Your email is on its way!
To track your gifted subscription, go to your Account Settings 
We’ve emailed your gift link. Want us to send some more?
Yes, Send more
0 of 0 Subscription available
Not now, thanksArray ( )
Subject : Email Whitelisting
Body : Hi, I'd like to receive all communications from The Ken.
These are one-time fixes to ensure that you don’t miss out on anything interesting.
We currently limit the number of free gift subscriptions per subscriber. You’ll get more when you renew your subscription.
In the meantime, if you want to tell someone about The Ken, gift them a story.
To track your gifted subscription, go to your Account Settings
We’ve emailed your gift link. Want us to send some more?
0 of 0 Subscription available
Not now, thanksPraveen is the CPO of The Ken, and writer of The Nutgraf — the popular weekend newsletter. Led & grew several products at InMobi and Myntra. Graduate from NIT Trichy, followed by an MBA from IIM Bangalore. Loves cats, coffee and cricket (except the Bangladesh team)
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
We've sent a 6-digit code to [email protected]
Having trouble logging in to your account?
Write to us at [email protected]. We'll check and revert.
You can also continue with your password
Signing you in
Click here to try again
Introducing The Ken's brand-new app. Install now by scanning the QR code below
Introducing The Ken's brand-new app. Install now.
We allow only two web login sessions (desktop browser or mobile browser) per subscriber, and you have reached your maximum session limit. If you click continue, you will be logged out on all the other devices.
“There's no greater gift than thinking that you had some impact on the world, for the better.”
– Gloria Steinem
We allow only two web login sessions per subscriber, and you have reached your maximum session limit. If you click continue, you will be logged out on all the other devices.
Account successfully created
Our anti-piracy system has flagged your account for suspicious activity and has temporarily paused your account. This may happen due to a number of reasons.
If you think that this was done in error, please get in touch with us at [email protected].
Top Comments by Praveen Gopal Krishnan
IKEA has arrived. India is rearranging the deck chairs
So Avinash, I cover this in the first part, which strongly focuses on design - both of IKEA and that of Indian players. Should have some answers there. Apart from this, it appears as though IKEA in India is going to do *some* things differently - like tie-up with Urban Clap to do assembly for you, but nothing significantly different to begin with. It's very, very hard to predict if companies need to Indianise their offering. IKEA's global range is surprisingly consistent, and it seems to work well for them.
Praveen Gopal Krishnan The Ken, CPO
IKEA has arrived. India is rearranging the deck chairs
Shreya, IMO what you say is correct for commodities. If I know that a packet of milk is Rs. 30, I will be suspicious of anyone who sells it at Rs. 2, and because I am not hipster, I will ignore brands at FoodHall which sell them at Rs. 100. My argument is that this is inverted for lifestyle brands. Take apparel, for instance. If you wish to buy a nice shirt, you may have benchmarked in your head that a good, decent shirt is at Rs. 2000. You will then ignore brands which sell them for Rs. 500, and will be deeply suspicious of brands which have price points of Rs. 4000. I believe this is that this is what will happen with furniture. Does this make sense? Agree? Disagree?
Praveen Gopal Krishnan The Ken, CPO
IKEA has arrived. India is rearranging the deck chairs
Yes! I had a lot of reporting done in the interior market as well. Companies like LivSpace, HomeLane etc. There's a lot of optimism there that IKEA will woo these players and find its way into the Indian consumer's house. But the flip side is that there's a strong intuition that consumers will prefer solid wood. So perhaps IKEA will lose out. IKEA does seem to have a gameplan for interiors though. Time will tell.
Praveen Gopal Krishnan The Ken, CPO
IKEA has arrived. India is rearranging the deck chairs
Hi Venkatarangan: Thanks for the feedback. Not one of the local players you mention are in the same revenue bracket as these players. JFK is a manufacturer who is also getting into retail. Not really a like-to-like comparison. At any event, the purpose of this is not to do an exhaustive run-through of all players. In fact, forget local players, I hardly even mentioned Damro or HomeTown - both 400cr companies and arguably more influential companies. Going into all these companies will make it a seventeen part series. Soon. Maybe.
Praveen Gopal Krishnan The Ken, CPO
IKEA has arrived. India is rearranging the deck chairs
Absolutely Gagan. Not suggesting that all this is going to happen overnight. Will take time. My larger point is that it will introduce the idea of a brand into a customer's mind. That's about it. There's really no precedent for this in any other sector and industry. Maybe automobiles in India in the mid-90s. That's the closest, but somewhat imperfect analogy that works.
Praveen Gopal Krishnan The Ken, CPO
IKEA has arrived. India is rearranging the deck chairs
Hi Ankur. Yes, Durian is definitely a key player. Probably falls in Tier 2. Solid company. But honestly, didn't have the time and space to go into too much detail into all players. Maybe in the future.
Praveen Gopal Krishnan The Ken, CPO
IKEA has arrived. India is rearranging the deck chairs
Yes, I tend to agree that it's a long-shot. Primary data was impossible to get, so it's presented as a hypothesis than a fact in itself.
Praveen Gopal Krishnan The Ken, CPO
IKEA has arrived. India is rearranging the deck chairs
Hi Prashanth. Thanks for the kind words. Honestly, wanted to write a lot more, especially about vendors, and the entire import-export market around solid wood, rubberwood etc. Maybe in a future story someday. I totally agree on the cynicism around new products. Enough people keep saying, 'India is a special market. Things that work in US or China won't work here'. Been hearing it for years. But very few concrete examples of that actually happening.
Praveen Gopal Krishnan The Ken, CPO
IKEA is aiming for 99%
I think a merger is hard game. Don't see it happening. But some consolidation will happen, I think.
Praveen Gopal Krishnan The Ken, CPO
IKEA is aiming for 99%
Thanks Shikher for the kind words. Let me email you separately on the illustrations.
Praveen Gopal Krishnan The Ken, CPO
IKEA is aiming for 99%
Thanks Fakhruddin. Yes, will cover some of this in Part 2.
Praveen Gopal Krishnan The Ken, CPO
If you unlock it, they will come
Oops. You are correct. I can't believe I got that wrong. Will correct. Thanks Amit.
Praveen Gopal Krishnan The Ken, CPO