The Hindu Business Line : Showers of luxuriance

After-sales service is a key element of customer requirement when it comes to bathroom products. While there is a certain aspiration for exciting products, the customer is equally keen on reliable service. With elegant fittings, modern bathrooms are not just functional but also reflect the exclusive lifestyles of its owners. Water saving sanitaryware is also growing in popularity.

Bathing beauties: Bathroom fittings that make a lifestyle statement - from Parryware.

It took a fastidious grandson from the US to convince the Rajkumars that the bathrooms in their flat needed to be upgraded to incorporate western closets, bidets and shower cubicles. Of course, once they got started, they decided to go the whole hog and completely refurbish the bathrooms. The Rajkumars are not alone in this. A large number of people, especially in the metros, are doing up their bathrooms.

In addition to lifestyle changes sweeping across the country, low interest housing and refurbishment loans, the market is also flush with a mind-boggling range of products both from domestic and international manufacturers. However, renovation constitutes only a small segment of the bathroom market, although it is growing fast. K.E. Ranganathan, Managing Director, Parryware Glamourooms Pvt Ltd, says that the renovation segment accounts for about 20-25 per cent of the organised sanitaryware market (Rs 770 crore).

Makeovers

He says renovation happens in two ways. First, the customer wants a complete makeover of the bathroom, using the latest products. Second, more people are now moving from squatting Indian pans to the more comfortable and hygienic European closets. Here, only the closet is changed and the rest of the bathroom is left intact.

Ranganathan says Parryware was among the earliest to start the concept of Customer Care Centres, back in 2001. These one-stop-shop centres provide after-sales service in the installation, maintenance and renovation of products.

Rising demand

He identifies three key factors driving the sanitaryware business. First is the construction boom across the country, which has increased the demand for bathroom products. There is an estimated shortage of 40 million dwelling units in the country.

The second reason is the availability of easy finance option; buying a new home is no longer difficult even for young professionals, he says. This is borne out by the fact that the average customer today is in his mid-20s, who with his exposure to cross cultural influences ensures that the best of brands and the latest products find their way into his bathroom.

The demand for accessories such as mixer faucets, vanity cabinets and glass basins is on the rise to give the bathroom a "new" look. The third segment is the replacement market.

Service, please

Ranganathan says that Parryware offers products that are water saving and hygienic. Apart from its water-saving Dual Flush cistern, Parryware offers a range of closets, electronic urinals and electronic taps that make economical use of water.

Water savers

Its Niagara range of closets requires only 4 litres of water to flush solid waste and 2 litres for liquid waste. He says that it can save nearly 45,990 litres of water for a family of four in a year.

The range includes European water closet, coupled closet, basin with short pedestal, oval below-counter basin and urinal.

The other water-saving products from Parryware include waterless urinal, electronic taps and electronic flushing systems. The waterless urinals save up to 1.35 lakh litres of water per year.

The touch-free hygienic, water-saving electronic taps use only 300 litres of water per wash in place of 600 litres used from a normal tap.

Exclusive fittings

Jayraj Rau, Vice-President, JWT, says that people have become conscious about how their bathrooms look.

This is not surprising as guests usually visit the bathroom more often than any other room in the house, he says.

P.M. Shaji, Managing Director of la exclusive lifestyle (p) ltd, a franchise of FCML (dealers in lifestyle bathroom products) in Chennai, says the fittings come in a range of prices.

For instance, on offer is a shower priced Rs 8 lakh and a Jacuzzi at a little over Rs 6 lakh. So, a bathroom could cost anything from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh and go up to even Rs 50 lakh, he says.

Washbasins, showers, faucets and water closets are increasingly acquiring the stature of works of art. Not just functional but designed to suit one's lifestyle and personality.

Besides the five-star hotels, some of the best bathrooms in the country can be seen in tea country. Large spacious bathrooms often equipped with Royal Doultan or Shanks sanitaryware, with birdsong for piped music.

More Stories on : Interiors & Homes | Ceramics

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Ecology losing to corporates in a big way

Dim or bright... get it right

Showers of luxuriance

Art facts, etc.

Curtain call for the stylish home

Cooking up sleek kitchens

Sitting pretty

Yatra appoints Tribal DDB to develop travel domain

NTPC Foundation gesture to disabled

Lankans seek solace in religion and astrology

Sudoku

Gazing into the crystal ball of IMS