Flyfrog Kids Offer In-House Design Service in Kids Décor

According to the industry reports, the home décor industry in India is pegged at $20 billion and kids décor is the fastest growing segment in this category with a growth rate of about 35%. In an interview with BWDisrupt, Pooja Kaul and Amita Mahajan, Co-founders, FlyFrog Kids speak about their inception, business model and future plans.

Tell us about the inception of FlyFrog Kids? How was it started?
Our journey started with a sudden surprise that one of our clients wanted to give his soon-to-be-mommy wife. While we did his plush penthouse interiors, this sudden project of a nursery stumped us. We started reluctantly and ended up having so much fun that the seed of Flyfrog Kids was laid then. The idea was to create a line of vibrant products different from what was currently available in the market with a focus on function as well as design. Our products have generic flowers, butterflies or sailors or dinosaurs as the main stars. We think that kids should have the freedom to imagine, think and dream. Online was the way to go since India has a huge smart phone base which is growing every year and when we look at the data on our website you do realise that having it accessible on the phone is a huge plus for us.

How is your brand different from the existing décor ranges?
There are a couple of things that differentiate Flyfrog from all the other home décor /kids market places. We are architects as well as mothers, so while we bring in the design perspective, being a mommy architect, child safety comes naturally to us. Being architects we bring in a certain amount of experience in execution where all blunders nearly occur such as the base jointing is not proper, paint quality, colour variations, improper joints, creaking furniture, etc. Secondly, we design and manufacture all our products. As there is a central core which monitors all the design development, therefore the palette, in terms of motifs /colours /textures is similar through the theme. This brings in a certain element of cohesiveness to the complete design whereas in a market place all the products are procured from different vendors.

What were the challenges faced initially?
It took us a while to strengthen our supply chain and our workforce and make them believe in our dream. Now the main challenge that we have is the awareness of the brand. Luckily for us we are first movers in the ‘Kids décor & service market’ and we have some great brand partners with us in our journey. So while there are big players limited to certain geographies we are trying to ensure that we address the needs of a mother sitting in Raipur as well as a mother in Gurgaon. There is huge scope and acceptance among consumers when it comes to digital buying now.

What kind of monetisation model are you working with?
Our revenue model is based on a two prong strategy. We are looking at revenues from our “off the shelf” kids décor product line available on various platforms. Besides that our “design your room” plan offers a design service complete with our kids décor products which is available only on our platform. In this vertical, personalisation of rooms and products is our speciality. There is no one in this space who is offering a complete package of design service and kids décor products designed and manufactured in-house. So we are able to provide furnishings, furniture, accessories, painting and flooring –all under one roof. With this combination we are able to maintain a very stringent control on our quality.

Please share with us your recent traction details?
We do about 20-25 orders a day on an average which peaks up in certain seasons or days.

What are your marketing plans?
We are online led and available through our select online partners as a large majority of our core consumers are young moms who are active online. While we engage with our consumers online through contests and other awareness building platforms for which we have small and select activations e.g. our coffee mornings with mothers. The mommy activations give us a great insight into the products that they would love to see besides getting first hand feedback / reviews on our new products

Please tell us more about your tie-up with Mattel? What does the partnership entail?
We are a licensed partner for furniture for Barbie & Hotwheels in India. All the products sold will be CO-BRANDED as Flyfrog and Mattel. We are very proud to be creating and designing products for Barbie and Hotwheels in India. It’s been an exciting journey for us to design a range of products from beds to wall art , keeping in mind the consumer choices and sensibilities.

What kind of future plans are in your mind?
We want to be the Pottery Barn of India. We want to be most loved and recalled kids décor brand. As of now we are catering to about 13 cities but we would like to add more Tier 2 cities to it. Our plan is to add more products and services to our current portfolio so that we can fill the gaps wherever required. Our target customer is a mother who is well travelled, aware of design trends and has a certain design aesthetics and probably shops at a Pottery barn or Land of Nod when she is abroad.