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The Furniture Industry and the African Consumers’ Ordeal

The average Nigerian has in one way or the other, gone through the absolutely frustrating ordeal of purchasing furniture for their home. There are a plethora of problems encountered in buying furniture; they range from the reality of acquiring finished furniture, which is oftentimes located in high brow areas of the city, and would have you hyperventilating when you see the price tags and questioning the need to purchase furniture at all to the stress of finding furniture that compliments your space or may be an aesthetical eyesore when combined together with exciting pieces. 

In the bid to circumvent this extremely uncomfortable experience, a lot of Nigerians and in fact, the majority of African households, would venture to employ the services of the traditional furniture maker, which we can definitely call the “Rite of Passage”  experience with disappointing artisans.

The stories of people’s experiences with these artisans vary from the lack of expertise to deliver the preferred design of the buyer, instead of delivering very unappealing and poorly finished furniture, having to chase the artisans to deliver the furniture on time, or in the extreme case, the artisan refusing to do the work and absconding with the payment!

These are the prevailing stories that assail the budding Nigeria furniture industry that is sized at $1.5billion with the majority of the players on the informal side (the traditional artisans). 

The immersive potential of the furniture industry

The global furniture market size was valued at around $609.7 billion in 2019 and will grow at the rate of >5.4% from 2020 to 2026.¹ Nigeria has not been left out in this global growth as the furniture manufacturing industry is projected to reach $697m in 2021 with a growth rate of 25.2% Y-o-Y. The revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2021-2025) of 13.15%, resulting in a projected market volume of $1,143m by 2025. These statistics represent manufacturing alone!

The numbers tell that the Nigerian furniture market is indeed a budding industry. The government placed an embargo on the importation of furniture into the country with an aim to protect the local industries involved in furniture manufacturing.

The user penetration of furniture buyers using digital platforms is estimated to be 4.5% at the end of 2021 and is expected to hit 8.2% by 2025. The average revenue per user (ARPU) is expected to amount to $73.82.

Taeillo: Where technology meets functionality.

The motivation to solve the hassle of dealing with unprofessional artisans, the purchase of exorbitantly priced yet antiquated furniture and creating unique, contemporary, afro-centric furniture led to the birth of Taeillo. 

Taeillo has a sole aim to help every African in urban and peri-urban cities buy furniture conveniently from the comfort of their homes by offering premium furniture and lifestyle pieces. 

With the vision of being the Made.com of Africa, Jumoke Dada and her Team have utilized e-commerce, social commerce and immersive technology (AR/VR) to offer customer-centric furniture designs; allowing customers to sample superior African products from the comfort of their homes and choose the furniture that meets their unique taste.

Furthermore, Taeillo operates with environmental consciousness by ensuring that its production processes involve zero waste. More than 5,000 pieces of furniture have shipped and 300 direct and indirect jobs created within its first two years of operation; and Taeillo has made an impressive name for itself in the furniture industry. 

Jumoke began experimenting and inculcating local textiles like Ankara — a colourful cotton fabric with vibrant tribal patterns and motifs — and aso oke — a hand-woven cloth in her contemporary designs. To her, it was a good market entry strategy in an age-long and competitive business. This allowed the brand to stand out as bold and chic.

When one visits the Taeillo website or social commerce pages, you’ll find that the pieces of furniture are not only functional but aesthetically pleasing.  You can take it a step further by trying out the furniture within your space to see if it would fit, and all this can be done within the confines of your home. Amazing right? Welcome to the Taeillo experience.  

The company takes it a step further by allowing you to envision your ideal space by using a VR headset to experience your space, go through the pieces and purchase them without having the palpitation of the furniture not fitting into its space. This strategy appeals to the millennials and Generation Z, who make the bulk of its target market.

The Taeillo Future

Nigeria and other African countries currently spend at least $54 billion on the importation of different furniture products needed in the continent, owing to the dearth of production capacity in the local furniture industry. 

Except the world mysteriously reverts to the antediluvian era and people do not require wood as furniture but more for heating,  I hope that doesn’t happen. There will be an increase in the sale of furniture brought on by the continued proliferation of e-commerce and social commerce driven by the convenience economy –  the folks that say I know what I want, how I want it and when I want it.

The middle class will continue to balloon, thanks to increased migration (it’s a two-way street by the way. Asia is coming to Africa too) and the proponents of decentralization with a  goal to create shared prosperity. 

Even though some may argue that the purchasing power of the Nigerian youth is at an all-time low with the negatively skewed macroeconomic trends particularly inflation and a devalued naira, one cannot but agree that the average Nigerian youth still is in touch with global trends. Thanks to technology! They aspire to live a better life in which they achieve the quality of life seen on TV or even experienced by those who have been privileged to live in developed economies. Not saying the hustle is not real abroad but everyone wants a better quality of life.

We see Taeillo positioned as the platform to allow people to experience the quality of life they aspire to attain.

The CcHUB syndicate is excited by the pan-African vision of the company and how it is positioning to resolve the supply chain challenges that come with building a scalable high growth technology business in Africa.

Investment thesis met. ✅✅

Click on this link to invest with us in amazing companies like Taeillo.

Written by Victoria Fabunmi, Head of Investment Management at CcHUB.