Mahmoud Ibrahim — Co-Founder and CEO of Homzmart — an online furniture and household goods trader, said that the company is currently looking to manufacture some furniture products under its brand in cooperation with local manufacturers.
Ibrahim added that Homzmart is a commercial mall for online furniture trade that meets the needs of all price segments, noting that the company deals with about 3,000 suppliers in the furniture industry, and its electronic platform includes about 200,000 products.
This came on the side-lines of the round table held by the company to shed light on the axes of its strategies during the next stage.
He indicated that his company started its work in Egypt at the beginning of 2020, and then expanded in the Saudi market during the last quarter of last year.
He added that Homzmart’s acquisition of the German mock up studio would help customers implement home designs and decorations, especially since there are two types of customers — Those that know what they want to buy in advance, and those that want to buy furniture or household appliances but are unable to make a decision and need advice or guidance.
Ibrahim stated that the company succeeded over the past two years in providing 20,000 indirect jobs in the furniture industry in Egypt, indicating that the size of the furniture industry locally ranges between $7 to 10bn annually, compared to $15bn in the Saudi market.
He also pointed out that Homzmart aims to open new markets for Egyptian exports in the furniture industry and is working hard to help small- and medium-sized companies in the field in cooperation with the concerned authorities.
Furthermore, he said that the company has established an investment arm in the field of shipping and logistics to facilitate the shipping of furniture to customers, noting that Homzmart applies a policy of replacement and return for products that do not conform to specifications or suffer from defects.
Last year, Homzmart obtained more than $15m in financing, part of which was used to build its brand and expand into new markets.
For his part, Mohamed Shalaby — Director of Homzmart Egypt — said that the market is currently witnessing a state of clear turmoil in the mechanisms of supply and demand due to high levels of inflation.
The increase in demand for furniture and household appliances is offset by a set of temporary challenges related to supply chains, but the market is expected to stabilise quickly with the increase in purchasing power and the stability or decrease in prices, especially in light of the Egyptian real estate market’s growth over the past three months.
He also announced the opening of two showrooms in the Fifth Settlement and Sheikh Zayed in July in order to enrich users’ experience before carrying out any actual online purchases, stressing that the company will not carry out any financial transactions for sale and purchase inside these two halls.
