The furniture eCommerce industry in Australia has seen significant growth in recent years, driven by a shift in consumer preferences from traditional offline shopping to online platforms.

According to IBISWorld, the industry generated a revenue of $1.7 billion in Australia in 2023, showcasing a growth rate of 5.9%. IBISWorld also predicts that by 2029, the revenue for Australia’s furniture eCommerce industry is anticipated to reach $2.4 billion.

Let’s delve into how the websites of the following 8 brands have played a role in fostering the growth of the Australian furniture eCommerce sector.

Temple and Webster

Temple and Webster is one of Australia’s leading brands in the furniture and interior decoration industry. This brand offers a diverse range of furniture and decorative items and emphasizes quality at the most favorable prices. 

Over the years, Temple and Webster, operating without physical showrooms, has focused on online sales. Therefore, the eCommerce website of Temple and Webster has been invested in extensively, featuring a series of unique functionalities to optimize the customer shopping experience.

Notable features include Product Filtering and Search, Quick View of Products, Detailed Product Views, Displaying Products within the Same Category, and Order Checking. Additionally, Temple and Webster provides popular payment options in Australia such as PayPal, Afterpay, and Zip.

• Website: https://www.templeandwebster.com.au/
• Platform: Magento Open Source
• Traffic: 24.57M/month
• Ranking: #99 (Australia) & #6,317 (Global)

Fantastic Furniture

For over 30 years, Fantastic Furniture has become the top choice for customers seeking flexible and efficient furniture solutions. Currently, the brand owns more than 80 retail stores nationwide in Australia. In the realm of online sales, Fantastic Furniture has focused on building and expanding its eCommerce website.

Several unique features have been customized to facilitate easy shopping for customers. Some of these include Quick Product View, Product Color Selection, Product Comparison, Displaying Real Product Photos from customers’ Instagram, and diverse payment options such as Afterpay, Zip, and Latitude.

• Website: https://www.fantasticfurniture.com.au/
• Platform: SAP Commerce Cloud
• Traffic: 7.870M/month
• Ranking: #275 (Australia) & #21,372 (Global)

Amart Furniture

The next brand on this list is Amart Furniture. With a presence in over 40 locations in the Australian and New Zealand markets, Amart Furniture has gained popularity and trust from local consumers. The brand offers a diverse range of high-quality products and unique decorative solutions.

Amart Furniture’s furniture eCommerce website is a leading shopping destination in Australia, attracting over 6 million visits each month. With an intuitive interface and numerous advanced features, the website provides customers with a convenient and comfortable online shopping experience.

Additionally, Amart Furniture offers a 5-year quality guarantee on all its products and regularly introduces attractive promotional programs to attract and retain customers.

• Website: https://www.amartfurniture.com.au/
• Platform: Salesforce Commerce Cloud
• Traffic: 6.311M/month
• Ranking: #332 (Australia) & #24,865 (Global)

Freedom

Freedom is renowned for its minimalist and modern-style furniture products. The brand’s product portfolio is quite diverse, ranging from living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, outdoor furniture, and more. Freedom’s eCommerce website is designed with a harmonious and visually appealing interface, featuring numerous unique features to provide customers with an optimal experience.

Freedom also focuses on establishing a Loyalty Program, allowing customers to create accounts to accumulate points and enjoy attractive benefits while shopping. The combination of uniqueness, quality, and convenience of online shopping contributes significantly to Freedom’s strong position in the Australian furniture market.

• Website: Freedom.com.au
• Platform: SAP Commerce Cloud
• Traffic: 4.915M/month
• Ranking: #403 (Australia) & #29,160 (Global)

Nick Scali

Nick Scali is a specialized Australian brand in designing sofas and retailing furniture. With over 50 years of operation, this brand has captivated customers with innovative designs and a commitment to providing sophisticated living spaces for every household.

Nick Scali’s furniture eCommerce website features several special functionalities to facilitate easy navigation and product purchases. Notably, the 360-degree product view and customization options for size and color based on customer preferences are highlighted. Additionally, the website’s minimalist and intuitive design further enhances the customer experience, making it smooth and enriching.

• Website: nickscali.com.au
• Platform: Magento Open Source
• Traffic: 1.937M/month
• Ranking: #939 (Australia) & #61,660 (Global)

Koala

Koala is well-known in both the Australian and New Zealand markets for its high-quality, modern, and innovative furniture products. Furthermore, in the years 2023 and 2024, Koala’s mattresses consecutively ranked as the most beloved on Product Review.

Koala’s furniture eCommerce website is designed to showcase the elegance and modernity of its products. With an intuitive interface, customers can easily explore and select products. Additionally, industry-specific features such as AR/VR and 360-degree viewing are integrated into the website.

• Website: https://koala.com/en-au
• Platform: Shopify Plus 
• Traffic: 1.4M/month
• Ranking: #1,193 (Australia) & #40,802 (Global)

Life Interiors

In the Australian furniture industry, Life Interiors stands out as a prominent and well-regarded name. Over the years, it has been the preferred choice for those who appreciate contemporary styles in furniture.

The brand places a significant focus on its online presence, achieving this through the development of a furniture eCommerce website with tailored features to enhance the shopping and payment experience for customers. Furthermore, Life Interiors regularly launches enticing shopping programs as part of its efforts to attract and engage customers.

• Website: https://lifeinteriors.com.au/
• Platform: Shopify Plus
• Traffic: 681.8K/month
• Ranking: #3,572 (Australia) & #211,036 (Global)

King Living

King Living is known in the Australian furniture market as an icon of luxury and innovation. The furniture eCommerce website is a reliable online shopping destination for customers seeking curated and high-standard furniture solutions. King Living has invested in developing various advanced features on the website to provide customers with the best shopping experience. 

Notable features include 360-degree viewing, VR/AR, product specification viewing and downloading, one-page checkout, and more. Thanks to these efforts, for more than 40 years, King Living has established a strong presence in the consumer community, particularly among those who value the sophistication of premium living spaces.

• Website: https://www.kingliving.com.au/
• Platform: Magento Open Source
• Traffic: 224.5K/month
• Ranking: #3,293 (Australia) & #195,617 (Global)

Build your first furniture eCommerce website today!

Above are the top 8 furniture brands in Australia that have successfully established and maintained their online presence by building eCommerce websites and investing to develop custom features.

With years of experience in developing successful e-commerce website projects across various platforms for numerous Australian clients such as Laybyland, Jasnor, RodShop, Trentham Estate, etc., SECOMM has a team of highly experienced experts with advanced technical skills and a deep understanding of the eCommerce market.

For detailed advice, please contact SECOMM or call the hotline (+84)28 7108 9908!

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is seen as an “obstacle” to the business activities of most businesses, eCommerce is emerging as an efficient way to enable Vietnamese furniture businesses to participate in the typical “playground” of global digital transformation.

At the same time, it is a pressing solution for furniture products to be consumed easily and accessible to many potential customers.

Therefore, the first wise step furniture brands have been hurrying to do in order to fast access the market is developing an eCommerce website. However, this difficult path calls for a significant investment of time and energy.

With years of expertise supporting several companies, SECOMM has developed a thorough process for developing a successful eCommerce website exclusively for the furniture sector.

Overview

A brief overview of the eCommerce market

The Covid-19 pandemic’s convoluted dynamics made travel challenging, which led to a necessity and urgency that resulted in the explosion of global eCommerce. At that point, internet buying and selling, which is more practical, takes the place of on-the-spot buying and selling.

Global eCommerce sales will rise from 15% in 2019 to 21% in 2021 and then continue to rise to 22% in 2022, according to Morgan Stanley. eCommerce will likely continue to have a large surplus. The market is established, and its growth rate might rise from its current level of 3.3 trillion USD to 5.6 trillion USD in 2026 as a result of significant company penetration in all industries worldwide.

In Vietnam alone, many service sectors had negative growth as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, although the eCommerce market continued to grow steadily. In particular, the sector for wholesale and retail fell by 0.21%, transportation and warehousing fell by 5.02%, and that for lodging and food services fell by 20.81% in comparison to 2020.

In contrast to that doom, eCommerce has consistently grown at a pace of 16%, with retail sales reaching $13.7 billion USD in 2021. Additionally, the proportion of eCommerce retail sales in all retail consumer goods and services nationally reached 7%, up 27% from the same period in 2020. (Vietnam eCommerce White Paper in 2022).

Because of this, even if the epidemic is now under control and customers are beginning to purchase again in stores, expectations about the potential and rapid growth of the post-Covid eCommerce business are well-founded. The furniture business will not be the only one promoted to extraordinary growth from that point on.

Significance of eCommerce in the Furniture industry

According to Forbes, furniture and building materials have experienced the biggest growth in eCommerce sales during the past two years of the epidemic, with a cumulative growth rate of more than 200% over the year prior to the pandemic, 2019. The category of furniture and home appliances likewise experienced a remarkable cumulative gain of more than 66% compared to the same time in 2019.

Recent findings made by Maddyness include the following intriguing details:

• The value of the worldwide furniture eCommerce market exceeds $200 billion.
• Online sales account for more than 90% of the growth of the furniture industry.
• According to estimates, 8 out of every 10 consumers who purchase furniture have made an internet purchase at least once.
• One in three consumers prefers to buy furniture online.
• 16% of sales of furniture and home goods are made online.
• Customers anticipate purchasing sofas online in 53% of cases and mattresses in 80% of cases.

Stage 1: Basic furniture eCommerce website development

Targeting

The very first thing that furniture businesses need to do is to determine their short-term and long-term goals and priorities before starting to develop an eCommerce website.

To accomplish the anticipated revenue increase in the short term, firms should place a priority on promoting marketing activities, tracking and analyzing customer behaviour, and assessing the efficacy of marketing initiatives. Furthermore, user experience is a crucial consideration that furniture companies must have in mind while advertising eCommerce.

Long-term objectives for firms could include raising brand awareness and coverage as well as evaluating the viability of individual items on online marketplaces. Effective marketing campaigns are also one of the long-term objectives that firms should take into consideration if they want to increase their online consumer base.

Businesses can take a lot of advice from specialized eCommerce implementation consulting units with a lot of experience in consulting a long-term roadmap to get the right list and priority of goals for both this period and beyond since they currently have little data to analyze and evaluate for the entire process.

Platform selection

There are currently two categories of platforms available on the market that enable the development of expert eCommerce websites and are highly well-liked, namely SaaS platforms and Open-source platforms. When used to create eCommerce for the furniture sector, these two types of platforms will each have the following advantages and disadvantages:

SaaS Platform

A service-based software application distribution mechanism for eCommerce commercial purposes is the simplest definition of a SaaS platform. To put it another way, the service provider develops and maintains software to aid in the creation of an eCommerce website, and the firm pays a set fee to use this service.

With SaaS platforms, the provider will own and manage the source code and data because the complete enterprise website system is hosted on the provider’s server. This means that the service provider will be in charge of handling and resolving technical issues that arise during the implementation of eCommerce by businesses.

Popular SaaS platforms are especially favored by businesses today, such as Haravan, Shopify, BigCommerce, etc.

Some of the advantages of the SaaS platform include:

• Fast eCommerce site deployment: Typically, it only takes a few minutes or days for businesses to possess an eCommerce site with all the features they need for the furniture sector at a fair initial building cost.
• Ease of use: The SaaS platform is built with user-friendliness in mind, making it possible for companies without IT advantages or technical expertise to swiftly develop and manage an eCommerce website.
• Good security: SaaS providers are in charge of the security aspect since they give and maintain the platform for building eCommerce websites. As a result, eCommerce companies in general, and furniture eCommerce companies in particular, won’t need to worry too much about PCI compliance, SSL, or the possibility of websites being hacked.
• Excellent customer service: Due to the supplier’s 24/7 assistance, businesses may easily contact them by email, hotline, or live chat if their eCommerce website experiences any issues during implementation.

The leading furniture enterprises in Vietnam using the SaaS platforms to build eCommerce websites include

• Noi That Hoa Phat: The Vietnamese furniture giant has implemented eCommerce with the BigCommerce platform to maintain its position in the market.
• Noi That Moho: A rooky of the furniture village uses the Haravan platform to build a website as the first step on the journey to conquer eCommerce.
• Noi That Cozy: The European furniture import and distribution tycoon has chosen Shopify as a companion to design a website to expand sales channels in the online environment.

However, there are still several drawbacks to the SaaS platform that should be taken into account:

• Expenses rise over time: Instead of paying once and owning the platform for a long time, businesses will have to pay for interfaces, applications, extensions, marketing, and SEO, among other fees, steadily and continuously. This is in addition to having to pay for the cost of using the platform month by month and year by year. Too many expenses are incurred each month, which makes it challenging to monitor cash flow.
• Can not own the source code and data: As mentioned earlier, the business will not own and control the source code and data of the website that this right belongs to the supplier. Therefore, when you want to switch platforms, businesses will not be able to keep and bring all the source code and data to the new platform because of the Lock-in feature of SaaS.
• Limited functionality and customization: Businesses employing SaaS platforms will have fewer options for functionalities and customization in accordance with the particular requirements of each eCommerce website. To enhance clients’ online shopping experiences, the website system must be modified to reflect the company model’s growth as well as industry and product features. SaaS’s constraint, however, makes it challenging to adapt to corporate demands.

Open-Source Platform

Open Source Platform is software with generally available source code that enables customers to obtain, upgrade, and modify additional features required for eCommerce company needs. Instead of being produced by a single corporation, open-source platforms are frequently created by a community of developers.

In addition, because it offers extensive customization options, this platform will be perfect for creating sophisticated eCommerce website systems tailored to a variety of industries, including the furniture industry.

This means that in order to efficiently administer the website and handle technological issues, firms either need to work with expert eCommerce website builders or develop a team of highly qualified internal workers.

In Vietnam, the most popular Open Source platforms to mention are Magento, OpenCart, WooCommerce (WordPress Plugin), etc.

The outstanding advantages of the Open-Source platform:

• Ownership of source code and data: Unlike a SaaS platform, the enterprise is the sole owner of the system’s source code and data. Businesses can thus bring all the data and reuse the existing source code when switching to a new platform. 
• Flexible customization: Companies using the Open Source platform can quickly alter or expand the functional system and create new features to keep up with the rapidly shifting market. From there, companies may quickly link with systems and services provided by other parties to help run eCommerce websites more effectively. Moreover, the Open Source platform’s flexible customization capabilities enable businesses to choose between three popular options for customizing the interface design of their eCommerce website: using an existing theme, customization based on an existing interface and designing its own interface tailored to the particular requirements of the industry.
• Numerous features and add-ons: The Open Source platform includes a wide range of advanced capabilities, like advanced search, product suggestions, abandon cart, etc., in addition to the fundamental functions that facilitate eCommerce implementation. Since the Open Source platform is so well-liked, there is a sizable global developer and expert community from which add-ons are explored and shared. These add-ons are more varied and better than the SaaS platform’s utilities.

The following well-known Vietnamese furniture companies are developing their online stores using the Open Source platform:

• Sieu Thi Noi That va Trang Tri Baya: A reputable furniture retailer that serves many Vietnamese families, has created a professional eCommerce website using the Magento platform for the purpose of immediately dominating the market.
• Noi That Nha Xinh: Manufacturer and supplier of Asian-style furniture products, using the WooCommerce platform for easy and effective eCommerce website deployment.

The disadvantages worth noting when implementing eCommerce with the Open Source platform:

• Long implementation period: In comparison to SaaS systems, an open-source platform typically takes 3 months to 1 year to create an eCommerce website, depending on the complexity of the functional system.
• High building expenses: Even though companies are free to utilize the platform, it costs quite a bit of money to own a complete eCommerce website with all of its features, usually between $10,000 and $50,000 per project.
• Not easy to use: Building an eCommerce system is more difficult than building on SaaS platforms since the system of open source eCommerce features is so diverse and is made to be fine-tuned for each business model. When IT is not a strong suit for a company, this presents a significant challenge, necessitating the assistance of a highly skilled unit.

Web interface design

Businesses should focus on making sure that the website interface conforms to UI/UX standards, clearly displays the brand’s distinctive characteristics and those of the furniture industry, and is synchronous in terms of product presentation and layout when designing the interface of an eCommerce website.

So, businesses can select one of the three methods listed below to create the website interface:

• Using the available interface: In comparison to the other two payment options, this is the most affordable way for businesses to pay for the interface. With pricing ranging from $300 to $500, both SaaS and Open Source platforms offer a selection of common UI/UX interfaces.
• Customizing based on the available interface: Like the previous method, businesses will use the current interface but will modify it to suit their brand’s requirements. As a result, companies cut expenses while also expressing their brand’s distinctive qualities in part.
• Using a self-designed interface: Companies can start thinking about designing their own website interface right immediately to develop a brand image that is unique and more creative than rivals. Even while this is more expensive for businesses than adopting an already-existing interface, the “tailor-made” design interface will match the industry-specific requirements and expectations of the company during the eCommerce deployment phase.

​​​​Firms should typically only use methods 1 or 2 at this point because the functional system is still in its early phases and easily found in the available interface.

Functional system development

In phase 1, businesses can prioritize the development of a system of basic functions needed for a complete furniture eCommerce website, specifically as follows:

• Catalog management: Manage and control categories, product functions, as well as prices and images/videos for each product to optimize the operation and achieve high efficiency when doing furniture eCommerce business.
• Sales management: Manage all order information, including order status and order fulfillment process, thereby helping businesses understand and analyze customers’ shopping behavior and set up and control payment and delivery processes efficiently.
• Marketing management: Integrating basic SEO optimization support features such as URLs, meta tags, internal links, etc., and deploying effective marketing campaigns to drive sales.
• Content management: Build and optimize content for CMS pages from text, images, pagination, blocks, banners, widgets, and templates to all kinds of branded content, blogs, etc.
• Customer management: Manage and control all customer information and customer groups to improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, thereby providing a better shopping experience for customers.
• System management: Manage and decentralize administrators to control and operate, secure and maintain the eCommerce website system.
• Store management: Using tools to support inventory management at branches, stores, and different warehouses to ensure the continuous supply of goods for the whole system.
• Cart and checkout management: Manage and control customers’ shopping carts and payment information.
• Analysis and reporting: Support to analyze and measure the performance of the eCommerce website system, thereby offering the next effective business strategies in the future.

Legal procedures finalizing

The final step of building a basic eCommerce website is completing the necessary legal procedures for the website to be allowed to operate legally. Businesses can follow the simple registration steps as instructed at the eCommerce Management Portal.

This is a mandatory requirement of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for every individual or organization that owns an eCommerce website to sell goods and to perform the registration/notification obligation on time.

Stage 2: In-depth furniture eCommerce website development

Re-targeting

Along the journey of business development that comes with ever-changing consumer needs, business goals and strategies need to be adjusted and reconfigured to fit the current business landscape In addition, at this stage, businesses also have problems, data, and insights about their online users, so setting goals will be easy.

In the short term, companies can use efficient marketing techniques to locate and connect with a wider pool of new potential clients online and boost online sales.

In the long run, market sector expansion and building a loyal customer base might be objectives for furniture eCommerce firms. In the second step of the trip to create a successful eCommerce website, businesses will simply develop and implement marketing strategies in accordance with the product features and individual directions of each business by identifying the target market segment.

Businesses must prioritize thinking about the time and cost of investing in a furniture eCommerce website system in addition to short- and long-term objectives because at this stage, the cost and investment budget will frequently be substantial and much higher than the above basic building phase.

eCommerce platform switching

If a company decides to use the SaaS platform to create an internal eCommerce website in the first stage, it will not be able to satisfy the expectations for development and expansion in the second stage due to its restricted customization and capability. Businesses should now convert to an open-source platform with well-known names worth considering, such as Magento, WooCommerce, Ziel Commerce, etc., in order to create an advanced furniture eCommerce website.

Following are some criteria for furniture companies to take into account when selecting an Open Source platform:

• Support to design standard UI / UX website interface with beautiful and high-quality images and videos, showing the unique characteristics of the brand and the furniture eCommerce industry.
• Provide a functional system from basic to advanced in the furniture industry
• High levels of scalability and customization enable the creation of specialized features as well as the integration of several add-ons, third-party services, and administrative support that extends from a single website to numerous websites, multiple language support, multiple currencies, etc.
• High levels of security assist businesses in reducing the dangers from illegal access to the data system and, when necessary, aid in data recovery for the eCommerce website system.

Businesses should focus on the costs associated with switching from a SaaS platform to an Open Source platform, the time required for staff to adapt to the new platform, the risk of data loss, and any errors that may occur during the changeover.

Resources selection

Resource selection for the deployment of an advanced system must be made with considerable thought, in contrast to the basic system development phase. Businesses have the option of creating an internal team or hiring a professional website developer to assist them.

The business will hire and train skilled and specialized IT people on the selected platform for internal team building which requires a lot of time and money, but it will improve resource management and control and actively adapt the development of the eCommerce website system in line with the original objective.

Businesses frequently consult several eCommerce website developers before choosing the finest one for their collaboration. The needs of the businesses for an eCommerce website will thus be satisfied as anticipated, the collaboration process will go smoothly, and the businesses will gain more expertise and experience in website development from that partner, which will provide them with directions consistent with the development trend of the furniture eCommerce industry.

These are the criteria that businesses should consider when choosing: In-depth knowledge and experience in eCommerce and the furniture industry; professional working team; clear and detailed working process; ability to quickly handle problems that arise during website construction.

Web interface re-design

Businesses are not required to update the website interface while switching platforms. However, the redesign of the website interface to fit the Open Source platform is now turning out to be a beneficial piece of advice given the new company development plan introduced concurrently with the implementation of eCommerce websites at a more advanced level.

Similar to the preceding period, companies have three alternatives for designing the user interfaces of their eCommerce websites: they can use the existing interface, customize it based on the existing interface, or create their own interface. To ensure the distinctiveness of the brand and the particularity of the furniture eCommerce industry, businesses should typically use methods 2 or 3 to develop the interface at this stage.

Upgrade the system with advanced and industry-specific functions

Businesses should concentrate on establishing a system of advanced and specific features of the furniture eCommerce industry to suit the new development phase, in addition to the basic functions that have been established for the eCommerce website system in the early stages.

Businesses may better grasp the challenges of implementing intense furniture eCommerce and provide solutions to address those challenges and fulfil the market’s rising expectations thanks to advanced and distinctive functions.

As a result, companies use AR technology to improve the consumer experience. While augmented reality (AR) technology is built on virtual reality (VR) technology, it focuses on fusing the actual environment and digital data to give users the ability to view digital data in the physical world. The furniture eCommerce sector makes extensive use of this technology.

Customers now only need to download the company’s AR program, turn on the camera, and evaluate the product’s fit with the area of the house rather than physically going to the store to see the things and try them on to see whether they fit.

Customers’ buying experiences are improved and made more unique by augmented reality (AR) applications, which convert traditional marketing into interactive marketing. IKEA Place App, the furniture buying an app from “big man” IKEA, is a wonderful example because it offers clients a novel and engaging shopping experience.

Customers can use their smartphones to place and try out the more than 2,000 tables, chairs, sofas, shelves, and other household appliances in a real room, change the viewing angle, and zoom in and out. Also, the software will scale items to their true size with 98% accuracy.

The eCommerce website system maintenance

A sophisticated eCommerce website system demands a great deal of experience and effort to operate and maintain. This is the procedure of continuously maintaining, updating, and upgrading the entire system to aid firms in foreseeing and resolving problems (for example, sudden increase in traffic from the promotions that stimulate shopping).

That supports sustained and persistent online sales growth, which is important for eCommerce businesses in general and furniture eCommerce in particular as they compete for a market share of this “pie,” which is “delicious” but can be challenging to consume.

eCommerce acceleration

Furniture eCommerce enterprises readily accomplish growth above and beyond expectations by putting into practice efficient business and marketing strategies.

Therefore, the entire process—from planning through implementation—must be structured with effective, practical solutions that have been demonstrated to work. Implementing Omnichannel, eCommerce Marketing, and SEO optimization are some suggested methods for eCommerce enterprises to accelerate growth.

eCommerce business optimization

The journey of developing an eCommerce website ends with measuring, analyzing, and optimizing eCommerce business activities.

Businesses can use analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, etc., to track, update and measure website performance metrics as well as the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

From there, the eCommerce business strategy for the next stage of development will be carefully and methodically planned thanks to clear and detailed reports & analysis.

Some special notes for furniture eCommerce website development

The journey of developing an eCommerce website for the furniture sector is divided into two phases with clear step-by-step instructions. Businesses will, however, be able to go in one of two strategies, each with its own advantages and drawbacks, depending on the platform they decide to use for the first phase.

Strategy no.1: Initially use an eCommerce SaaS platform before switching to an Open Source platform later on.

Pros

The quick deployment time of a SaaS platform is one of its benefits. In order to swiftly enter the market and create a simple website system, enterprises can pick SaaS at an early stage. Businesses will evaluate the furniture items’ suitability for the eCommerce market’s demands as well as their influence on upcoming consumer trends there.
The switch to an open-source platform will make it more reasonable to extend and develop a specialized website system in order to raise brand awareness and increase online sales over a period of time long enough for businesses to become accustomed to and adapt to the ever-changing market.

Businesses will save a lot of money by implementing eCommerce utilizing the SaaS platform early on as opposed to developing a website using the Open Source platform. Businesses can use that capital to invest in other activities, such as marketing strategy, which is one of the crucial components for the success of any company, not only furniture companies, because the initial cost of a SaaS platform is typically not too expensive.

The ability to conduct business while gaining knowledge and expertise in technology and how to efficiently implement eCommerce is another advantage of this approach to developing an eCommerce website. In general, running a business is challenging, and operating an eCommerce firm is even more challenging in today’s continuously shifting market and technologically complicated and varied trends.

As a result, acquiring knowledge and real-world experience is both a necessary and a sufficient condition for businesses to achieve extraordinary success. Because a SaaS platform is simple to use and doesn’t require a lot of technical knowledge, choosing one to deploy in the early stages can help businesses become comfortable with eCommerce terminology, concepts, and how to build a website at a basic level.

Due to the complex requirements of an extensive eCommerce website system, businesses will need support from a strong IT team during the second stage of switching to the Open Source platform. The collaborators and partners will then complement each other’s knowledge and experience at that point.

Cons

As was stated in the introduction to the platform, the fundamental functional system of SaaS platforms will not be sufficient to meet the needs of the eCommerce business at the growth and scalability stage.

Therefore, whether you like it or not at this moment, you must switch to the Open Source platform in order for the eCommerce system’s expansion and scalability goals to continue to be successfully implemented.

When adopting this approach for the process of developing and perfecting the website system, eCommerce firms in general, and furniture enterprises, in particular, should pay close attention to this first drawback.

Businesses will significantly reduce the initial cost of the working process by using this strategy. The initial benefit, though, later turns into a detriment in the long run. In addition to the ongoing platform usage fees that companies must pay for the SaaS platform, additional service costs are also significant enough to complicate and make cash flow management challenging to manage.

Because of the characteristic of the SaaS platform, customers are not permitted to keep the source code and data when switching platforms, thus enterprises must once again pay the initial development costs after the stage of moving to the Open Source platform. Additionally, the cost of development using an Open Source platform is rather costly, ranging between $30,000 and $50,000 on average.

Additionally, firms will “headache” from the sunk costs associated with switching platforms. The cost of staff training is seen as an additional expense rather than a true investment if you are accustomed to the new system, especially at a time when the economy is anticipated to rebound following COVID-19.

Furthermore, it is easy to make mistakes during the platform shift that result in the loss of crucial firm data, such as data that is closely tied to financial matters. With all the hazards mentioned, managing cash flow and maintaining balance is still a challenging issue that obviously affects furniture companies’ eCommerce business strategies.

Strategy no. 1 will be appropriate for startups or SMEs learning about eCommerce and entering the market safely based on the pros and disadvantages highlighted.

Strategy no.2: Implement an open-source eCommerce platform from the first phase on and use it throughout the second phase.

Pros

With the second strategy, companies develop eCommerce websites on the Open Source platform from the very beginning. Due to the smooth website development process, businesses merely need to gradually improve their functional systems in line with their growth and scale rather than switching platforms.

Long-term cost savings for enterprises are made possible by this seamlessness. In which, addition to saving money by avoiding the cost of starting over when switching platforms as a first strategy, firms also minimize the danger of data loss and spend less time and money training staff to use the brand-new platform.

The second approach, on the other hand, aids firms in laying a strong foundation right away with a professionally designed and smooth eCommerce website system and a team of essential technical personnel who are knowledgeable and well-trained from the start.

Cons

Similar to the first strategy, despite its notable benefits, the second one still has some drawbacks that companies should take into account before implementing furniture eCommerce. The market penetration will be slowed down if Open Source is chosen for the first phase of the deployment process.

All of the website’s features will be designed from the ground up because it will be built on an open-source platform. It takes the team a lot of effort, time, and brainpower to accomplish the entire process, which often takes between three months and a year.

Therefore, the lengthy implementation period is a drawback that slows down market entry, increasing the risk of falling behind in the competitive eCommerce race. Correspondingly, firms will have to pay a considerably larger upfront development fee than they would for a SaaS platform.

When companies must invest a significant sum of money in a platform upfront yet are unsure of its viability and effectiveness for adopting eCommerce, there is a risk involved.

From a business perspective, this drawback is viewed as an opportunity cost, meaning that while this strategy offers firms enormous long-term rewards, it also comes with trade-offs that present difficulties in the short term.

To meet growth and scalability objectives as well as avoid potential risks from switching platforms mentioned in advance, or to make the process of eCommerce implementation simple and efficient.

Therefore, it is incredibly appropriate to invest time and money in starting from scratch with Open Source.

The second approach can be appropriate for firms with a variety of business models, including B2B, B2C, and B2B2C, when the advantages and downsides are carefully thought.

​​With the high growth rate of Vietnam’s economy, eCommerce makes a significant contribution to promoting the flow of goods and services, supporting small and medium enterprises, especially those in the furniture sector, to seek effective business opportunities in the context of deep integration and the spread of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Moreover, a qualified eCommerce website serves as a “bridge” for furniture companies to achieve that integration objective. However, building a comprehensive, modern, and professional eCommerce website is never simple and necessitates a significant financial investment.

The journey to develop an eCommerce website is described above in great detail by SECOMM with a few extra tips that furniture businesses can refer to shorten your own planning.

With many years of experience in successfully implementing eCommerce for many customers in many countries in recent years, SECOMM understands the difficulties and challenges in the process of implementing an interior eCommerce website.

Contact SECOMM today for free support and advice.

Businesses may quickly detect a change in consumer behavior throughout the course of the pandemic as online purchasing steadily expands from basic necessities like food and medicine to a variety of other industries like fashion, wine, and furniture.

Also, customers’ awareness of a pleasant, modern, and healthy lifestyle has grown dramatically, which has given the furniture business a chance to go online and serve as a catalyst for Vietnamese eCommerce furniture to see breakthrough growth.

Realizing the great potential of this field, Vietnamese furniture enterprises have been embarking on building an eCommerce website system, which is considered an important factor leading to the success of this modern business trend.

Baya

Initially founded in 2006 under the name Sieu Thi Noi That Uma, the business has only recently (in 2019) changed its name to Sieu Thi Noi That Trang Tri Baya.

Although the brand’s name has changed, its essential values haven’t. It still offers clients high-quality furniture with a clean, sophisticated, trendy design in a neutral tone, and each piece is beautiful in its own right.

Thanks to the wise investment in developing a professional eCommerce website with the Magento open-source platform with an attractive and user-friendly interface, Baya’s website currently receives more than 100,000 visits each month. 

In order to give clients the best eCommerce experience, this furniture manufacturer is constantly improving the system.

In addition, the company demonstrated its awareness of market trends by creating an app called My Baya with a QR payment method and positioning it as one of the primary categories on an eCommerce website to draw consumers’ attention to the website.

• Website: ​​https://baya.vn/
• eCommerce platform: Magento 
• Traffic: 103.9K/month
• Ranking: 11,388 (Vietnam); 526,185 (Worldwide)

Hoa Phat Furniture

With nearly 30 years of market experience and a wide range of clients, Hoa Phat Furniture is one of the top furniture suppliers and manufacturers in Vietnam.

All of Hoa Phat’s items are designed with a contemporary, opulent, and refined aesthetic in mind. In addition to a business strategy that is flexibly adjusted to the changes in the market, the company fully exploits the potential of eCommerce by building a professional and well-organized website on the BigCommerce platform.

From there, businesses increase their coverage and brand awareness on the Internet and reach more customers thanks to effective marketing methods.

• Website: http://noithathoaphat.com.vn/
• eCommerce platform: BigCommerce 
• Traffic: 59K/month
• Ranking: 11,855 (Vietnam); 545,292 (Worldwide)

Moho

The Moho furniture brand was established in March 2020 and is a subsidiary of Savimex, a company with over 35 years of expertise in the production and export of furniture. In order to fulfill the goal of sustainable development, Moho has kept offering clients furniture goods with affordable pricing and quality in accordance with international standards.

With more than 50,000 monthly visitors and a popular Haravan platform, Moho’s eCommerce website is well-liked by customers for their online buying experience.

• Website: https://moho.com.vn/
• eCommerce platform: Haravan 
• Traffic: 53.6K/month
• Ranking: 16,983 (Vietnam); 751,671 (Worldwide)

Cozy

COZY is a famous furniture brand present in the market since 1995 with high-class Italian-style designs. All products distributed by COZY are subjected to quality checks. With more than 25 years of establishment and development, COZY is one of the leading prestigious units in Vietnam in importing furniture from high-end brands from Europe.

In order to increase sales channels and reach a large number of potential customers online, COZY invested in developing an eCommerce website using the Shopify platform in addition to the showroom system dispersed around the districts of Ho Chi Minh City.

Because of the website’s elegantly crafted, opulent, and smart user interface, it receives an astonishing 45,000 visitors each month.

• Website: https://cozyliving.com.vn/
• eCommerce platform: Shopify 
• Traffic: 45.3K/month
• Ranking: 23,596 (Vietnam); 1,033,514 (Worldwide)

Nha Xinh

​​​​Nha Xinh chooses a simple and intimate interior design style for each of the company’s products. The WooCommerce platform’s straightforward and user-friendly design of Nha Xinh’s eCommerce website’s interface amply illustrates this.

Furthermore, Nha Xinh’s website uses 360-degree technology to enable buyers to experience the company’s interior items from a distance in an accurate manner, providing information and a complete price list for each item from every angle of the room and product.

The eCommerce website now receives more than 40,000 visitors each month because of its painstaking attention to every last detail.

• Website: https://nhaxinh.com/
• eCommerce platform: WooCommerce 
• Traffic: 41.1K/month
• Ranking: 15,415 (Vietnam); 696,229 (Worldwide)

Customers can save a ton of time and money when shopping online, especially when purchasing furniture. However, there are a lot of potential hazards associated with this type of business, particularly with regard to product quality and information security, and safety during the shopping and payment processes.

The furniture eCommerce sites discussed in this blog post are well-known destinations that have been active on the market for a long time and have serviced and satiated the wide range and expanding needs of clients.

These companies demonstrate their efforts to create the technological infrastructure that will enhance customers’ online shopping experiences, and they take priority on the development of a professional, well-invested supply chain that will expedite shipments while maintaining the quality of the goods until they are received by the customer.

When Vietnamese furniture businesses launch their own fully-functional eCommerce websites, professionalism, adaptability, and speed are the key success criteria.

Nevertheless, in order for the furniture eCommerce firm to succeed, business managers must carefully and comprehensively take into account the growing client wants and the continuously shifting market trends.

In particular, the task is to lay out a solid and methodical company plan so that the best short- and long-term actions can be taken. Completing that difficult task will take a lot of time and resources. As a result, many furniture companies opt for a more straightforward approach to the issue, enlisting the assistance of a highly qualified and dependable unit.

With many years of experience in successfully implementing eCommerce for many customers in many countries, SECOMM specializes in providing consulting services with comprehensive and professional e-commerce implementation solutions. , repertoires.

Contact SECOMM today for free support and advice.

The desire for home furnishings and design among consumers has significantly increased as life gets better and better. The majority of consumers still prefer to choose and purchase products in physical stores and showrooms, but online furniture shopping is an increasing tendency. Additionally, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on consumer purchasing habits has changed how people purchase, which has greatly aided the development of the furniture eCommerce market.

The enormous potential of eCommerce for furniture

BusinessWire estimates that the size of the furniture eCommerce market in 2021 was valued at USD 27.74 billion and that it would increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.4% from 2022 to 2030 to reach USD 40.74 billion.

Recent findings made by Maddyness include the following intriguing details:

• The value of the worldwide furniture eCommerce market exceeds $200 billion.
• Online sales account for more than 90% of the growth of the furniture industry.
• According to estimates, 8 out of every 10 consumers who purchase furniture have made an internet purchase at least once.
• One in three consumers prefers to buy furniture online.

The advantages of eCommerce implementation for the furniture business

Catching up with market changes

The furniture sector has experienced a significant decrease in sales over the past few pandemic years, along with many other industries.

People are compelled to reduce their social interactions during the social withdrawal period. They now spend more time working, living, entertaining, and teaching at home. In light of the unpredictable changes of the pandemic, the necessity to clean and renovate the dwelling has therefore substantially increased.

Due to limits on leaving the house, online shopping at the time had become not only a need but also an urgent method of purchasing in place of in-person purchases. That serves as the springboard that gives eCommerce its spectacular development and propels it into other industries like fashion, grocery, wine, and even furniture.

These two elements highlight the “cake’s” enormous potential and aid many furniture companies in realizing and swiftly implementing eCommerce for market revolution and sustainable development.

Expand the business scope

Due to the Internet’s rapid expansion and the burgeoning online shopping trend, which is gradually replacing traditional offline shopping, the adoption of eCommerce will benefit furniture manufacturers by providing a new sales channel and attracting a big number of potential clients (at stores, and showrooms).

eCommerce implementation will also help to broaden the market for businesses by improving the circumstances for marketing campaigns to be more successful.

Enhance customers’ online shopping experience

When firms use technology to improve customer experience in eCommerce, furniture shopping will happen more quickly.

In the digital age, for instance, visual experiences from VR/AR technology, 3D product visualization, and 360-degree photography are very popular, gradually replacing in-store shopping while still being fully informed and realistic visualization of products, thereby increasing customer satisfaction during online shopping.

eCommerce enables businesses to quickly and effortlessly tailor the experience for customers by gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing the consumption behavior of each target group. Typically, this is done with the capabilities listed below: Products have seen, similar product recommendations, etc.

eCommerce provides clients with a seamless experience in addition to an intuitive one across a variety of channels, including social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Zalo, etc.), eCommerce platforms (Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo, etc.), eCommerce websites, mobile apps, etc.

The interesting story of big guys

IKEA – The iconic furniture retailer, enters eCommerce to boost online sales

IKEA, or Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd, is the world’s largest furniture retail enterprise and specializes in delivering minimalist-styled assembled furniture, household appliances, and accessories.

IKEA was established in 1943 in Sweden by Ingvar Kamprad, who started his business at the age of 17. IKEA swiftly gained global dominance with 392 locations across 48 nations.

With the goal of offering furniture with a lovely style and wide application while keeping the price low so that as many people as possible can purchase the goods. The majority of the departments, from marketing and sales to supply chain and warehouse, share this goal.

Everybody works together to keep IKEA’s “vital” competitive edge intact so that the company can publish catalogs with thousands of products offered at long-term stable prices.

Despite being the largest furniture retailer in the world, IKEA has lagged behind eCommerce trends, according to the Financial Times. This well-known retailer started “renovating” its sales technique only when it encountered numerous internet rivals. 

The biggest barrier that makes it difficult for IKEA to adjust its previously successful business model is the maze-like arrangement of store layouts to create an engaging experience of sightseeing, interior shopping, or requiring customers to drive to the store and assemble the components to make their own furniture.

But IKEA has unimaginably succeeded in launching an e-commerce website by fusing cutting-edge technology with a well-organized marketing plan. In particular, IKEA specifically uses VR/AR technology, which is seen as a new eCommerce trend and is favored by many firms, to improve users’ online purchasing experiences.

IKEA thereby covers the sales void left by the prior on-site furniture business model, but the gap won’t truly be felt until the Covid-19 pandemic and social separation restrictions are in place.

From this point, IKEA expands its consumer base both online and offline, and sales are progressively encouraged to increase significantly.

Additionally, IKEA’s eCommerce website incorporates Instagram posts of photographs of IKEA furniture goods that consumers customize, share, and tag with the hashtag #IKEA.

This not only helps this brand connect closely with Instagram users, increase its reputation and strengthen the loyalty of existing customers but above all, quick access to a large diverse customer base from the Internet in general and Instagram in particular thanks to the popularity and influence of this social network on young consumers.

Nha Xinh – The veteran warrior in furniture eCommerce

Established in 1999, Nha Xinh is a well-known furniture brand in Vietnam. It has two sizable showrooms, one each in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

As a manufacturer and supplier of living room, bedroom, dining room, and kitchen furniture with an Asian design aesthetic that favors coziness, friendliness, and simplicity above sophistication and luxury, Nha Xinh is a specialist in this field.

Nha Xinh’s website belonged to the “long-lived” row in the Vietnamese eCommerce village when it was created and launched in 2007, a period in which Vietnam was still getting used to utilizing the Internet to progressively integrate with the rest of the world.

Nha Xinh’s eCommerce website has survived many years of market ups and downs while maintaining its inherent simplicity, intimacy, and sophistication.

Product categories are arranged clearly and harmoniously in each room to make it easy for customers to search, choose products that suit their needs, and get a sense of the room’s overall layout.

Customers can choose from a variety of options because the room’s layout is available with furniture and includes a detailed price. If they prefer, they can even select a combination of the interior and decor of the room without having to spend a lot of time figuring out how to combine each item because Nha Xinh already did it.

Additionally, Nha Xinh’s website has a unique section called “360-degree store” that uses 360-degree technology to let customers view the company’s interior products from a distance in an accurate manner from every nook and cranny of the room and every angle of the product, along with comprehensive information and price lists for each item.

Additionally, Nha Xinh’s “Inspiration Corner” catalog offers a wealth of thoughts and ideas to assist clients in designing their dream living space. Nha Xinh gives home design recommendations in a variety of styles, from elegant, and gentle to strong and personable depending on the individual’s preferences.

Therefore, Nha Xinh is more than just an eCommerce site that sells furniture; it is also a handbook that provides customers with never-ending design ideas.

Noi That Hoa Phat – The giant is committed to winning the eCommerce race

Hoa Phat Furniture was founded in 1995 and over the course of over three decades has made a positive impact on Vietnamese consumers’ perceptions of quality products and exquisite design while fulfilling a variety of needs for office furniture, home, household furniture, and medical furniture.

With a consistent growth rate of 20–25% each year, the brand is getting stronger and reaffirming its position as Vietnam’s top supplier and manufacturer of furniture.

When Hoa Phat Furniture changed its name to The One Furniture in the year 2022, it left a lasting impression on the industry. The brand name change is linked to adaptable changes in strategy. The company focuses on enhancing the stature, appearance, and image connected with the growth of the nation, helping to instill a variety of ideals into society.

Hoa Phat Furniture (now The One Furniture) invests extensively in technology infrastructure to streamline the production and supply process at the same time as it aspires to expand throughout the area and the world. One might say that The One Furniture has carried on the brand’s good core principles and improved upon them in order to better suit the current market trend.

One of Hoa Phat Furniture’s greatest successes to date is the effective use of 3D printing technology in production, which has helped the company create a number of new products like the Smart Safe; sofa and chair folding in the Italian style while also reducing production costs and speeding up prototyping and increasing product accuracy.

Hoa Phat Furniture concentrates on creating an eCommerce website to reach many potential clients that have a habit or preference for online buying, in addition to being adaptable and prompt with changes in strategy.

The firm creates websites using the WooCommerce framework, a well-known and dependable open-source platform used by many companies to implement eCommerce.

Compared to the previous version of Hoa Phat Furniture, The One Furniture’s new website (noithattheone.com.vn) features a more simplified, gorgeous, and contemporary interface (noithathoaphat.com.vn).

Additionally, the business supports the growth of well-known social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok to broaden brand awareness, attract more customers, and enhance coverage.

Plus, the business offers a wide range of shipping and payment choices to accommodate the various needs of clients, making online buying at The One Furniture or Hoa Phat Furniture as convenient as it can be.

It is clear that the growth of the furniture market has been hastened by the speed at which eCommerce is developing.

Today, numerous local and international furniture companies participate in and offer the greatest shopping experiences to customers through the effective implementation of an eCommerce website, including IKEA (Sweden), Nha Xinh, and Hoa Phat Furniture (Vietnam).

From there, companies may quickly connect with a wider pool of Internet users and generate conversions through efficient marketing strategies.

However, business leaders need to carefully and comprehensively take into account the growing customer expectations and rapidly shifting market trends, not to mention specifically describe a systematic and precise business strategy for taking the most advantageous actions in the short and long term.

Completing that difficult task will take a lot of time and resources. As a result, many furniture companies opt for a more straightforward approach to the issue, enlisting the assistance of a highly qualified and dependable unit.

SECOMM has many years of expertise in effectively executing eCommerce for numerous customers in various countries. We specialize in offering free consultation services with qualified eCommerce implementation solutions.

Contact us right away for free counsel and assistance.