based in 6 cities. They are creating the first organized tech-based solution for semi-furnishing market in India, pegged to be close to $10 billion in market size this year. HomeLane follows a hybrid model. While a customer is given a choice to choose the designs, fixtures and customized fittings online, their experienced panel of interior designers work with customers to customize designs of their house, delivery of which is done by HomeLane’s operations team; thereby making them a single point of contact for customers, in getting their homes furnished.
Objectives of HomeLane:
Born out of exhaustion faced by the founders during furnishing of their own homes, HomeLane promises personalized and customized interiors with transparency and timely deliverability, helping their customers avoid the hassles of dealing with an unorganized work force. HomeLane mainly targets middle class homes, who stay away from expensive interior designers and end up hiring contractors, with unpredictable time frames.
Strategies used by HomeLane:
Gaining customer’s trust in a largely unpredictable segment –
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Guarantee of a 45 day delivery
With a first of a kind commitment in interior/ furnishing segment, HomeLane promises delivery and installation in 45 days, failing which they will pay the house owner the rent for the extended period.
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After sales service with 5 years warranty
HomeLane offers after sales service with a 5 year warranty making it one of the few companies out there offering such a long warranty on a customized product.
Building a strong team –
- HomeLane believes in being sensitive to its employee’s needs and creating an environment for open communication. This in turn has translated directly into creating a predictable environment for the customers as well.
- To maintain a healthy work-life balance, HomeLane offers flexible working policies, best leave policies, laptops, complimentary off in case an employee works on weekends, and gives employees opportunities to work from home (WFH) which has encouraged not only the male employees but also the female employees to join the organization. Women employees are not encouraged to work late nights, but in case they have to, HomeLane ensures that they reach home safely and intimate their manager via an SMS. Team outings and parties are other energy boosters that motivate the employees to build long-lasting relationship with the company.
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Design Partner Programme
HomeLane has partnered with #HomeDecorMoms, giving an opportunity for mothers to work as interior designers at their own convenience and let HomeLane execute the work, sparing them the coordination with the work force.
Digitized process of interacting with customers –
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Website
HomeLane has managed to create categories from the vast range and variety of options out there. Customers can choose based on design type, size and cost. More often than not, when customers go in for a modular kitchen they have no idea of the vast range of kitchen accessories that are available in the market, making them choose from the limited options on display in the showroom or worse, leave the final decision to the contractor. HomeLane uses their website to showcase a wide variety of kitchen accessories with descriptions, making it easy for the customers to make the right choice. Also by getting instant costs, customers can add or delete items to suit their budget, saving valuable time and energy that is generally taken by going back and forth during a discussion in a showroom. It is therefore not surprising that their website draws in majority of their online traffic which is close to 40%.
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Kaliedo
Most of the times customers find it difficult to visualize the final look. HomeLane has introduced Kaliedo in an effort to make this process easy. Kaleido is a virtual reality-based device that uses Google Cardboard that provides the user with an immersive experience into a virtual world where choosing between colours, finishes, countertops, flooring options, appliances and accessories is a fun and an easy process.
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Whattsapp
In order to deliver in a predictable manner, HomeLane uses Whatsapp to keep their customers up to date with the latest progress at site. They are in the process of creating their own app.
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Social media
HomeLane uses Facebook, Google plus, Linkedin, Pinterest and Twitter to put up their latest offerings and hold competitions. While their social media generates 21% of their online traffic, Facebook alone accounts for almost 99% of the traffic generated from this medium.
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SEO and SEM
The traffic generated by HomeLane from search engine is almost 23%, which is more than that generated through their social media. Their paid search generates the same amount of traffic as their organic search.
Results Achieved:
- Today HomeLane has delivered more than 1000 projects across the country.
- They are all set to achieve a revenue of $1 million per month in a negative working capital business.
- Earlier this year in February, HomeLane.com announced that it had raised $4.5 million in a Series A funding from Sequoia Capital and Aarin Capital.
- HomeLane has gained recognition in the SmartCEO Startup 50 2015 program under the ‘Consumer Tech Early Traction’ category.
Learning:
Marketing is not just about pulling in a customer, but keeping in touch with them throughout their buying process and continuing this involvement even after the transaction has been completed. This creates a relationship of loyalty between the customer and the brand. HomeLane, by digitizing this entire process has managed to reach their customers at every touch point much faster and more consistently than conventional methods practiced in this field. But all their digitization would have been for nothing if not for their highly motivated team which ensures that they gain customers’ trust through predictable communication and timely delivery.
“Better brands create better marketing”
Image Credits: HomeLane
