At Furlenco, we offer a range of furniture to help you set up your home at easy rentals. So while you get a well crafted home to suit your lifestyle, job or changing habitats, you don’t really burn deep holes in your pockets. Furlenco caters to the furniture needs of a variety of people, ranging from expats to students. We have in place an extremely smooth and seamless system so that your furniture rental experience – from identifying the furniture you want to setting it up in your home – comes with no hassles, fulfills your aspirations and brings you happiness!
Furlenco is India's first home furniture rental company based in Bangalore offering a furniture subscription service, a new concept in the furniture space that has made furnishing a home both convenient and affordable. As part of the service we rent out award winning furniture with matching furnishings and decor by way of a flexible monthly subscription fee allowing for a wholesome furniture experience. In addition, our service promises deliveries within 7 days of an order being placed and the flexibility to swap furniture every year. By offering premium furniture at affordable monthly rentals, Furlenco has finally made access to quality furniture a plausible and practical option in India.
As we complete 66 years of Independence, let's choose to let go of all that has kept us tied down or bound us from embracing positive change and usher in a new way of living.
Life today keeps us on our toes and we are constantly on the move, shifting homes, cities or countries and usually at short notice; this could be on accord of work or education or personal relationships. One of the hassles associated with such a change has to do with our belongings, of which furniture forms a large part. The choice comes down to lugging all our furniture around as we move or to let go and live a substandard life.
Let this not be your only choice.
Try something new this Independence day, free your self from the excess baggage you are carrying around in life and do this without having to compromise on your lifestyle. Choose to furnish your home on the go and let FURLENCO handle your furniture needs.
Are you the kind of person who is constantly on the move, shifting cities often, doing stints abroad & hence have to keep shifting homes OR maybe you could be a fresher, starting out on your first job, moving away from home or hostel life for the first time & setting up your own house OR possibly someone looking to complete their home but find yourself in a positing where you cant or don't want to make a heavy investment?
Then renting for your short-term needs is the best way to go.
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Contributed by Anshumala, Marketing Manager, FURLENCO
I recently received an email from a consultant who services Banks, on the helplessness he felt with the use of technology. It was too much of technology which bothered him. If he could just speak with a customer service rep, he would be able to solve his issue. He was mostly frustrated in his transacting with Banks. That got me thinking.. are we really being inundated with technology?
Most friends that I know love Facebook. Google is a household name. And searching is not a difficult function. So what is so hard here about technology and why do businesses rely on it? I think in today's age, technology has taken on the role of conducting a business. In what an eCommerce shop does for e.g. it will help notify your customers of a shipment, it will help them make a payment from the comfort and security of their homes and it will help you reach out to them as well.
There is room for more technology I feel.. cancel an order, reschedule it etc at the touch of a button. Maybe this is too cold and lacks the warmth a human voice echoes. But do you really want 10 calls indicating your order status? An SMS is less intruding and more easy to file away for your records. Perhaps the key is in how the business is organized for the customer and how much importance it gives to their comfort. That's what I plan to focus in the months to come.
It’s a weekday and the thought of reaching the office is not the most pleasant one. Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time in office and interacting with my colleagues and clients. What I hate is spending 45 minutes in traffic to cover the 3.5 kms from my home to office. *this para has no relevance but I just wanted to get it out*
To tell you about our company, FURLENCO is in the business of renting furniture and home furnishing essentials for short term / long term needs. I was asked if I can write a few nice and truthful words about ‘who we are and what we do’. *evil grin*
Let me tell you something about a typical day at office. First of all, I hope you would understand that our KRA on paper are defined but we are often expected to do a lot more, us being in a start-up company and all.
Allow me to introduce you to Ajith, founder and CEO of RUD. I am impressed with Aji’s capacity to listen to 5 people at one time and still absorb everything. What most of us wish Ajith stops doing is bombarding our inboxes. He says communication is important and we say ‘so is getting out of the desk and doing some work’.
I could not recognize our COO Kabir when I met him a couple of days back at our showroom/experience center. Being a paidaishi Bangalorean he found it difficult to bear the Dilli heat and now we can use his bald head as an emergency mirror. Kabir always has a story to fit in any situation. Damn those TED talk videos.
Ask any person in our office to count the number of instances they have won an argument against our Chief Design Officer Shriya, they can count it on their fingertips. Well for most of us, the number is shaped like a Laddoo. Our CFO Praveen can however boast of 4 or 5 hard fought battle wins. For the rest of us it is interesting to watch a debate between sense and sensibility. Though Shriya is our Design head, she would also often be seen involved in Graphic design, Merchandising, HRing and Marketing. *phew*
Feby joined us as head of business development and he has the important role of being our product manager as well. His initial project was introduction of Baby furniture range Kiddoz. I remember receiving a call from a customer who wanted to speak with our Baby manager Feby. Hence the legend of Baby ‘No Fuss’ Joseph was born.
The BU team headed by yours truly is responsible for sales and sales operations. Ritesh handles operations in Chennai and Sukruth in Bangalore. Ask them to pose in front of the camera and even 80s movie star Jeetendra would be put to shame. It is fun to see Ritesh and Sukruth converse with Rahman (who leads the delivery team) in Hindi. Rahman once went to the market to buy gound (adhesive) and Sukruth spent next half an hour with an online Hindi-English dictionary.
Our finance team is riding on the strong shoulders of Gopal from Siddapura. He is fondly addressed as Petty Gopal since he handles the petty cash for day to day expenses. I have tried being nice to him but my reimbursements do not seem to be getting cleared any sooner. He is from Accounts background.
Very recently Harsh joined as head of IT. Whenever Harsh speaks, everybody else listens. Well he is very soft spoken. When we speak it is like a CAT group discussion and when Harsh speaks it is like a CAT interview. Sometimes we feel that we are so barbaric.
Anshu also joined us as a Marketing manager. And she is the only one who brings lunch from home. One day I tried to compliment her cooking and she conveyed the message to her cook.
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Contributed by
Pankaj Baruah, VP, Business Unit Head (Bangalore, Chennai), FURLENCO
The Need - Last year April I got married to person I had long wanted too. Since we were both working in Bangalore, we didn't need a relocation or change jobs to be together, but we needed a Flat to move in. Our first choice was getting a fully furnished flat. We didn't want to waste money in buying furniture & appliances since we weren't to sure on where our lives would take us, to a new place may be in a year or two.
The Search - Searched nearly 2 months but hard luck or call it demand supply mismatch in Bangalore that we didn't get a single furnished flat in the area we wanted & started looking out for other options as wedding date was just a couple of weeks ahead and we had to head back to our respective home towns to start preparing for wedding.
Luckily we found a 1 BHK flat near his office, which had appliances but no furniture. We immediately finalized it thinking we will manage with out furniture, at least the basic appliance were there.
Later, we thought we should not just make-do more so cause we were married now & relatives & family would come over often. After 2 months of hard work found something awesome. I immediately dialed my friend who worked with the brand & asked him to help me get some discounts. He told the furniture would be on sale in mid July, so wait till then & he would get us a good deal. We did that & waited for a month more.
Experiences - Around 2nd week of July we went back & the store manager informed that piece is only available at Mangalore and will take 3-4 weeks to ship to our place (usual shipping time is 2-3 weeks though). We gave a thought and told ourselves, going around to check designs again? Not again! We decided to pay & wait.
After the furniture turned up, had to now struggle for its installation. A week later after calling the Regional Manager South, the delivery the guy came and told the furniture was damaged in transit (internal & external damages). And another month of figuring out with store guys on what to do, how to settle this out (cause we had bought the last piece) and ending up with a make-do option & accepted the furniture. Internal issues were fixed but the external one is still too apparent.
Conclusion - The more we wanted it to be hassle free, the more it became full of Hassles! And guess how much we spent on it minus time (half a year) & energy? Approx. INR 65,000 (after a 40% off). Three months later the flat owner returned & we moved to a new apartment and paid hefty amount in transporting it.
Moral - What a waste! Wish we ever knew there was a simpler, hassle free way - Furniture Rentals. The answer was simple but we never knew about it, hadn’t heard of it!
Our parent and Grandparents told us stories when we were children. We have grown up watching Movies and Television; listening to Music and Reading books (all forms of storytelling). The most interesting people we know are good story tellers.
Our priced possessions have stories behind them and so on and so forth……………Let’s admit it, as humans we are all suckers for stories!!
This is not because we are fickle minded but because stories open up a whole new world of ideas, thoughts and create an emotional connect, they help us understand new concepts, communicate, engage and build credibility.
As times change and new ideas and thoughts come into being it becomes essential to communicate these ideas and thoughts in an effective manner.
Rent Ur Duniya is a startup that has to do with Rental of furniture and furnishings for home, a new concept for India. One of our biggest challenges here is to introduce the concept of rentals to a market whose first choice has and possibly will remain buying. Storytelling I believe plays a crucial role here.
Our first communication campaign revolves around the question “Why Rent” and “About Renting”
We have all in some way and at some point been in a situation where we were in need of furniture but not in a position to buy it.
The content for the campaign is designed to illustrate these various scenarios. It introduces the option of Renting and addresses questions/ concerns that customers may have about renting furniture.
The content for the campaign came from conversations we had with our customers, hence making the stories true and the scenarios we can all identify with.
Of course they say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating…. so here is hoping the story of renting furniture (from Rent Ur Duniya of course ;-)) spreads far and wide and has a happy ending.
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” ― Confucius
A few days back I had asked someone dear as to why he does not pursue entrepreneurship. Pat came the reply – “I don’t have the patience”. That got me thinking.
I have heard many great individuals trying to define an entrepreneur - an entrepreneur needs to be brilliant, passionate, gutsy, fast-thinker etc. I wouldn’t disagree. These qualities are great to have and I am sure would help an entrepreneur (though I am still searching for most of those in me – haven’t found them yet). However, I think what really helps an entrepreneur is his quality of perseverance. Of course, perseverance comes with patience.
Yes, it is absolutely true that you have days when you are elated with great news all around – it’s almost like getting 5 shots of Red Bull – along with days when you feel like you are in the dumps – and it is at these times that you almost kick yourself for having quit a cushy job. But what you learn is not to get too carried away on the days of elation and more importantly to pull yourself back from the dumps and get back to office the next day. They say you do something for 10,000 hours and you become an expert. I say, you experience the ups and downs of entrepreneurship five times and you have got the basic quality that is required to survive as an entrepreneur.
I think the MBS (Marwari School of Business) saying – “Hazaar Din Dhande Ke” (1000 days of business) holds true. What it is trying to tell you is that if you can survive the ups and downs of a business for the first 1000 days, you have got the mojo to make it to the top.
The idea of a rental furniture company was born in the second table at Café Coffee Day inside Home Town, Outer Ring Road, in January of 2010. So the idea has survived 3 years and 3 months. The real company was born on Oct 1st 2011 – when I quit my job. So as of writing this, the company has survived 573 days! I am proud of this fact because lot of sweat has gone behind surviving these 573 days.
More than sweat, I think it is the perseverance – more than mine the team’s. The company today is the team and the team’s soul is perseverance. More people in the team have been around for majority of the 573 days and that tells me that all of them have the same quality.
So to my team – hang in there!
“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.”
― Winston Churchill
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Contributed by Ajith Karimpana, Founder & CEO, Rent Ur Duniya
I guess to answer this question one needs to get into the minds of the Indian customer. The quintessential Indian customer has been programmed to ‘own’. From time immemorial our ancestors have believed in amassing wealth which translates into ‘owning’ under different contexts. A person who ‘owns’ land becomes a landlord or a Zamindar. A person who owns land invariably also owns a house of his own and in these modern times a four-wheeler as well.
Now all that makes complete economic sense if what you wish to own is comfortably affordable and makes economic sense in the long run. However, in these modern times with extremely high inflation rates, owning land, house, car et al is far from being comfortably affordable. In fact, people take on loans way beyond their capacities just to satisfy their pride of owning.
So does buying make complete sense under all circumstances?
No not really.
We think it makes sense for truly appreciating assets. A house or land, in India, may qualify to be a truly appreciating asset. Purists would argue that real estate can crash as well (as it did in the United States). But I think we are still a few decades away from real estate from being a true commodity. However, you could argue in the short-term whether the current buying rates (at least in Bangalore) are sustainable. Especially since the ratio of Rent/Year by Cost of owning a house is well below 5% (it’s in fact hovering around 3% these days). In other words, at the current rate you could rent a place for around 25 years before you actually overhaul what you pay today for buying the same place.
But what about depreciating assets? Cars, Household items, Furniture?
Unless you own a vintage car or Mughal era furniture, it is unlikely that they appreciate over the years. So then what’s the point of buying them. You could argue that these items are affordable. Are they? Maybe. But could you have put your capital to a better use?
Here’s the argument for why buying may not make sense for at least in the case of furniture and maybe renting is the way to go.
Suppose one is intending to furnish a 2-BHK house. Here’s what your sale invoice is mostly going to look like (of course tastes differ and so does cost) -
Sofa Set – Rs 40,000
Coffee Table – Rs 5000
Dining Table (4-Chair) – Rs 30,000
Master Bedroom Cot – Rs 30,000
Guest Bedroom Cot – Rs 25,000
Bedsides (2) – Rs 10000
Total – Rs 1,40,000
Most of the modern-day furniture pieces have an average life of 7-10 years. But then again in these modern times, folks seldom stick to a long-term plan. Life changes and so do circumstances (studies, job, marriage, new home, children). This has been outlined in the previous post on the same topic.
Need for furniture changes with lifestyle and circumstances. Typically, between the age of 20-40, there is some life changing event happening every 2-3 years with folks. So much so, that you may have to get rid of the furniture and get altogether new pieces.
Typically, furniture lose 60% of their original value by the first two years (According to Income tax rules it is 10%/year). Now in India, it is not easy to sell a second-hand furniture. Yes you can go to the nearest big furniture mall and exchange it, but good luck with that since you can be assured that you may not even get 20% of what you originally paid for. So even if we assume that you get your 40% of your original cost, here’s your total figure -
-Rs 1,40,000 (Original Cost)
+ Rs 56,000 (Price you get after 2 years, that is if you are lucky)
- Rs 28,000 (10% interest rate/yr on 1.4 lacs for 2 years)
- Rs 4000 (Transportation during buying & selling)
______________________________________________
= -Rs 1,16,000 (Total money out of your pocket)
Here’s what you would pay if you were to rent the same from Rent Ur Duniya -
-Rs 5400 x 24 (Rent for 24 months)
- 4320 (10% interest on 4-months deposit amount for 2 years)
+ Rs 28,000 (10% interest rate/yr on Rs 1.4 lakhs for 2 years)
So clearly renting furniture in the short-term definitely makes more sense than buying from a financial point of view.
Of course, what we clearly don’t have transparency into is the price that you would get when you sell your second-hand furniture. There is a lot of uncertainty in that space and it would be foolish to assume that you would be easily able to liquidate when you wish to at a price that you think you should get.
This is the question everyone asks us. Why should we rent furniture? Buying furniture is not like buying a house that it is out of the reach of the common man. Yes they may be expensive, but they definitely are not impossible to buy. In fact, do we know anybody around us here in India who is renting furniture? Chances are low to nil.
But my dear friend, there is a case for renting furniture. It depends on what stage of life you are in or who you are.
(1) Are you a college going grad? – There are umpteen students (at least in Bangalore) who share a 3-BHK apartment close to their college. They are in for a short-term arrangement (max 2-4 years) after which they know that they would go on their own career paths. Most of these students, even though their parents can afford it, sleep on a make-shift bed on the floor along with little or no furniture in the house. The argument here is why would you want to invest in furniture when you know that you are going to be out of here within a few years.
The answer – Try renting furniture !!
(2) Are you the FOB (fresh-on-board) in one of the IT giant companies from a different city? – On the first week of joining, while you are signing hundreds of documents (bank accounts, home rental agreement et al), chances are that you pay no heed to what you are going to be sleeping or sitting on once you land up a house. Some of you (the I-can’t-sleep-on-the-floor kind) would head to the nearest furniture shop and most likely plonk down 20-30K (of dad’s hard-earned money since you haven’t got your paycheck yet) for some crappy furniture and get yourself the so-called comforts of home.
The answer for you (sinning by repeating) – Why buy? Rent Furniture !! And to think about paying after you get your first paycheck !! Talk about being independent from the first month !
(3) Are you the software engineer who is flying to San Jose next week for a 6-month assigment? – Come on this is a no-brainer. So it’s been two years since you have joined your company and the company decides to send you on a 6-month long vacation (oops sorry work abroad). Over the past two years, having graduated from bachelorhood, some sense has prevailed and you have a better living standard. You bought the single cot, the two-seater to sit, a wardrobe to keep your stuff. But oops, what do you do with them now? Sell them on Ebay for throwaway price because you just have 1 week before the flight? Or ship it off to mom & pop’s already crowded house?
Didn’t we say it’s a no-brainer? – Why buy ? Just Rent !!
(4) Are you newly married and renting a house? – Yep we know, it’s a great feeling. Do enjoy this time (because it doesn’t last long ) Hey but aren’t you thinking of moving back to Gurgaon because an opportunity is knocking at the door. But alas, you now have bought the grand queen cot from Home Town, the beautiful his & her wardrobe, the plush sofa-set (just to impress the nai dulhan !!). Your home looks great, but so are you poorer by a lakh and now you have to shell out a fortune to ship them to Gurgaon !
The answer – I thought we said – Why buy ? Just rent my dear !!
(4) Are you the one who has booked a flat which is due next December? – Hmmm…tricky. The builder has a tendency to delay. He has already delayed by a year and a half. But you do need that extra double-cot for the frequent guests that you host. So you end up shelling 30K to buy the cot (which by the way you get fleeced for low quality). But you know that it doesn’t match with the decor you intend for your new home or the new home just doesn’t have the space for it.
The answer – Again.. why buy? Just rent the double cot !!
I guess we have made the point. There are quite a few reasons why one should think about renting and not buying furniture. I guess the immediate question would be what choice do we have. Yes you do – FURLENCO We are here to solve your problem with minimum pain for you.
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