T
he evolving sense of style for cutting edge furniture products among Nigerians, prospects of growth in real estate projects around the country and foreseeable rise in population has been lending strength to the expansion of investment in furniture making, according to leading dealers.
By 2020, Lifemate, a high-end focused home furnishing company will establish what can be described as the biggest and all-encompassing mall that can cater for interior needs of all classes; be it home, office, kitchen or outdoor. The expansion plans come barely a year after investing in a 6,800-square-metre showroom in Lekki considered the biggest in the country.
It also plans to open a new branch in the heart of Victoria Island and an additional office showroom at Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Maryland Ikeja, which will bring its total number of outlets spread across Abuja, Ibadan, Port-Harcourt and Warri to 16.
“We want to build a furniture mall that is a one stop solution centre for people; so that people can get everything they need from Lifemate when they want to build their houses,” Alan Ping Fu, director sales department, Lifemate Nigeria Limited.
To broaden its market share, the company which has spent about 17 years expanding operations in Nigeria is set to depart from a strict focus on luxury furniture items to a wider market driven by middle and low income class demand.
Ping Fu said the firm’s expansion plans is rooted in the understanding that Nigerians prefer sophisticated products and seem to have a progressive rate of change in lifestyle and taste.
Hence, its fresh focus on designing products for the circle of customers outside wealth is its way of responding to this change. According to her, demand in and out of the year has continued to grow except in politically charged periods when uncertainties curb spending rate.
“Before, we targeted high level customers and have given them the quality life that matches their demand. But now we want to focus on the people who cannot afford it. This year we are going to divide our products into different categories. These sets of people are very young. They don’t like royal bogus furniture. So we are going to give them very fashionable and simple ones that the price would not be as high as royal products. We want to tap into this low income customers because they also need good life,” Pung Fu explained.
Analysts see Lifemate’s growth as reflective of a growing furniture market that will continue to expand as more real estate projects spring up to fix the housing deficit in Nigeria and as improvements in the economy bolster consumption level.
Also considering the rate of population growth, there will always be constant demand from both the retail end and the corporate end of furniture for furniture maker, Michael Kolaru, treasury and investment associate at Financial Derivatives Company Limited said.
He noted that the fear in the economy and the uncertainty in the capital market has been encouraging investors to diversify their risk appetite into properties, which eventually translates into higher demand for retail for furniture.
“The primary thing is that a lot of people are beginning to diversify their needs. If you check a company like Lifemate, they make high end sofas. So their focus will be on real investors that are investing into properties which will definitely need furniture to equip those properties,” Kolaru said.
“For a company that has futuristic plans with the assurance that income of workers will increase, you should start looking at what would be the need of workers.”
Temitayo Ayetoto
