Homemaker at Maitighar and Kupandole offers a whole range of furniture you may want for your home. One of the established names in the Nepali furniture market, the company started operations in 1982. It stocks furniture ranging from side tables, coffee tables and home study tables to sofa sets, dining tables and beds.

“For those who want a complete solution, Homemaker is the perfect destination. We provide both furniture and furnishing. Customers can choose from our selection of more then 400 designs,” said Sanchit K. Shrestha, director of Homemaker. “We also provide interior designing service on a turn-key basis.”

Homemaker manufactures 90 percent of its furniture products at its factory at the Patan Industrial Estate. The company has around 300 employees. It has its own designers to create new designs. “We want to develop Homemaker as a depot of home products. So we play with designs and try to provide people with designs as per their choice and also provide furnishing and interior services,” said Shrestha.

He claimed that the products manufactured and stocked by them were of a very high quality. “Quality is something we never compromise on. We want to make sure our products are reliable to strengthen our motive of building a strong brand image by building love and trust,” said Shrestha.

Prices at Homemaker range from Rs 700 for a lamppost to Rs 300,000 for a sofa set. If you purchase furniture items in a package, the company gives a discount depending on its value. “We are considered to be a one-stop shopping destination for customers from the higher income bracket. However, we want to change this concept by catering to middle class people from each and every aspect,” said Shrestha. “However, there will be no compromise in terms of quality.”

Shrestha added that they would be focusing on products suitable for the middle class. “In 2011, we will be manufacturing relatively cheap furniture items suitable for middle class people. We will be bringing in product packages ranging in price from Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000.”

The company will also be launching Homemaker Superstore at Dhobi Ghat within the next 12 months. “Due to lack of adequate space, we are unable to feature the whole range of our products at our stores at Maitighar and Kupandole. At Dhobi Ghat, we will be featuring all our best and innovative products on at least five storeys,” said Shrestha. “We want to make sure that our customers will get to select products from a wide range of products.”

Homemaker has been seeing an annual growth of around 20 percent in the furniture segment. “Due to increasing brand awareness among Nepalis, we are witnessing a healthy growth rate. In earlier days, we were facing competition from Chinese products in terms of price. However, the competition currently is in both price and quality; and in the latter category, Chinese products cannot compete with us,” said Shrestha. He added that strong after sales service was also one of the factors contributing to the continuous growth. The company claims that it holds a market share of around 25 percent in the organised furniture sector.

Besides furniture, Homemaker also provides interior designing services on a turn-key basis. In the interior segment, the company holds a strong portfolio with tie-ups with most of the big corporate houses, banks, embassies, NGOs and INGOs. The interiors done by Homemaker at the offices of the chief executive officers of Nepal Investment Bank and Himalayan Bank are considered to be one of the finest interiors in Nepal, claimed Shrestha.

source: The Kathmandu Post(2011),"Homemaker makes them", The Kathmandu Post, 27 feb 2011