How to sell furniture online

Technology has revolutionized the furniture market, making it easier than ever to sell quality furniture to people all over the world. With so many options available, starting your own business online selling furniture has become more accessible. Many niches within the broader market allow anyone to get started. The flexibility the furniture market provides makes it easy to choose one of the many business models available. For example, you can design your own, sell ready-to-assemble, or dropship furniture.

Let me show you how to sell new furniture online while starting from nothing. I will even show you how to create a professional website with Wix.

Understand the market

With so many different options available, it can be daunting to figure out how to efficiently sell furniture online. However, an easy way to get a head start is to look at what people are already buying.

Market research should involve going to some of the biggest online furniture stores and researching market trends. You can go to online platforms and see the types of furniture that are already selling. This way, you can determine which types of furniture are more likely to sell.

You also need to research the demographics of the people buying different types of furniture. For example, someone who is a part of the green movement is more likely to purchase eco-friendly furniture.

Also, by analyzing demographic trends, you can look at the buying power of each group to get an idea of which furniture you can sell and for how much. Many budget-conscious customers are more likely to purchase affordable furniture sets they need to assemble than custom designs that cost a lot of money.

Choose your selling platform

Once you have an idea, you need a way to sell your furniture online. The method you choose depends on your budget and technical knowledge. For example, you could go the self-hosted route and build your online furniture store with WordPress and the WooCommerce plug-in. This plug-in allows you to use WordPress to set up any online store.

You also have excellent platforms like Wix and Shopify to help you create a store with all the basic functions needed to get up and running without needing in-depth technical knowledge. On the other hand, you could use existing marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, or Poshmark to sell your furniture online.

Below, you can find a comparison of the most popular platforms for creating a furniture store online.

Platform	Self-hosted	Pricing	Ease of use	AI features
Wix	❌ No	$10.50/month	10/10	✅ Yes
Shopify	❌ No	$29.00/month	8/10	✅ Yes
OpenCart	✅ Yes	Free + hosting costs	2/10	❌ No
WordPress + WooCommerce	✅ Yes	Free + hosting costs	4/10	❌ No
eBay Marketplace	❌ No	From 10% of the selling amount	9/10	✅ Yes
Amazon Marketplace	❌ No	$0.99/item sold + referral fees	9/10	❌ No

Visit Wix

Top eCommerce web builders

As the best option for creating your website, I recommend choosing an online web builder because you don’t need to spend much money or code to create a professional and high-performing online furniture store. However, you need a web hosting plan for a website builder to work. Luckily, many user-friendly providers include both services.

That’s why I tried setting up my online furniture store using several website builders. I mainly focused on the features and tools, hosting plan availability, templates, and more. As a result, Wix stood out the most. It had everything I needed to start an online furniture business – from many mobile-optimized designs to custom domain names and fast web hosting. Most importantly, with Wix, I could create my online furniture store without coding myself.

Wix also provided me with powerful tools to collect payments from various processors without having to do anything else on my part. That is why I consider it one of the top website builders for small businesses.

I also liked Wix’s marketing tools, which made it easier to optimize my website for SEO performance and attract as many customers as possible.

For those seeking more advanced solutions, Wix also offers third-party integrations. For instance, since I had some furniture available on Amazon and wanted to create a cross-platform store, Wix allowed me to employ Zonify to maximize commissions.

The other thing I loved about Wix was that the platform has advanced AI tools to help me create products and run my store. These tools can generate text and images to help get a site up and running much faster. Using them, I could create nicely written copies for my website, informational text, and even terms of service.

Online marketplaces

The advantage of selling your furniture on a marketplace is that everything is already there, including the customers. That means you don’t need to spend a lot of money on marketing at the start. You also don’t need to set up infrastructure to start selling. From my experience, that is the main advantage if you are a beginner with no technical skills.

However, the major downside of platforms like eBay and Amazon is that you face stiff competition because the barrier to entry is so low. Also, the marketplace’s algorithm dictates your visibility.

Marketplaces are difficult because you face an uphill battle trying to beat more established players who already know the marketplace inside and out. The key to success when selling furniture on an online marketplace is to be ruthless when it comes to carving out a small niche for yourself. You must also price your furniture lower than the competition until you can establish yourself as a major player.

Self-hosted eCommerce platforms

The next option is to have a self-hosted eCommerce platform. These include platforms like WooCommerce and OpenCart. What makes these platforms special is that you get maximum flexibility.

With self-hosted eCommerce platforms, you can choose your hosting service and preferred software. If you have coding skills, you can customize your software solution to your requirements. If you’re expecting your business to grow fast, having the option to choose payment processors and ensuring your website can handle high traffic is a considerable feat, too.

Develop your business plan

A detailed business plan is crucial if you are going to be successful selling furniture online. The first step in this process is to set your business goals. Your business will look a lot different if you are looking for something that can help you earn some extra money on the side instead of building a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

Your business plan also depends on your budget because that can determine how and where you can source furniture. It can also determine the shipping methods you choose to get your furniture to the customer. Once you figure out all of the answers to these questions, you can start narrowing down a niche.

For example, you could focus on people who want custom medieval furniture or budget-friendly customers who want mass-produced furniture.

Source furniture

The next step is determining where you can get your furniture. If you are creating this as a hobby, you could order wood and build the furniture yourself. Otherwise, you can source furniture from overseas suppliers, dropshipping furniture companies, or custom furniture design shops. Keep in mind that the latter is substantially more expensive and requires more initial investments out of your pocket.

Quality control is a major factor in the success of selling furniture online. Try to test furniture from suppliers as much as possible before selling it to customers. You could also order test items from online suppliers like AliExpress. If the furniture is already selling, you can research customer feedback to learn what people think. This information is valuable for marketing your product to others.

Create your brand identity

Building a brand is essential for long-term success in online furniture sales. The best eCommerce website builders make branding integration much easier than doing it yourself.

There are a few essentials you need in order to maintain a reputation for enhanced trust from customers:

• Professional logo. Customers are more inclined to trust brands that have recognizable, simple, yet professional-looking logos.
• Marketing materials and messaging. Make sure that all your images are clean, the text is understandable and easy to read, and the intent of your store is straightforward.
• Visual design. Customers of online furniture stores are likelier to choose websites with a nice design. When creating your online furniture shop, ensure the design is clean, concise, and modern.

Keep in mind that creating a brand identity can be expensive, as designers often charge a lot for simple designs. That’s why I prefer using website builders. A trustworthy web builder with AI tools can create a recognizable brand identity in no time for much less.

For instance, while I was creating my own online furniture store, Wix created a strong visual identity that resonated with customers and persuaded them to purchase my furniture. It followed my prompts to the point, and I saw my vision come to life in mere moments.

Make your business legitimate

You should check your local laws to determine how to legally start a business. However, there are a few key steps that stay the same regardless of where you live. Here are the steps I recommend taking when starting an online business to make it legitimate:

1. Register a corporation or other legal business entity based on your local jurisdiction
2. Certain places require you to collect VAT or sales tax, meaning you will need to register for necessary permits
3. You need to comply with safety standards and other laws based on your country or state
4. Certain places require licensing and other legal compliance requirements for you to follow
5. When you set up your website, you will be required to state these policies clearly in your terms of service or privacy policy
6. If you plan on shipping internationally, you might have to deal with taxes, tariffs, or other duties based on the countries you are doing business with

This list doesn’t cover everything you need, so you must do in-depth research to ensure you stay up-to-date with your area’s current legal requirements.

Set your pricing strategy

Depending on your niche, the online furniture business can be very competitive. That means you need to set a pricing strategy that will keep you profitable and grow your business. You should consider when and how to provide discounts to customers.

You can also look into how to do promotions to sell more furniture without sacrificing your margins. When it comes to selling furniture, the key to longevity is to keep your margins high enough that your business can weather any storm that comes its way.

Some businesses use coupons and referral codes to entice people to tell their friends about your store. You can also follow the pricing strategy of many premium brands, which never have sales, coupons, or discounts. However, this strategy depends on potential customers seeing your brand as the premium option.

Market your furniture

Marketing is what determines whether your online furniture business succeeds or fails. A good marketing strategy can turn a small outlet into a multimillion-dollar business in a few months. However, most businesses fail because they can’t get enough customers.

Successfully marketing your online furniture business depends on the channels you choose and how you go about working on these channels. For example, SEO is a great free source of traffic but can be very slow to take off.

You will also be at the mercy of search engine algorithms. On the other side, paid advertising gives you instant traffic at the cost of having to pay for every visitor.

Here are your options when it comes to marketing your furniture:

1. Search engine optimization. Ranking on search engines for specific keywords.
2. Paid PPC traffic. Purchasing ad spots on search engines.
3. Social media marketing. Marketing your business on social media platforms.
4. Paid social media marketing. Paying influencers or even buying ads on social media websites.
5. Media buying. Purchasing ad spots on websites around the internet.
6. Email marketing. Building and marketing to an email list.

Fortunately, some website builders have marketing tools at your disposal. A reputable provider like Wix has an impressive suite of tools that allow for communications with customers, optimizing campaigns, and tracking your website’s data to understand the customers

Manage customer service

No matter what you do, you will have unhappy customers. You could be the best online furniture store in the world, but you would still find people who are unhappy with something.

To be successful, you need to manage customer service to ensure you build a loyal following. That means promptly answering questions to showcase your professionalism to potential shoppers. You also should speak to people calmly and professionally regardless of how rude they are to you.

Another thing you can do is to have a clear policy on refunds and how they are processed. By focusing on being friendly, calm, and polite, you can turn angry shoppers into lifelong customers.

Final thoughts

Building any business is hard, and it is even harder when your business sells physical items to people all over the country or the world. However, you can become successful by sticking to it and learning from your mistakes.

The most successful businesses are the ones that adapt over time. As you continue to grow, you can scale and make your online furniture business more successful.

Don’t forget to use a professional website builder like Wix to help your furniture business take off much faster. With it, you can stay within your budget yet maintain a great presence online.