How Hatil Furniture Established Itself as a Superbrand In Bangladesh

[Bilal9]

Anis Mahmud Anik​

April 12, 2023
Updated On : May 28, 2023
REPORT

Recently, Hatil has won one of the world’s most prestigious brand awards, superbrands, in the furniture category. Superbrands is a UK-based organization that reviews brands from 90 countries around the world and awards category-wise Superbrands. Apart from Hatil, brands like Walton in the electronics and home appliance category, The Daily Star in the newspaper category, Samsung Mobile and Samsung Television in the television and mobile category, and Daraj in the e-commerce category have also been recognized as Bangladesh’s most prestigious and valuable brands.

Hatil is one of the most reputed brands in the furniture market of Bangladesh. While unorganized or non-branded furniture traders occupy 60 percent of the Tk 25,000 crore worth of the furniture market in Bangladesh, Hatil is the country’s top furniture brand with 10 percent of the branded furniture market. Besides Hatil, there are several brands in the furniture market of Bangladesh including Otobi, Navana, Akhtar, and Regal. In today’s content, we will know how Hatil managed to win the 2023-24 Superbrands Award in the furniture category among these brands.

Hatil is the country’s leading furniture brand, controlling for 10% of the branded furniture market.

Overview​

The Superbrands Award was started in 1994 by Marcel Knobil. Although initially only UK-based, later it started spreading to different regions of the world. Currently, the Superbrands Award is given to various brands from 90 countries of the world every year. The Superbrands Authority also publishes a magazine featuring Superbrands award-winning brands. Brands can use their Superbrand Award in everything from their packaging to marketing and promotional campaigns that help strengthen customer trust in these brands.

Superbrands has a region-based jury council for the winning brand selection, that selects the category-wise best brand based on five attributes of any brand. Brand heritage, Brand relevance in the category, Perceived Quality, Perceived performance, and Top of Mind Awareness – these 5 attributes are considered in brand selection. Brand heritage basically refers to a band’s rich history, which creates positivity about the brand in the minds of customers. A brand’s relevance in a category refers to how well it can relate to the needs of potential and existing customers within the category industry to which it belongs. Besides, the jury members of the Superbrands Council also consider the perceived quality and perceived performance of the product offered by a brand in the market.

Basically, perceived quality refers to how customers judge a brand’s product to be. A brand’s perceived performance refers to its ability to meet the expectations of customers. Last but not least, a brand’s ability to create Top of Mind Awareness among customers is also considered. Based on these attributes, the Superbrands Jury Council marks the brands, while the Superbrands Award is given to the brands with the highest marking in the product category. This award has been given in 40 product categories in Bangladesh, whereas Hatil has received this prestigious recognition in the furniture category.

How Hatil Became Superbrand?​

These 5 attributes have also played an important role in making Hatil Superbrands in the furniture industry of Bangladesh. The furniture industry in Bangladesh is still dominated by unorganized or non-branded furniture manufacturers. Yet HATIL has been operating in this industry for the last 35 years. After independence, when most of the furniture manufacturers in Bangladesh operated the business in traditional ways, HATIL founder Selim H Rahman dreamed of branded furniture and focused on establishing the company as a brand from the beginning. Starting from a door-selling shop called Hatil Doors in Badda in 1988 to innovate father’s timber business, HATIL has grown from door to a full-fledged furniture manufacturer within a few years. In line with this, Hatil currently has more than 70 showrooms in Bangladesh and 27 showrooms abroad in India, 2 showrooms in Nepal, and 1 franchise in Bhutan.

Hatil currently operates more than 70 showrooms in Bangladesh, 27 in India, 2 in Nepal, and 1 franchise in Bhutan.

Bangladeshi customers usually do not change furniture for a long time. Besides, in the field of furniture design, people preferred the craftsmanship of various designs. But even though the preferences of the customers have changed over time, the traditional furniture manufacturers of the country have not been able to make any changes in the design to keep up with the changing tastes of the customers. At that time, most of the furniture brands in the country were mainly focused on promoting their products and increasing their sales. Hatil, on the other hand, was focused on establishing itself as a strong brand right from the start.

Due to this, the company focused on modern and contemporary furniture design to match the changing taste of customers through furniture design competitions in the country as well as collaboration with foreign designers to bring innovation in their designs around 2006-07. Besides, since customers in Bangladesh want to use the furniture for a long time. Hatil manufactures its furniture using world-class FSC-certified wood. FSC Certified wood is primarily harvested through planned forestry without harming the environment. After sourcing the wood, the company brings it to its manufacturing plant and cures it using eco-friendly chemicals so that the furniture made from this wood is durable and strong.

After curing, these woods are manufactured into various types of furniture using advanced robotics technology in state-of-the-art automated machines. Besides, quality checks are carried out at every step of the manufacturing process and materials that do not meet the quality standards are discarded. To maintain such quality in manufacturing, Hatil is an ISO (ISO 9001:2015) certified organization on Quality Management Systems. Due to this, considering the perceived quality of the customers, the name of quality furniture will really come to the furniture industry.

To create such top-of-mind awareness among the customers, the company has always given importance to branding, marketing, and promotion. For promotion and expansion, the company has ensured its online presence through its Website, Social Media Platforms without stopping only at traditional channels like Billboard, Newspaper, and TVC. Besides, proper branding has been emphasized in marketing and promotional communication, so that customers are aware of and recall the HATIL brand. In addition to emphasizing branding for customer awareness and recall, Gunil has also arranged for customers to get a superior brand experience.

The company has more than 70 showrooms across the country to enrich Hatil’s in-store experience. Where customers get the opportunity to directly experience the company’s huge catalog of products.

Besides, the company has its own e-commerce and mobile app so that customers can buy Hatil products from any part of the country. Both Hatil’s website and app have been developed in a very user-friendly manner to make the furniture buying experience of the users seamless. Also, top industry leaders use proper SEO on their websites so that customers can easily find products through web searches. Besides, the limited space of the showroom does not allow the customers to display all the furniture. Due to this customers can see all the products of Hatil through a virtual reality headset and has also launched the first virtual store in Bangladesh. Besides, Hatil has its own delivery team for the delivery of products. The e-commerce website, mobile app, virtual store, and own delivery service have given Hatil strong brand recognition and enriched the brand experience of customers.

Customers can now view all of Hatil’s products using a virtual reality headset, and the company has also launched the first virtual store in Bangladesh.
There was a time when brands did not matter to customers when it came to buying furniture. Furniture was just a necessity for a large customer segment. Then gradually furniture started to become a symbol of taste and nobility. In today’s times, apart from daily needs, furniture also represents personality. Due to this, customers are currently considering different brands when buying new furniture. And because of Hatil’s strong brand image and quality furniture, customers are also preferring Hatil as a brand. The company has been able to convey the need for branded furniture in the furniture category to the customer through its strong brand presence, marketing and promotional communication, and overall brand experience. And considering all this, this honor of Hatil as Superbrands in the furniture category can be rightly said.