Bahadurgarh-based Sunlight Home Products, the manufacturer of Slimline kitchen and wardrobe accessories, is eyeing the Asia-Pacific market for new avenues of growth. Tarun Singhal (tarun@slimlinekitchens.com), director of the company, shared with Sourcing Hardware the company’s intent of broadening its market reach beyond Indian territory and exporting kitchen and hardware fittings to the A-Pac region. “We see great potential for our range of products in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. We have decided to export Slimline brand of products including SS kitchen baskets, door closers, bathroom accessories, slides, hinges, masking tape and more to these markets.”

Slimline’s participation, as an exhibitor, in Bangladesh Buildcon 2018 (Dhaka, 12-14 July) and Sri Lanka Buildcon 2018 (Colombo, 7-9 September), and the positive response it received, seemingly gave roots to the idea of exploring A-Pac markets. “The exhibitions were a great success, with Slimline’s booth receiving maximum attention from diverse importers, distributors, interior designers and architects,” shared Singhal. Taking the business plan further, the company is looking for partners in these markets. “We have recently appointed a distributor in Sri Lanka and are in talks with several people in Bangladesh as well for distribution,” he shared.

Nepal is yet another market that Singhal is targeting. The company has been present in the Nepal market through distributors for the past five years now and is now in a position to build up the business. It will also participate in Nepal Building, to be held in February 2019. “This will be our next step towards expanding in the Asia Pacific market.”

Talking about plans for 2019, Singhal said that the company will continue to focus on expanding its product range for home products and building the channel network. “We manufacture different products under one roof, and all of them go through quality checks to ensure that our customers face no performance related problems. Slimline provides SS kitchen baskets in customised size and designs,” he said, adding that the company’s manufacturing prowess is aligned with PM Modi’s Make in India initiative. “We will manufacture in India and market our products across the regions,” he said, adding that the company is determined to realise its vision for the upcoming fiscal, of expanding market in the A-Pac region.

On the company’s network expansion plans, Singhal informed, “We currently have about 20 distributors and over 500 retailers; we are planning to add a set of another 10 distributors and over 500 more retailers in the coming two years.” He further shared, “We currently have our own dispatch facility in Lucknow which services our network across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.”

The company is looking to expand in the southern region. “We already have distributors in the region and they will be increasing their marketing activities very soon,” Singhal remarked. Slimline is also expanding the product range by adding bathroom accessories and bed fittings. “These products are likely to be launched by the end of next quarter.”