Furnishia – Pakistan’s 1st Furnishing Portal Making eCommerce Easy for Furnishing Industry Stakeholders

Small and medium-sized enterprises play a pivotal role in the economic development of developing countries. According to statistics, SMEs account for 90% of the businesses and 50% of the employment worldwide. In developing markets, 7 out of 10 jobs are created through SMEs.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is a labor-intensive sector. In Pakistan, SMEs contribute up to 40% of the GDP and 30% of the total exports. The furnishing industry is one of the major SME sectors in Pakistan. It is worth $3 billion, marked with excellent quality and marvelous craftsmanship with huge untapped potential.

As Pakistan’s first-ever furnishing portal, Furnishia aims to empower SMEs by providing a multi-sided digital marketplace. Studies indicate that SMEs face key constraints such as access to technology and challenges of supply-chain and marketing. Furnishia is a one-stop solution to all these challenges that SMEs face in the furnishing industry.

Leveraging technology, Furnishia helps create a seamless aisle that empowers sales of products and services pertaining to 10 main and 100 subcategories of furnishing. Furnishia helps SMEs with eCommerce store creation and profile building of businesses and professionals such as architects and interior designers.

As an advocate of women empowerment, Furnishia is actively working towards maximizing opportunities for women in the furnishing sector.  Female employment drives significant revenue in the value chain of the furnishing industry. Women are involved at all levels, from leading roles and designing to sanding and refining furniture.

However, a significant percentage of women are not well-versed in technology and are unaware of new avenues of business growth. Furnishia is helping women in reaching new horizons of furnishing business in the digital realm.

Digital solutions like Furnishia can help companies create optimal shopping experiences that remain consistent across various product categories. The portal is filled with versatile visual assets that target multiple touch-points, providing all the information that a consumer requires to make a purchase.

This platform is raising the bar for consumers with its extensive e-catalog while at the same time uplifting furnishing merchandise, reducing the time between each node of the supply chain with its customer-centric design across Pakistan. It enables segment-based sales, mainly targeted towards trend-setters and millennial buyers.

During the pandemic when stationary trade of furnishing was at a standstill, online shopping skyrocketed. Furnishia caters to this emerging landscape, which signifies that without digital eCommerce, stationery stores cannot survive on their own. The future is promising for those businesses which profess a high willingness to adapt.