Understanding the Online Furniture Marketplace

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Back in time, when there were no online stores, buying furniture was no less than a tremendous task. I remember going with my parents to buy furniture for our new house. And then book ourselves a truck to get that furniture delivered at our place. Not just this, buying furniture at heavy prices with limited variety was somewhat an adjustment. 

But, the tables have turned and we are in the era of E-commerce. And there is almost nothing which you can’t buy online.

During the early days of online shopping, people purchased things online due to ease and convenience involved in it. But, if we talk about furniture goods, they have always been an offline commodity.

Well, now we are in 2021, where online is the new normal! Buying furniture online these days is just as common as buying groceries online. In fact, global online furniture sales are predicted to reach $289.3 billion by the end of 2023.  The online furniture marketplace is only going to grow further with the increasing popularity of online furniture buying.

 

Source:Mordor Intelligence

The future of the online furniture retail industry has got a lot to offer. Stepping into the online furniture marketplace when the sales are exceeding, can be a beneficial move.

But before beginning your online voyage in the furniture e-commerce industry, it’s extremely important for you to understand it closely.  In this post, we have covered everything about the online furniture marketplace from top to bottom. Let’s start!

Introduction to the Online Furniture Marketplace

The furniture e-commerce industry involves the production and sale of furniture goods for houses, hotels, schools, offices, businesses, etc. The online furniture marketplace is an ever-evolving industry that constantly strives to develop.

On a global level, there are countries that have been dominating the sales in the online furniture marketplace. As of 2019, China was leading the e-commerce sales of furniture with a $79.2 market volume. The data reflects that the buyers are getting more interested in purchasing furniture and homeware online. The buyers of today’s generation prefer comparing prices and gathering info online than offline.

Source: Statista

With the addition of significant advancements like low shipping charges and the facility for paying online, the sales of online furniture marketplaces have boosted.

Online Furniture Marketplace Business Model

The online furniture marketplace is a platform that offers a huge variety of furniture goods and home decor by various sellers.

For those furniture craftspersons and retailers who look forward to selling their products online, a furniture marketplace is the most suitable and profitable option.

For smart buyers, an online furniture website lets them compare products and choose the one that suits them the most. Buying online furniture just revolves around some simple steps where a buyer has to login, choose the product they want, place the order, and make payment. The online furniture website earns its commission for each sale made on the platform. But for the owner and the seller of the online furniture marketplace, the steps aren’t that simple.

• By signing up, a seller creates a merchant account on the marketplace.
• The next step involves the addition of products under several categories with t description. 
• Post which it gets listed on the website.
• The customers make payment after adding the product to the cart.
• Owner/Admin of the marketplace receives payment and deducts the commission on each sale.
• The payment is then sent to the seller.

Features of the Online Furniture Marketplace

The below-listed features must be included in your online furniture marketplace for a great experience for all the consumers and sellers:

Inventory Management

With the help of proper inventory management, you can easily keep an eye on the stock counts. As soon as the product goes out of stock you can easily have it restocked in.

Multiple Payments Gateway

With the help of multiple payment gateways, you can win over your audience by providing various trusted payment methods. Customers can choose the payment option that suits them the most. As a result, the procedure of checkout with multiple payment options gets more secure, quick, convenient, and customized online transactions for the consumers.

Real-time Order Tracking

For an online furniture marketplace to get successful, it’s very essential to win the confidence of the consumers. With the help of real-time order tracking, you can easily maintain transparency. On the other hand, you can keep the buyers happy as well.

Interactive and easy Interface

With the help of an easy-to-handle admin panel, sellers on the marketplace can handily upload products, edit inventory, add new products, feature items, etc.

Easy Shipping

By integrating shipping with the top carrier companies, you can make the shipment procedure convenient for both the consumers and sellers.

Insights

With the help of proper insightful reports, sellers can examine the growth and sales of their products.

Mobile-Friendly

The growth of your business must not stop in any scenario. By including the mobile application feature in your online marketplace, you’ll make it easy for the sellers to operate their stores from their mobile phones, no matter wherever they’re.

Features for the Admin:

Product Catalog

In order to manage the product performance, the admin can approve or reject the request to add the product by the seller.

Tools for Reporting & Analytics

It provides insights on the performance of the marketplace which helps the admin to take future decisions based on it.

Top Players in the Online Furniture Marketplace

 The two major and prominent players of the furniture e-commerce industry together saw more than $7.5 billion revenue in 2020.

Wayfair and Amazon are the two giants who lead the online furniture industry. Do you want to know why?

Because of their visionary strategy, both Wayfair and Amazon knew the potential of the furniture e-commerce industry. 

Active customers on Wayfair grew to 31.1 million until June 2021. Wayfair has risen up as the top leader in the furniture e-commerce industry. Let’s have a look at the graph below to know the latest scenario of the furniture e-commerce industry.

Source: Businesswire

The global e-commerce giant, Amazon never runs out of the competition. Amazon stands as the second leader in the online furniture industry with a 29.7% market share.

Top Trends in the Furniture E-commerce Industry

Here are the topmost key industry trends that are driving the online furniture marketplace:

The rise of telecommunication has increased the demand for home office furniture.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the world to work from home and that has increased the demand for office furniture to a great extent. Consumers preferred buying versatile furniture that can also be used for other purposes.

Versatile and multifunctional furniture goods are trending.

The demand for small and portable furniture is continually increasing. Consumers are demanding multipurpose furniture which must be foldable and technology-driven. It takes less space and makes it easy for people to live in smaller spaces.

Advanced Technologies

Sellers are taking the help of new technologies in order to fascinate the consumers for buying products. By the implementation of the (AR) Augmented Reality feature in the mobile app, you can provide the consumers with a 3-D experience of the images. Wayfair is making use of this technology in its online furniture website and it can be clearly seen that technology can be of great help.

Current Challenges Faced by Online Furniture Marketplace

Return Policy

A common issue faced by most of the online marketplaces is when the customer isn’t satisfied with the product received. As a result, they wish to return or exchange the product. At such times, the marketplace faces issues related to the transportation and return of the product.

But, with the help of a descriptive return and refund policy, a marketplace can easily win over such issues.

Free Shipment

As the shipment process has speeded up, and products are delivered overnight, no customer would be satisfied with a long delivery procedure.

For an online furniture marketplace, it is very essential to make use of a real-time shipping calculator in order to overcome the heavy costs involved with the shipment of furniture goods.

Supply Chain Issue

The delivery process often faces the issue of multiple stops which makes it hard to complete the home delivery without any delay. But by increasing the number of distribution centers and by optimizing route efficiency, these issues can be minimized.

What’s new with the Online Furniture Marketplace: AI and the Furniture Industry

From Alexa to SIRI, artificial intelligence has proved to be a lot beneficial for businesses and at the same time fascinating for the consumers. AI is rapidly moving towards progress and an increasing number of businesses are making the best out of it. AI can be beneficial for the furniture industry as well.

With the help of AI, online furniture stores can offer a well-assisted buying experience to customers. Making use of AI and technology can be a great approach for the furniture e-commerce industry. 3D technology can also be a great method to offer consumers a live experience of the furniture. Currently, several brands are making use of AI and technology in their online furniture website and have gained remarkable profit from it.

Conclusion

The online furniture marketplace is a field whose potential still needs to be leveraged. Stepping into the online furniture marketplace can be a great choice for a business to grow at its best.

We understand that moving online as a business is not an easy thing to do. That is why we at Cedcommerce have covered it all for you. Our marketplace solutions are enriched with multiple features that can make tough tasks a lot easier for you.

So, if you are interested in building up an online furniture website, do not let this opportunity slip. Connect with our experts at Cedcommerce, who can help you to set up and understand the Online furniture marketplace more closely.