Häfele India targets INR 1,200+ crore revenue in 2025

The German kitchen, home, and architectural solutions provider, Häfele plans to open its design centre in Gurugram, Haryana in the current quarter. It will be the company’s self-owned and operated showroom that stocks and displays its latest products in live setups. Creating furnished kitchen environments along with necessary integrations, Häfele’s design centre will demonstrate the functionality and aesthetics of its products to walk-in customers.

“Our products are best understood when experienced in real-life settings. Located in major metros, our design centres showcase Häfele’s fully functional products in live setups, offering potential customers a real-world look and feel of our solutions,” Häfele India marketing head Shweta Rangra told Campaign.

Once opened, the latest Gurugram outlet will be Häfele’s 10^th design centre in India. Its existing centres are located in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune. These are spacious showrooms covering large retail floor spaces. For instance, the ones in Mumbai (Mahalaxmi) and Hyderabad (Gachibowli) have an area of 10,000 square feet each.

Expanding consumer reach

Häfele’s upcoming design centre launch should be viewed in the context of its go-to-market strategy for the full year. Beyond the self-owned and operated design centres, the kitchen solutions brand has an extensive distribution network in India. It has over 200 franchise retail outlets that mimic the design centres in terms of layouts and interiors. It has over 500 direct dealers, 100 distributors, and a network of more than 12,000 sub-dealers across the country.

Shweta Rangra, marketing head, Häfele India

This year, the company plans to significantly expand its distribution network across India. It will increase its franchise outlets by 25% (from 200 to 250), its direct dealers by 20% (target: 600), and its sub-dealers by 25% (target: 15,000). In addition to the traditional physical distribution network, Häfele also sells its products through e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, and Tata Cliq, and modern large-format retail outlets like Vijay Sales and Girias.

Interestingly, while primarily a B2B brand in its home country—selling directly to industry, kitchen manufacturers, and architects, and bidding for industrial projects in India, Häfele has evolved into a strong consumer brand specialising in modern kitchen solutions.

The company targets the NCCS A and A+ categories (New Consumer Classification System) in India, which constitute the top 20% of consumers in terms of their income. Within this segment, it focuses on consumers aged 25-55 years, covering both, the newly married couples and the established households in the country. Through this expansion, the company plans to deepen the vertical penetration of its target demographics spread across the country. With the expansion of its distribution network, the brand is looking to get further closer to its consumers in India.

The advertising strategy

Häfele has partnered with various leading agencies to implement its advertising strategy in India. For instance, its advertising campaigns are crafted by VML. It collaborates with GroupM for media planning and digital strategy and with Mindshare for its digital marketing, e-commerce, SEO, and other digital initiatives. GroupM also takes care of its media investments and traditional media planning.

Explaining the company’s advertising strategy for the year 2025, Rangra said, “Last year, our campaigns focused on a high-level brand message, emphasising who we are to both our loyal customers and new audiences. It was about creating brand awareness and reinforcing our identity in the market. For 2025, we are shifting gears to highlight what we do. Our brand ambassador, Sachin Tendulkar, will play a central role in this.”

In the year 2025, the brand’s campaigns will aim to dive deeper into its end-consumer facing categories—appliances, kitchen solutions, lighting, digital locks, and more. “The objective is to meticulously showcase each category and explain its unique value in simple, relatable terms,” she explained.

Häfele’s ad campaigns follow a 3H classification—Hero, Hub, and Hygiene campaigns. The hero campaigns are focused on brand awareness, such as its campaign headlining Sachin Tendulkar that it released last year. Hub constitutes middle-funnel campaigns that target the consideration phase, such as the Shagun campaign, which it released during last year’s festive season. Lastly, the hygiene class comprises year-round promotions of top products through performance marketing.

Following a digital-first marketing strategy, this year, Häfele India plans to spend about 36% of its advertising and marketing (A&M) budget on digital. This also covers the spending on connected TV advertising to boost consumer engagement.

Its out-of-home advertising will account for another 30% to 35% of its A&M budget, targeted at improving its brand recall in high-footfall areas. In addition, it will spend on on-ground and channel promotion activities including point-of-sale marketing to help its partners sell more.

However, while the company will aggressively invest in digital advertising, it also plans to maintain a strong presence in print, especially in B2B media. “Like in the past, we will continue to focus on print, particularly in niche magazines catering to specific target audiences like architects, designers, and hoteliers,” Rangra informed.

The tangibles

With the disposable incomes in the hands of the middle-class consumers likely to increase due to the income tax relief provided by the government in this year’s Budget, Häfele may be looking at a huge opportunity for its products this year.

The company is looking at achieving INR 1,200 crore revenue in the current year, according to Rangra. The company spends between 2.5% and 3% of its turnover on marketing every year. This translates to an estimated spending of about INR 30 crores on marketing this year.

“Our marketing budget consistently aligns with our strategic priorities, remaining at 2.5% to 3% of our annual turnover. More than 40% of the total budget has been allocated specifically to advertising and campaign initiatives, reflecting our focus on reaching consumers effectively across various platforms,” explained Rangra.

Starting with a liaison office in 2001, Häfele’s India business has already become one of its top three subsidiaries in the world. Now the Indian subsidiary has set an ambitious target of turning India into its largest market in terms of sales by 2030.

Häfele plans to achieve this through sustained efforts on the distribution, advertising and marketing fronts. Whether the Nagold, Swabia-headquartered kitchen solutions brand achieve these goals will become clear during the next five years. However, its advertising and marketing efforts this year will play a crucial role in driving progress towards that objective.