Furniture solutions major REHAU is expanding its retail network in India in its quest to transform into a B2C player. Accordingly, there are going to be many more products in the pipeline for end customers, and a surge of channel partner opportunities. Bhavana Bindra, managing director for REHAU South Asia, talks about the transformation and more in this 9-minute video conversation.
Bindra reveals that REHAU has undertaken a major pivot, from being an OEM supplier to furniture manufacturers to becoming a retail-driven and customer focussed company. Such a strategic shift, she says, calls for an entirely new approach towards aspects of business including product development, customer experience, channel management, logistics, etc.
In this conversation, Bindra is unequivocal when she says there’s no better player than REHAU to take home improvement to the next level with “what we cater with, who we cater to, and how we cater to.…”
While REHAU has traditionally been a darling of furniture makers by virtue of its leadership in the edge band category, now it will be addressing the needs of architects and interior designers, as well as end customers. Flooring, solid surface, wall panels, modular kitchen components and external cladding are the categories that are being developed and expanded. The company has however withdrawn from the uPVC window systems category.
It emerges that channel partners are going to be a key component of the transformation and REHAU will ensure they enjoy healthy RoI. “Ours is a relationship of partners, not the typical principal-dealer. We are going to be leveraging all of our logistics, manufacturing capacity and digitalisation to fully support our dealers and distributors,” she says.
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Since 1997, when it set foot in the country, REHAU has established a formidable manufacturing infrastructure with plants at Pune, Ranjangaon and Vadodara. It has six warehouses at various locations, practically covering the entire country.
In this conversation titled ‘REHAU is Expanding its Retail Network in India, Offers Partnerships’, Bindra also talks about partnership opportunities for dealers and distributors as the company seeks to enter new geographies. She offers a snapshot of the territories in which REHAU would be going deeper, and those where it would be making a fresh entry.
While the company seems to be inundated with changes, Bindra acknowledges that she is the biggest change that has happened. She’s not off the mark. REHAU India is now being led by a professional who brings over two decades of rounded experience encompassing consulting, and distribution, sales and service of engineering goods, and strategy making. Bindra may have been far removed from the aesthetical world of furniture components and home improvement in her earlier career. But this conversation reveals that she’s quite at ease in the new environment, because her KRAs continue to be what she’s been delivering on throughout – product planning, business growth, governance.
This 9-minute conversation offers a lowdown on what’s in store for REHAU’s partners and customers, as Bindra promises, “… there’s more coming and more coming visibly for the audience.”
