Hatil opens fourth showroom in India

Furniture maker Hatil opened its fourth showroom in India on Monday as part of its plans to strengthen its foothold in the neighbouring country in next five to six years.

The new outlet is located in Jamshedpur in India's eastern state of Jharkhand. The Bangladeshi company has also showrooms in Kolkata, Kalyani, and Chandigarh.

Selim H Rahman, managing director of Hatil, inaugurated the showroom along with his business partners in Jharkhand. He said his company would open four more showrooms in India within a month.

Hatil has entered a market where Godrej Interio is the largest furniture brand with 70 percent market share and a number of other companies control the remaining stakes.

Rahman said Hatil wants to strengthen its footing in India within five to six years.

Firoz Al Mamun, head of marketing of Hatil, said the company would be able to win the hearts of Indian consumers with cost-effective and quality products.

The furniture maker is not only opening bricks-and-mortars stores but had also made the foray into the online store. Hatil introduced online store at the Dhaka International Trade Fair last month where it showcased all of its 800 products through augmented reality glasses.

The aim is part of its efforts to gradually replace traditional outlets with online stores and cut operational expenses to a great extent.

Rahman said people can now check out every detail of furniture and purchase online thanks to the virtual reality showroom.

The online store—Hatil V—will enable people to experience 360-degree views of furniture through mobile virtual reality headsets and order online, said the company.

“On top of that, customers can also change the wood and fabric colour of the furniture as per their choice and compare them side by side,” said Rahman.

The businessman said vendors would also prefer online stores to traditional physical showrooms in displaying products.