For close to eight decades, Asian Paints has been reinventing itself constantly to help people transform

their lives, create a brighter and more beautiful world for themselves, and thus bring them unbridled
joy.
The company has come a long way since its small beginnings in 1942. Driven by its strong consumer-
focus and innovative spirit, the company has been the market leader in paints since 1967. With an
annual turnover of 3.75 billion USD, it is today double the size of any other paint company in India.
Asian Paints manufactures a wide range of paints for decorative and industrial use and also offers Wall
Coverings, adhesives and services under its portfolio.
The company is also present in the Home Improvement segment offering bath and kitchen
products. The recent forays have been into the space of decorative lighting products and uPVC
windows and door systems with the acquisition of White Teak and Weatherseal Fenestration
respectively.

Here’s the quick summary of all various categories under decorative paints and home décor:

1. Paints- In Decorative paints, Asian Paints is present in all the four segments v.i.z Interior Wall
Finishes, Exterior Wall Finishes, Enamels and Wood Finishes. It also offers Water proofing,
textures, DIY range and adhesives in its product portfolio. Asian Paints is the forerunner in
introducing best-in-class painting solutions across categories, fuelled by innovation and
creativity. The paints segment is the biggest contributor to its top and bottom line.

2. Wall coverings- Begun in 2014, Nilaya is a luxury wallcovering brand from Asian Paints with a
global spirit and an Indian soul. Nilaya's range of signature surfaces - home wallpapers, wall
coverings, decals, borders and paintable interior wallpapers is curated from the finest
manufacturers around the world. The unique collaborations with some of the best design
houses like Sabyasachi, Goodearth and Nicobar have given the customers access to designs
that were never seen in the Indian wallpaper market.

3. Décor- Asian Paints decided to move from not only getting a ‘Share of Surface’ to also hold
‘Share of Space’ within the Homes Driven by a vision to be the fore runner in the space of
home décor, company also introduced furnishing fabrics, beddings, rugs, lighting and furniture
in its portfolio. Home Furnishing has always played a pivotal role in turning around the décor
of one's home rather quickly. Asian Paints has joined hands with leading premium furnishing
brands- The Pure Concept for fabrics, Sarita Handa for beddings, White Teak for lighting and
Jaipur rugs for rugs to foster perfect collaborations to cement its way in the home furnishing
category. This new non-paint channel – furnishing and furniture stores have expanded its
reach to a wider audience, in various stages of home renovation cycle.

Beautiful Homes

Beautiful Homes is Asian Paints' home decor brand built on three pillars-

1. Content - A publishing and Inspirational platform (BeautifulHomes.com) on

all areas of home decor. It is currently India's largest home decor community
with a following of over 1.5 million people across social media. The following
is more than any other décor magazine space like Elle Décor or Architecture
Digest. The platform serves as a Décor engine from where AP directs Décor
leads to its Stores and Services.
2. Services - In its second year of business, Beautiful Homes Service is the large-
scale home interior design and execution service, currently operating in 11
 Indian cities as the Beautiful Homes Service. It employs a strong CRM engine
which helps us to provide a world class inspirational and execution service.
3. Product categories and stores - To truly become a home decor player, the
Beautiful Homes brand has products in all major categories like furniture,
furnishings, lighting, modular kitchens, bath fittings, rugs, bedding, and tiles.
It is present in both physical and online formats with more than 29 physical
stores (Beautiful Home Stores). The stores are state of the art ‘phygital stores’
offering an embellished consumer journey and cutting-edge visualization (3D)
through digital means.

The Beautiful Homes brand is well on its way to be the largest in every standalone
product and service category and only integrated home decor brand in India (all
products and services in house).

4. Safe Painting Service- This is the flagship end to end home painting service which is operated
by select dealers under Asian Paints branding and guidelines. Customers who sign up for this
service through our helpline or Colour Idea stores have access to all paint related products,
colour consultation and application.

Recent foray into e-commerce

With the onset of pandemic many organisations perceived e-commerce as one of the key levers to
scale up business and have entered this space. Asian Paints entered the E-Commerce segment with
selling Wall decals on asianpaints.com and marketplaces in 2017. To cater to the growing needs of the
customers in the DIY space, AP had launched spray paints, self-adhesive wallpapers and host of other
DIY products. These products are currently being sold on marketplaces like Flipkart, Amazon and are
also available at Asianpaints.com for online purchase. Products currently sold through
asianpaints.com – Wallpapers, decals and DIY range.

E-Commerce undoubtedly has emerged as a crucial channel; giving an opportunity to remain closer to
customers, listen to them and serve them better. The challenge here is always to balance the sale of
these SKUs through the Dealer Channel and the E-commerce channel since the dealer channel is
integral to Asian Paints.

Business Challenge

Today, all customers are keen to explore the latest for their homes and walls. Digital has emerged as
one of the strongest medium to look for inspiration and finding solutions to all home décor related
needs. Needless to say, all brands are investing heavily on digital as a D2C model to ensure a good
presence, engage and acquire customers.

Asian Paints, with its presence across all décor categories and access to customers via multiple
channels is at the cusp of revolutionising the home decor landscape in India. Digital as a medium
presents a unique opportunity to not just engage with customers but also create an unparalleled
phygital experience for the new- age customers for both paint & Décor. Currently Asian Paints has a
presence across 150000 retail points across the country through which it sells Paints, Coatings, DIY
range, Wall coverings, Decals, and all Home Décor categories. Currently the Ecommerce part is just
0.5% of the total range of the company.

As budding marketeers, you are invited to help the brand in devising a right business strategy to take
its digital ambitions forward.
The scope

Phase 1:

• Decoding the home décor consumer journey | Identifying the digital journey of a consumer
looking for any solution in the relevant home décor categories. How is it different from a
consumer journey via the traditional channels?
• Making the Services (SPS) and (BH) aligned with the digital strategy in a strong way.
• Best in business | Look for examples from similar industries where brands have leveraged
digital as a channel to augment their overall business. How have such brands balanced their
D2C strategy with their traditional trade model?
• To be or not to be | What challenges do you foresee if the company pursues this channel
aggressively?

Point to Ponder on

Asian Paints vs Beautiful Homes – Which of these platforms is more suited to build a sustainable and
an integrated digital model for Asian Paints?