With the growing D2C wave in the country, the home decor industry in India is undergoing a major transformation.Ten years ago, when D2C wasn't the norm, home furnishing meant buying local products or buying from premium offline stores.Then came the boom in online shopping, and brands like Pepperfry and Urban Ladder entered the fray.But as these brands became more and more interested in growing, they invested heavily in moving offline.From 2018-2019, D2C brands such as Trampoline, Chumbak, and The Decor Cart emerged, retaining consumer appeal with a wide variety of home decor solutions such as eco-friendly products, garden decoration, bath essentials, and kitchen utilities.It was during this time that Nestacia emerged, aiming to bridge the gap between low-quality local stores and high-end boutiques by offering a fresh perspective on home decor.Founded by Aditi Murarka and Anurag Agarwal in 2019, Nestasia is a home decor brand that offers products such as decor, bath, crockery, garden accessories, and kitchen utilities.Unlike other markets, the Kolkata-based startup runs a full-fledged D2C business, buying products from Indian artisans and selling them directly to customers.It is primarily sold on Amazon and Myntra, and is also available on Tatacliq, Pepperfry, and Nykaa.Starting with 100-200 products, the D2C brand now offers around 4,500 items across six categories, with over 3 lakh orders currently being fulfilled.According to Tofler, the company's operating revenue increased by 63.8 per cent from Rs 21.90 crore in FY22 to Rs 35.88 crore in FY23.The startup has raised $4 million from Stellaris Venture Partners.Before founding Nestacia, Aditi Murarka, an XLRI Jamshedpur alumna, worked as an associate manager at Salora Group in Singapore.This job forced her to travel frequently between Hong Kong and Singapore.During their four years of living outside India, they had to move house more often than they can remember.However, they always enjoyed arranging and decorating the dwelling.So Murarka developed a deep passion for home decor products, so they decided to choose this as a full-time job.They wanted to build a brand that would offer unique, contemporary and premium quality home decor products.After a year of research, Murarka returned to India in 2019 to pursue his vision.In the same year, they launched Nestasia, taking advantage of the rise of e-commerce and increased interest in home decor.Agarwal, who previously worked in equity trading at Goldman Sachs, joined his wife just before the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020.Initially they started with a small team and the husband and wife relied on their savings to bootstrap this venture.So, the co-founders decided to fine-tune their collection, from 10,000-12, 000 SKUs in 2023 to about 4,500 SKUs in 2024, ensuring that every product is design-oriented and of the highest quality.The cofounders then decided to release home decor products for seasonal and special occasion launches.The combination of seasonal and design-driven approach has become the brand's USP.Four or five months after the start of the pandemic, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world.During this time, Nestacia's supply chain was hit hard, making it almost impossible for the co-founders to fulfill customer orders.With imports disrupted and delivery services stopped, the team often had to pack and ship the products themselves.The gap between running out of stock and getting replenished was another major challenge faced by the brand."To maintain customer trust, Anurag and I personally called every customer who placed an order and explained the delay and assured them that the delivery would be done eventually," Murarka said.This first approach led to the creation of an in-house team that produces high-quality content, which led to 15% of referrals and conversions from social media.This was also the time when Nestaia won its first 100 orders.According to Nestacia's Product Folio co-founders, the startup has succeeded in establishing itself as a major home and lifestyle product destination.The start-up, which offers a wide range of products from dining ware and kitchen essentials to decorative items such as candles, mirrors, bath accessories, soft furniture, bags and accessories, has gone ahead with the goal of becoming a company that sells all things home.Transitioning to a design-driven focus, the startup launched visually appealing lunch boxes in 2023, catering to the needs for quality and aesthetics.This success led them to expand into other offerings such as shopping bags, organizers, and vanity boxes.Currently, the co-founders have an in-house production unit for bags and accessories in Kolkata.The bags and accessories segment of the startup accounts for about 18% of its total revenue.With the online market expected to grow to $5.4 bn by 2025, the home decor industry is expecting a remarkable turnaround.To capitalize on this opportunity, the startup is focusing on growth strategies such as optimizing product delivery, reducing logistics costs, and expanding.Presence across all channels, and significantly increase offline expansion.The startup, which currently operates five stores, aims to open five more stores this year and reach about 40 stores by next year.The cofounders have already completed deals for upcoming locations, targeting Gurgaon's Aria Mall, Noida's DLF Mall of India, and potential sites in Pune and Mumbai.To facilitate this expansion, cofounders are experimenting with store size, assortment, and locations to improve the customer experience.In the home decor segment, the startup competes with companies like Trampoline, The Purple Turtles, Chumbak, Wari, Pepperfry, Furlenco, and Urban Ladder.Additionally, the startup aims to offer a seamless online-offline shopping experience by allowing customers to make online purchases from the store and vice versa.The startup is working on implementing loyalty programs, enabling customers to place orders through their app for home delivery, and increasing convenience and flexibility for shoppers.