Learn How to Sell Furniture Online and Where

Learn How to Sell Furniture Online and Where #

Do you know how to sell furniture online? If you have a physical furniture store and want to expand your business by opening an ecommerce store or you are planning to begin a new business in this sector, knowing how to create a website and sell online are important skills. 

But, you will also need to understand what it takes to manage sales online, control the inventory, and deliver on due time. When we are talking about furniture, the shipping price may be higher, for instance. It's essential to plan the logistics carefully. Check out the article to know more. 

10 Steps on How to Sell Furniture Online#

1. Decide What You Will Sell #

The first step to learn how to sell furniture online is defining what you will sell. Furniture is a very broad sector, you can choose to focus on a smaller niche or have an online store that commercializes multiple types of products.

For example, you can sell only sofas and invest in becoming a reference for offering unique and rare models. In this case, your target audience will be smaller, but you also will have fewer competitors.

On the other hand, you can choose to sell everything from wardrobes to decor objects and become appealing for being a store where people can find almost everything they need for their homes. You will have a bigger target market, but more competitors.

2. Define How to Source Your Products#

Part of choosing what to sell includes deciding how you will source your products, and that depends on the type of business you intend to have. There are several options. 

Your company can be responsible for making the furniture items. Then, you have to look for suppliers and find the best partners, which can deliver the materials you need for a good price and respect your deadline. Being a manufacturer entails several costs that must be included in your business plan. 

Another option is to work as a reseller, where you won't be in charge of the manufacturing process, but partner up with companies that make furniture. In this scenario, you can opt for being responsible for the whole selling process, stocking the items, packaging, and delivering them or you can opt for the dropshipping model. 

With drop shipping, you are in charge of managing sales and marketing, but the partner company is the one that will store the products, package and send them. This business model is a solution for entrepreneurs who don't have much to invest.

Dropshipping doesn't require spending on manufacturing, renting a space to keep the products, and hiring employees to take care of the packaging and delivery processes. Therefore it may be an easier solution for beginning your selling furniture online business.

3. Get to Know Your Audience#

When you know what you will sell, it's possible to draw a profile of who your potential customers are. There are some very important questions that need to be answered so you will be able to draw effective strategies considering your target audience. 

• What is the age range of your target audience?
• Where do most of them live?
• What social media do they use? 
• What type of content do they like to consume on the internet?
• What are their demands that you can help to solve? 

With that information, the target audience is no longer a question mark, but they gain a face. You can put yourself in their shoes and start thinking about how to draw their attention, convince them to buy, and conquer loyal customers. The target audience profile always needs to be taken into consideration when creating marketing and sales strategies. 

4. Research Your Competition#

Physical stores that have to stand out among a few competitors in the same region they are located. While on the internet, there may be thousands of ecommerce websites from around the world selling the same thing that you sell. 

Therefore, it's crucial to search what strategies your competitors are using in the digital world. Identifying where they are placing ads, the social media channels they have pages or profiles, and other strategies like special offers, loyalty cards, and discount coupons. 

This doesn't mean that you are going to copy everything the other businesses do. On the contrary, you need to understand how they work to find out ways to make your brand stand out and not fall behind. Researching your competitors also helps to understand more about what tactics are effective with your target audience. 

5. Choose the Sales Channels You Will Use#

It's time to select which channels you will use to sell furniture online. You can create your own website, and sell on marketplaces and social media platforms too. However, it's advisable to have a website because it gives you more flexibility to build an online store as you wish, showcase your brand, and promote your business. Besides, it adds credibility to your brand too.

Marketplaces offer several advantages too. You don't need to build a website, you can choose a plan that suits your needs, and just upload the products to the platform, adding photos and a description for each item. They already count on a basis of clients that you can enjoy to sell more, mainly if your brand is new on the market. 

You also have the option to sell on social media platforms like on Facebook and Instagram. Customers who access your page on those platforms will see the products in detail and be redirected to finalize the purchase.

6. Build a Business Plan#

Write your business plan to organize your ideas, and understand how to put your ideas into practice and create a successful company. The business plan should include: 

• Company values
• Mission
• Goals
• Company description
• Products and services offered
• Market analysis
• Marketing strategies
• Financial planning and projection
• Budget 

7. Create a Website#

After writing the business plan, it's time to start acting, and one of the first things that need to be developed is your website. If you don't have any coding or design experience, don't worry, you can focus on learning how to sell furniture online and enjoy the website builders. They are easy to use and enable you to have a website running with just a few steps. 

8. Set Up The Payment Process#

You will have to choose the payment methods that will be available on your online furniture store. The most popular payment method is debit and credit card, where the customer inserts the card number, and the payment confirmation usually happens in a few seconds. 

You can also enable the use of digital wallets, like Apple Pay. They store the user cards' information, so they don't have to insert them every time they make a purchase. Many clients prefer to use this method because they feel safer that their data is protected by the company responsible for providing the digital wallet service. 

Another option is to partner with payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe. The user creates an account on those websites, where they put all their debit and credit card information, and use them to finalize the payment. It's similar to digital wallets. 

There are other payment methods beyond these ones, depending on the region you are in. Analyze all the options, and check the fees that are charged to select the best payment methods for you and the customers.

9. Select the Shipping Methods#

Shipping fee is a delicate matter because the price can be a decisive factor if the customer will conclude the purchase or not. Therefore, it's crucial to look for ways to make this feel less expensive for the client, but without damaging your business. If you can offer free delivery, it's even better. 

You can set up a shipping process so your company will make the deliveries. However, usually, it's more advantageous to partner up with courier companies. The shipping price will vary according to where the customer lives, if they are from another country, it's more expensive.

If you choose the dropshipping model, a third-party company will be responsible for setting up the delivery process. Study carefully the best options to increase customer satisfaction, and always keep track of the orders to avoid delays, which can be harmful to your brand's credibility.

10. Create Marketing Strategies to Promote Your Products#

When it comes to how to sell furniture online, marketing is fundamental. Your target audience needs to know your brand to want to buy from you. Therefore, enjoy that the internet offers thousands of possibilities to promote your company and products without having to spend much. 

You can invest in PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns to be displayed on Google, social media platforms, and other websites. It's also possible to create organic content that will drive your target audience's attention. 

For example by having a blog on your website where you will publish high-quality articles about decor, and how to furnish a house. You can also use your brand's social media profiles to give tips about those topics.

13 Best Platforms to Create Your Website and Sell Furniture Online#

1. Wix#

With just a few steps, you are going to be able to sell furniture all around the world with Wix. The first step is to create your account, and then select the plan that suits your company's needs best. After that, you are going to find more than 500 free online store templates to select from. 

Then, you can customize the design, insert images, buttons, and menus, and select a color scheme, for example. With the interface ready, it's time to add the products, connect to a payment provider, set up shipping methods, and choose your custom domain. 

To make the process even easier, you will count on Wix Logo Maker and Name Generator. You can add up to 50,000 products to your online store and implement secure payment through Wix Payments, which has a global network of payment providers and methods. Learning how to sell furniture online will become much easier with Wix. 

Highlighted features:

• More than 500 free templates
• Offer up to 50,000 products
• Wix Logo Maker
• Business Name Generator
• Wix Payments
• Wix Owner app
• Integrated analytics dashboard

2. SITE123#

SITE123  provides an easy-to-use interface so you can quickly launch your store. Select the type of store you want, pick the template that fits your business better, customize it, then add the products, and define taxes, shipping, and payment methods. 

You can add and edit products to your store whether you are on your desktop computer or your smartphone. Your clients will also have the same experience buying on your store from mobile devices or on their PCs since they will count on a responsive design. 

The platform provides a free SSL certificate too and allows you to include several payment options, such as PayPal, and credit cards. If you need any help, you will count on 24/7 live chat support.

Highlighted features:

• Pre-built ecommerce templates
• Manage your products with ease
• Responsive design
• 24/7 support
• Choose from a selection of currencies

3. Webnode#

Webnode provides responsive store templates that enable you to create your ecommerce more easily and offer a good customer experience. You can choose the local payment options you wish to accept, like wire transfer, PayPal, credit card, Stripe,  and payment upon pick up and the delivery methods, such as DHL and FedEx.

To follow up on your online furniture store's performance, you are going to have access to several statistics to be able to identify, for instance, the most popular products and profitable customers. You can also use the product feed to compare prices with competitors. 

Besides, you don't need to add products one by one, it's possible to import them in bulk in the CSV format. If there is any doubt, you can count on  24-hour support from Webnode, Premium users get priority phone support. 

Highlighted features:

• User-friendly ecommerce website builder
• Predesigned pages
• Edit directly on your browser
• Responsive design
• Store statistics
• Customizable product pages
• Import products in bulk

4. Shoplazza#

Shoplazza helps you to learn how to sell furniture online by offering an easy-to-use platform to create your ecommerce. You can choose a pre-built theme, and use the drag-and-drop online store builder to customize the pages as you wish. 

You will count on an inventory management system to organize the stock and the orders. When the inventory reaches zero, the sales stop automatically, avoiding selling out-of-stock items. You can upload an unlimited number of products and customize up to 300 product variants.

You even have the option to add the buy button on other websites and blogs, which weren't created by Shoplazza, so you can sell in more places. Improve the checkout process using the platform AI (artificial intelligence) suggestions. 

Highlighted features:

• Pre-built templates
• Drag-and-drop online store button
• Inventory management system
• Marketing tools
• SEO tools
• Staff accounts
• Multiple payment options
• Shipping partners

5. BigCommerce#

With BigCommerce, you have the opportunity to create an online store by developing your pages through the Page Builder Visual Editor, using the drag-and-drop tool to personalize every detail. You can get fully customizable themes as well, with built-in HTML, CSS, and Javascript. 

The platform also enables you to customize the checkout process and optimize all of your website pages for mobile devices. You can integrate with WordPress and, before launching the ecommerce, test it with the Stencil CLI tool.

It's also possible to integrate BigCommerce with several marketplaces such as Amazon, Facebook, and Instagram, so you can sell your products in different places and manage everything from just one.

BigCommerce provides solutions for making your store international too. You have the option to accept payments from more than 100 currencies and integrate with ShipperHQ to get accurate shipping quotes across countries.  

Highlighted features:

• Page builder visual editor
• Theme customization
• Check out customization
• Mobile Optimization
• Preview before publishing
• Cross-channel commerce
• Multi-currency
• Multi-language

6. WordPress Ecommerce#

WordPress Ecommerce allows you to have a completely personalized online store and still offers the best management tools. You can start taking payments in seconds by enabling the PayPal button, and easily setup debit and credit card payments.

You will be able to publish content and sell products using the same platform. WordPress also provides multiple plugins to enhance user experience, increase sales, and guarantee your website is safe. You will have the option to sell not only physical products but digital items as well.

Key features:

• WordPress themes
• Different types of plugins
• Google apps
• Sell physical and digital products
• Enable subscriptions
• Customization tools
• Easy-to-use website editor

7. Ecwid#

With Ecwid, you can sell on different platforms and manage everything from just one place. You will count on centralized inventory, order management, and pricing features. You can create a website from scratch in just a few minutes, using the design tools to customize the pages. No coding or software is required.

It's possible to include different payment options as well, in-store and on the go, with PayPal, Stripe, Clover, and Square, for example. Connect your store to sales channels like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Amazon, and eBay. You also have the option to create your app to enhance customer experience on mobile devices. 

Ecwid provides automated marketing tools as well to help you create Google and Facebook Ads, and send messages in case of abandoned carts, for instance. There is also the option to translate your website into 45 different languages.

Highlighted features:

• Create a website in minutes
• Sell on social media
• Set different payment options
• Create your mobile app
• Automate your marketing
• Language detection
• Display real-time rates

8. WooCommerce#

WooCommerce is an open-source ecommerce platform built on WordPress that allows you to sell different types of furniture. You are going to find hundreds of free and paid extensions to enhance your store, for example, marketing and management tools. 

You can set your online store to be available in multiple languages, and accept a wide variety of currencies, expanding the possibility to do business around the world. WooCommerce is 100% translated into 24 languages, including Danish, Ukrainian, and Persian. 

Highlighted features:

• Built on WordPress
• Open-source
• Offer flexible and secure payments
• Automated tax calculations
• Live shipping rates
• Translated into 24 languages
• Choose multiple currencies

9. Jumpseller#

Jumpseller provides professional themes, which are mobile-ready and customizable, to easily learn how to sell furniture online. You can edit all the pages the way you want, including the checkout, creating a user experience that best suits your target audience.

To sell to people from different countries, translate your website into several languages without the need to install any additional plugins. You can create your domain name for free as well. To help you manage the store, Jumpseller has partnered with shipping carriers to offer discount rates. 

You also will be able to select multiple currencies and define different shipping and taxes for specific countries and regions. If you sell digital products, the platform allows you to insert the necessary features to make them available and manage them. 

Highlighted features:

• Professional themes
• Customizable
• Multi-language
• Sell in local currency
• Sell digital products
• Partnered with shipping carriers

10. Strikingly#

With an easy-to-use interface, Strikingly offers a practical website editor that will help you build a perfect space for your brand online, along with your ecommerce. You can choose the font styles, and color palette, insert images, customize as you wish, and include selling features, such as coupons, and membership log-ins.

If you already have a domain name, it's possible to use it or create a new one, you will find the tools to set shipping and payment options as well. To keep track of your website and ecommerce performance, Strikingly comes with analytics built-in. 

Do you want to integrate your website with social media? You have the option to display your Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter feeds on your page. The platform also allows you to add sign-up and contact forms.  

Highlighted features:

• Easy-to-use website editor
• Customizable
• Analytics built-in
• HTTPS built-in
• Integrate with social media
• 24/7 support

11. Weebly#

Weebly allows you to build an ecommerce that grows with your business. You can choose a customizable theme and, then, use the drag-and-drop tool to give your brand's face to every page. 

Enjoy the marketing tools such as SEO techniques that are already applied to the website and the analytics features, which enable you to track your website performance. Weebly also provides an app, so you can manage your store wherever you are. 

You also are going to count on tools to manage the inventory, including bulk import and export. Your customers can get real-time shipping rates by carrier, address, weight, and quantity. Insert badges to make products with special discounts stand out, and use the coupon builder to create coupons. 

Highlighted features:

• Customizable themes
• Drag and drop builder
• Website optimized for SEO
• Analytics tools
• Shipping tool
• Bulk import
• Coupon builder

12. Shift4Shop#

Shift4Shop is a free website builder which offers many resources, starting from giving you a wide variety of professionally designed, industry-specific, and mobile-friendly templates. They have a web design tool to help you customize everything, but you can edit directly the HTML and CSS too. 

The free plan includes unlimited products, features, and bandwidth. You will also count on migration assistance and fraud protection. Shift4Shop provides marketing tools, as well, like built-in e-mail marketing, and the possibility to include group deals, daily deals, coupons, and discounts, among others.

It also has cart abandonment recovery tools, focused on automatically engaging users, and motivating them to finish their purchase. Another benefit is that each part of your website is pre-optimized for SEO.

Highlighted features:

• Inventory management tools
• Product management software
• Analytical tools
• Cart abandonment recovery tools
• SEO optimization
• Visa CPI Certified Security
• Real-time shipping rates
• Integrated with PayPal
• Centralized inventory to sell in different channels

13. SquareSpace#

Squarespace enables you to create pages that better suit your business needs. Before creating your account, you will choose which template has more to do with your brand visual identity and customize it, the images, the color palette, and fonts. 

Each online store sector has its specificities. Taking that into consideration Square Space includes many tools to add to your choice and also has marketing features. This way, you can implement actions such as email campaigns, through the platform. 

Highlighted features: 

• Customizable templates
• Mobile optimized design
• Easy-to-use interface
• Centralized inventory
• Real-time shipping estimates for US customers
• Simple payment and checkout
• 24/7 support
• Automate sales tax filing
• Built-in SEO tools

Start Selling Furniture Online#

After learning how to sell furniture online, you have the tools to create your ecommerce store and start making money. Choose the best website builder, create a complete business plan, and enjoy the opportunities the digital world has to offer. Remember to always keep improving your services and pay attention to customer feedback.