On October 31, Godrej Interio launched what it has touted as the ‘Posture Perfect’ chair. Storyboard18 caught up with Anil Verma, executive director and chief executive officer, Godrej & Boyce, and Swapneel Nagarkar, senior vice president and business head, Godrej Interio, who outlined the reasons for coming up with the chair design, their take on sustainability, and a lot more.
Edited excerpts
In your view, how has the wellness space evolved under the influence of Godrej & Boyce and Godrej Interio?
Verma: The journey started many decades back. If I were to go back 20-25 years, we would realise that our job was not just supplying tables and chairs, but creating healthy and productive work environments.
So, there was always a focus on ergonomics and health. If I remember right, we were the first to launch chairs in India certified by the Indian Orthopaedic Association. We interacted a lot with doctors, not only orthopaedic surgeons, but also neurosurgeons. We said that we must design furniture that supports people to be productive and healthy. Over time, from ergonomics and health, the scope has expanded to wellness.
Nagarkar: Our objective is to see how we contribute to a better work environment in offices. We have experts in our team who go to offices and conduct sessions. These are pro bono. The only objective is to see how people enhance their productivity. That’s an independent area where we continue to work.
After the pandemic, there has been a shift in the way organisations and customers look at health. We see them taking more interest.
I was reading that the Unilever CEO, Hein Schumacher, said that not all brands could champion social and environmental causes in their products and campaigns. What is your take on this, especially in the context of Godrej?
Verma: In our case, it’s been ‘value’. Typically, organisation values are what? Trust and integrity. In our case, I think we had two unique values. One was to serve. The other was in terms of the environment. In every factory that we make, when we make the shell, it would be IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) accredited. There are standards for a building to be environmentally friendly which are platinum, gold and silver.
When sustainability matters to you … there’s no question of force-fitting. Should I preserve the environment? Of course, we should. Should we build green buildings? We should. Should our manufacturing process be good? Godrej is synonymous with sustainability.
Who’s the target audience? How have they evolved in this category?
Nagarkar: The target audience is basically buyers of different industries. We have the private sector, Indian government and the public sector. The beauty of it is that all these sectors are now evolving in a manner that they are increasingly concerned about the health and well-being of their people as well. Initially, it used to be restricted to fewer sectors. But now, we are seeing it actually becoming much more prevalent.
What are the gaps in the corporate wellness space and how is Godrej bridging them?
Nagarkar: Our understanding is that today, corporations actually want the wellness and the health of their employees to be the top priority. But the path towards this is not very clear. What Godrej is doing is becoming a bridge by bringing all of its knowledge of furniture, ergonomics and wellness to contribute to the health and well-being of people.
How tough is the competition from organised and unorganised players?
Nagarkar: Competition has generally been there from both organised and unorganised players. There are national and international competitors. Steelcase is one of our international competitors. In the case of domestic competitors, we have players like Featherlite.
What are the consumer and market trends in the wellness space?
Nagarkar: Wellness on the whole is a very big space. So, I am only restricting to the furniture part of it. Initially it was more about how ergonomics can actually give the right posture and benefit your productivity. It has now gradually shifted to include wellness. So, wellness is basically the overall holistic feeling the individual will get.
What was your revenue in FY23?
Nagarkar: So, in this office furniture category, we did Rs 1,000 crore.
What are the ad spends for 2023, and what are your expectations from the festive season?
Nagarkar: When it comes to the ad spend and the festive season, it is related more to home furniture. So, we do spend more on advertising in the festive season. And this year, we have stepped up our ad spend and are trying to become more visible through different media. And in the festive season, we are seeing that the market has picked up.
In October, we did see a good pickup. We keep reading through the media about the rural economy and the challenges coming in. So, we are also observing how the main festive season will go.
So, 15 percent is the market share in the wellness category, right? And the aim is to grow it to 20 percent?
Nagarkar: Yes, but, in the overall office furniture category. On the strength of products that have ergonomic designs and sustainability standards, it will grow from 15 percent to 20 percent.
Tell us about ‘Posture Perfect’ and the reasons for coming up with it.
Nagarkar: We have been conducting a deep study of the human body and how our chairs will be able to better support it. We had a product called ‘Motion’, which was in the category of active seating. Basically, with the back of the customer, the movement would be mapped along with the seat.
But, one thing we could clearly understand as a gap and what the designer also mentioned was that the LUMBAR region is essentially what gives way and that is where the gap gets created between the body and the chair. When one is trying to tilt and work, people take all kinds of postures.
So, it is with this objective that we know that if we crack it successfully, we will be able to give complete end-to-end support to all the different postures. It has been a long journey of several iterations to come out with this unique mechanism.
Verma: There are chairs that are asynchronous. Every chair has a back and a seat. They are joined and in one piece. And, there are chairs that are synchronous. If the seat moves one degree, the back will move two degrees. The wonderful part about this chair is, it’s a little beyond synchronous. When you move at any moment, the back is always supported or the gap between the (seat) back and your own back is not there. I think that’s really the knowledge that is coming in.
How are organisations approaching office furniture purchases?
Nagarkar: Today, organisations believe that they should invest more in furniture, because it plays an important role in enhancing the productivity of the organisation. That’s how it is shaping and people are investing in it.