One of my favourite things to observe in 2020 has been how much people have been forced to spend time.in their home spaces and deal with the consequences of their decisions. Many have been confronted by how inadequate or inappropriate their home setups have been due to a lack of investment in the right furniture and fittings. So there’s a market looking for some great quality items to transform their home spaces and one way to fulfil this demand is ready to assemble furniture.
What is it?
Ready to assemble furniture refers to furniture items that are sold to the consumer in packages and then assembled by the consumer with their own effort. It brings some advantages in shipping as the package size is smaller and cost-cutting as the customer takes on the assembly responsibility. These items were popularised in the first world by brands like Swedish IKEA. Nowadays the Chinese have gone full throttle on this concept and you can find many items such as beds, tv stands, tables, chairs, storage units and more with poorly translated assembly instructions to suit thinner wallets. This presents a good business opportunity for the committed.
Showroom or website?
One of the most important decisions you will need to make is a showroom or website. Which to have or start with? The obvious answer is both and I would encourage you to invest heavily in both. Not so much in money but in detail. The human mind is not as objective an item as we think so half your work in marketing is how you dress up your samples. It almost always looks better when presented in-situation with all the finer trimmings and showmanship. The part of investing in detail is the website where you have to invest in putting great detail. For example, it would be annoying at the very least to a customer who wants to buy something they have seen on your website to not have the dimensions of your item. I’ve seen a few horror stories of people who have ordered items such as pots and pans online only to find they have ordered miniature versions of said items. What you are more likely to get if you do not give detail is a customer who is annoyed because they must either trust in the size or make a physical trip to your showroom when they were ready to place an online order. Of course, the website here also refers to your social media channels.
Marketing
Marketing furniture products is all about catching people in the right frame of mind. While ready to assemble furniture does come cheaper, more on this later, the purchases are still big especially in our low-income economy. I say this to impress upon you the seriousness with which you must take the purchase decision from the customer perspective. They will require a lot of information and have a lit of questions. A good salesperson answers all customer questions. A great salesperson answers all customer questions before they are asked.
One area that you will have to deal with is the assembly aspect. Take it from someone who has assembled multiple items the instructions can be very poor. My assumption is the translation from Chinese to English does not go smoothly and add to that the technical complexity of some of these assemblies. You will do yourself and your customers a huge favour if you can just reproduce the assembly instructions.
Suppliers
You have a few good options for suppliers of this furniture. The source is obviously China but this is really ideal for people who are making bigger orders. For smaller orders, which you will realise a smaller profit margin from, you have the option of South African suppliers. This is not a train smash as you need to first establish a market before going in big and this is the cost of setting up the business.
Adds-Ons
Some suppliers have created an additional income stream by offering assembly for customers. Don’t dismiss the idea. You and your team should’ve assembled at least one of these for display purposes so you have an information advantage over the customer. A reasonable assembly fee could net you a few extra dollars for very little work or at least work you know very well.
Ready to assemble furniture is a great business opportunity that has room for more players. Done right you can create a lucrative business that has room to grow.
