Surya's Satya Tiwari continues the company's push into machine-woven rugs with trend-forward options across
a good, better, best assortment.
HIGH POINT, N.C. -- Surya's aggressive push in machine-woven area rugs has helped accelerate the company's rapid growth in the area rug category --one important prong of a long-term growth strategy to meet president Satya Tiwari's plan to transform the company into a $1 billion cross-category home furnishings player.
In the machine-woven category, its latest introductions continue to win over not only mass merchants, but furniture retailers as well, who appreciate Surya's depth, range and ability to deliver.
In fact, its broad offering across weaves and price points makes it a retail solution for clients, allowing home and rug buyers access to everything from performance pieces to hand-crafted rugs. What's more the introductions span multiple home categories and for High Point Market shoppers, Oct. 14-18, was the company's largest rollout of new products in its history.
"We had many top retailers who, during Covid, came to us as a sort of Hail Mary and we delivered, and they realized what our capabilities are," Satya Tiwari told RugNews.com, referring predominantly to the mass merchant segment "Today, we are truly a global company, and we area a logistics company, a design company, a marketing company and so on. We have all the pieces figured out, and very few can say that especially with the depth of SKUs we have. Today our vendors want us to win because they know we can deliver for them."
Surya, which for ten years straight has been named to the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States, has refined its approach to its business since its founding in 1976 by Surya Tiwari, Satya's father, as a supplier of hand-knotted rugs. Satya, named president of Surya 2004 made the historic decision to enter the hand-tufted and then machine-made categories. He also led the charge into online sales.
Surya's machine-woven Avellino is the densest construction in Surya's assortment to date and was an instant hit.
Shown, avl2306-679
Since those early days a lot has changed and Tiwari's refined approach to total home furnishings, including furniture, lighting and accents, as well as new hand-woven, performance and the machine-woven categories over the past few years has resulted in year-over-year record growth. It is also a case study of the company's mindset across product categories and its positioning as a one-stop-shop for area rug home furnishings buyers across the full spectrum of its assortment. Indeed, the strategy has allowed the company to navigate the Covid shutdown, supply chain disruptions, inflation, hiring squeeze and more, all the while record healthy revenue increases.
"Customers want to do more with fewer vendors, and that speaks volumes, today more than ever, for many reasons," he explained. "In such an uncertain environment such as we have today, you really want to have trusted partners who can invest deeply and invest in their business -- and it's not just within rugs."
Surya's best-selling design (AVL2325-6792) from its ultra dense Avellion collection features on-point mossy green accents.
Satya noted that his New York Home Fashions Market mass customers are asking for the company to produce pillows, lighting and more, because they now have seen what the company delivers in terms of area rugs. In response he introduced the company's first welcome and utility mats at the winter edition of New York Home Fashions Market, and this fall debuted a comprehensive scatter program.
"Historically, buyers have wanted more vendors so if there is major disruption they would have more options, but during Covid they realized that when they are so widely spread across multiple vendors, they are not as important to any one vendor. They realized that they want to work with fewer suppliers and with those who can deliver in all scenarios."
Surya's Emory collection, offers the tonal, warm neutral looks fall shoppers have been seeking. Shown, emo2306-57
Not only can Surya deliver in certain segments of the area rug industry, within each category it goes broad and deep -- offering a good, better, best assortment -- to make sure clients can get everything they need under one umbrella. Growing those strategic partnerships with vendors allows suppliers to invest more heavily in their business because they can rely on retailers to continue to work with them, he said. That has been Tiwari's approach to the machine-woven category and part of its decision to aggressively target mass merchants in spring 2019, when it returned to New York Home Fashions Market.
Four years later, by the fall 2023 New York Home Market, Tiwari confidently noted that Surya today is a leading supplier of area rugs to mass merchants. "If you ask mass merchant player today who do you think is going to the top vendor of area rugs, because of what we have done over the course of the last three years, I would be surprised if Surya doesn't come in at No. 1, 2 or 3. Right now we see all the buying data and I would say we are in the top three, and definitely in the top five for sure. I would say we are in the top three and growing fast -- soon to be No. 1 in the mass market in the next three years," he said.
Surya's almost one-year-old collaboration with SoCal designer Becki Owens continues to add new constructions, with
Margaret adding the program's first outdoor, washable designs. Shown, emo2306-57
Tawari attributes that rapid growth to Surya's strategy of offering a good, better, best assortment, which includes not only price-driven designs but also trend-driven rugs that are full of value. For instance, at the fall 2023 New York market not only did Surya introduce dozens of high-quality machine-made rugs it also offered quality pieces that emulate the look of handmade designs. In fact, Surya takes a top-down approach to its machine-made product, beginning with its top-selling designs in its luxurious hand-knotted area rugs and figuring out how to bring those qualities to its machine-woven collections.
A case in point is its brand-new Avellino collection, which brings the density and texture of a luscious hand-knotted rug to the machine-made category. Avellion, which addresses the growing popularity of densely constructed handmade rugs, was an immediate hit not only with New York shoppers looking to trade up but with High Point Market buyers seeking high-quality pieces at a more affordable price point.
"Our goal has been to invest in infrastructure," Tiwari explained. "We have warehousing, and factories globally. We have the capability that if there is another earthquake in Turkey, we can move that product to India or another part of the world. So our customers are investing in Surya as a company because we can deliver regardless of what happens. Very few companies can do that. We are investing in these products before we get the order. So we are in a unique position and over the next three years the market will see what more we can deliver."
Surya offers a good better best assortment for its mass merchant clients, adding a strong lineup of hand-made collections
this fall, including Richmond, hand-tufted of 65 percent viscose, 35 percent wool, with trending ribbed texture.