How to sell furniture in a big city. Selling what sells well. Current models and brands. How to write a good product description

02.11.2016

“This article was written by Alexander Seleznev, CEO of the Content Farm company, http://content-farm.ru/, whose knowledge and experience I consider useful for furniture companies.
Alexandrov S. A., founder of MMCC

My team is engaged in turnkey Internet promotion, and it so happened that I have several furniture makers among the customers this year. Therefore, especially for the MMCC website, I will tell you 2 real cases of online advertising for them. According to the data from this article, furniture business owners will be able, albeit roughly, to estimate how much they will need to spend and how much they can get when selling goods via the Internet.

So, 2 Customers for whom we did almost the same work, but whose results are radically different. There were extensive initial discussions with both customers, during which they assessed the situation and decided how best for them to advance on the Internet. But both customers eventually asked to make landings and launch contextual advertising. They say "we will earn money on this, and then we will think further."

Both customers have kitchens. Both customers have very small companies, literally a dozen people.

One customer is in Belarus, the other is in the Urals. Further I will call them Belorus and Uralets. About half a million people live in the region to which Belarus planned to sell. The Urals, too.

Their consumer segments were slightly different. Belarus has an average minus. The Urals has an average plus. This was due to the fact that Uralets in the old, prosperous times, acquired high-quality equipment. In particular, for example, equipment for photo printing. As well as CNC machines with a cutting accuracy of 0.1 mm.

Contextual advertising and landing - what is their function when selling furniture via the Internet

First, just in case, I'll tell you - what is contextual advertising, and what are landing pages.

Selling online, by its very nature, is no different from selling on the ground. To sell something, you only need 3 things:
A product, that is, something for which people will agree to give you their money.
The flow of passers-by. Of which some need your product.
A place to exchange a product for money. For example, a store. Because if your product is in stock and no one knows about it, then no one will buy it.

Next, you need a stream of passers-by. Contextual advertising does just that. Like promoters who invite people to visit your store during promotions. Contextual advertising invites those Internet passers-by who are interested in furniture to look at you. At the same time, you pay only for those who agreed and came to you. For those who are not interested and passed by, you do not pay.

Next, you need a "shop". Where your visitor can get to know your product. On the Internet, this role is played either by your website or landing page. A landing page is a micro-site consisting of only one page, which, ideally, offers only one product. For example, only kitchens.

And now attention! A landing page is not a store on the Internet, it is only your showcase behind glass on the Internet. This is a closed showroom behind glass, on the doors of which it is written “do not come close, do not touch anything with your hands!”

Because of the glass, people cannot feel the upholstery of your sofas, they cannot sit on them, they cannot do anything, they can only look from afar.

Would you yourself lay out tens of thousands of rubles for a product that you can only look at from afar, behind the glass?
So visitors to your landing page will not.

All a landing page can do is connect a visitor to your landing page with your account manager. The most practical thing is that when a landing visitor leaves his phone, this phone gets into your CRM, and then the manager calls this person as soon as possible, agrees with him or for a measurement, or for this person to come to your salon live.

Yes, of course, any and all methods are used on the landing page to “anchor” the visitor. To interest him to take the next step, and not turn around and leave.
But still, landing pages do a good job only in order to make contact with the visitor.

Remember: the function of your landing page is not to sell, but to turn visitors into leads. Your manager will sell further.

Two cases of selling furniture through contextual advertising - two different results

Now let's get back to our Belarusians and Urals. Here are the actual numbers (rounded but close to the truth):

Results:

The Belarusian is completely satisfied with the results. Sometimes he asks to stop advertising for a while, because production cannot cope with him. As I said, this is a very small business. In addition, both Belorus and Uralets launched online sales in ADDITION to the regular sales they already had.

Ural received a big loss.
Why there is such a difference, I will tell a little later. First, I’ll tell you why furniture businesses, according to my observations, are starting to actively go to the Internet.

You're losing half your customers if you don't promote online.

Of course, it is necessary to go to the Internet, and for a long time.

That is, it can be assumed that only those furniture makers who are falling are contacting me. For those who are doing so well, Internet promotion services are not needed.

However, I argue that over the past few years, ALL furniture makers who do not advance on the Internet have lost half of their customers.

That is, people are already so accustomed to the Internet that almost half of them first look for furniture on the Internet, and only then go to where they looked after something.
If you are not found on the Internet, then half of your potential customers will not even think to look at you! Did you understand?

If you are not visible on the Internet, then you can only count on the remaining 43 percent. And taking into account the fact that the furniture market has lived quite comfortably for many years, and, probably, for this reason, most furniture makers prefer to work in the old fashioned way, almost all of your competitors claim the same 43% of the market.

Those few furniture makers who successfully work on the Internet, by the way, also participate in the section of these 43%. Apart from the fact that they still get the other 40% of the market.
Hence the conclusion: there are companies in the furniture market that are doing well.

This situation reminds me of the story about the frog that was placed in cold water and slowly began to warm up. They heated up little by little, and the frog did not feel discomfort. Until it's welded.

Worse, there is no gradual, but non-stop deterioration of the market

I myself went through such ups and downs of the market when I was closely involved in my offline business. Namely trade in computers. At my peak, I had 4 stores in 3 cities. The market was changing, and you had to act very energetically just to stay afloat.

Now I see the same thing in your furniture market. Only changes are slower. If the situation develops in the same way as in previous years, then without the Internet, your sales will continue to shrink by 10 percent a year. Even without a crisis.

“People don’t buy furniture online!”

You can object to me: “People don’t buy furniture on the Internet!”
And you will be right.

In order for a person to spend serious money, for example, on the same kitchen, he needs to personally look at the colors, knock on the countertop, scratch it with his finger, he needs someone to help him cope with doubts ...
In the same study "Total sales - 2016" to the question “What are the ways you most often use to buy goods?”, for the category "Furniture and household goods", 26% answered - the Internet, and 64% answered - the store.

It seems that for a long time furniture will be bought mainly in stores. But because of the Internet, people have now begun to decide in a different way which stores to go to and which ones not to.
And it will only intensify. “In 2016, in Russia, 73% of citizens aged 18 and over use the Internet, of which 47% of those surveyed do it daily.”

Your use of Internet promotion will not change the market situation, of course.

You will have more customers, because you will get access to those customers that you previously lost, to those who, using the Internet, decide “where to go to take an interest in furniture”.

Why is there such a difference in the results of cases, can contextual advertising be considered a “magic pill” and the formula for a successful sales chain on the Internet

Let's now return to our Belarusians and Urals.

Why is there such a horrendous difference in results? For one - periodically production does not cope, and for the other - only expenses, without sales.

If you look again at the table at the beginning of this article, you will see that the number of visitors to landing pages and the cost of a visitor are almost the same.

Yes, of course there are differences. Contextual advertising is arranged according to the auction principle. Yandex and Google give preference to those who pay more. Therefore, it is impossible to say in advance what the cost will be in one city or another.
One can only be sure that in large cities there is more competition, and therefore advertisers have to charge higher prices.
And you can be sure that in rich regions the cost will also be higher. Because advertisers are more likely to charge higher prices for their ads.

But anyway, contextual advertising is the most understandable for business, including for furniture makers. I paid money - visitors quickly came - some of them became buyers. Therefore, in Russia, according to various estimates, the share of contextual advertising is up to 80% of the money spent by businesses on the Internet.

All the furniture makers I've talked to basically want a "magic pill". I paid and all was well. I even put it in the title of the article.
Above, I gave an analogy with promoters. Contextual advertising - like these promoters. She invites passers-by to turn to you. But in reality, you are not selling at the expense of promoters. Are you doing different types attracting visitors, managing managers, managing the premises, managing the product line…

You should not consider contextual advertising as a “magic pill” that will solve all your problems.
The golden years, when there was a peak in the economic efficiency of contextual advertising, have already passed. It was SEVERAL TIMES cheaper, and there was little competition. Now contextual advertising is no longer suitable for every product and not for every city.
For which cases contextual advertising is suitable, and for which it is not - I will summarize at the end of this article.

The furniture business needs to go online. Almost half of your customers are already there. You can sell furniture online. And for furniture business In general, contextual advertising works.

BUT!
Only if you do not treat it like a magic pill, but build a high-quality sales chain from start to finish. That is, contextual advertising + landing + good job sellers.

After all, in fact, the cost of a landing visitor is not even important. That is, how much you spent directly on advertising - how much you paid for visitors to look at you.
BUYER COST IS IMPORTANT.
If you get 20 thousand profits from the sale of the kitchen, then spend 1200 rubles. to get these 20 thousand, an acceptable price.

Go back to the table at the beginning of this article. You will see that the cost of a lead for Belorus and Ural is comparable. Let me remind you: a lead is a visitor who is ready to communicate with you further.

The catastrophic difference between Belorus and Ural began after a potential client left his contact.
At Belorus, out of 17 such people per week, managers successfully processed 14. That is, 82%.
And for Uralets, out of 14 leads, only 3 were successfully processed. That is, 21%.
By “successfully processed” I mean brought the client to the calculation of the cost of the kitchen.

The Belarusian has sales, the Urals has no sales.

We did something else for Belarus.
Namely:
- Together with Belorus, we worked with him on promotions that were published on the landing page to increase attractiveness for customers.
- We worked for several months, finalizing both contextual advertising and the landing itself. That is why I give weekly numbers in this article. One day is not enough to improve something. A month is too long. But moving weekly is optimal.
- Worked on communication between managers and clients. We listened to dozens of recordings of managers' conversations. And obvious errors were eliminated. And, together with Belorus, we managed to get his managers to call the client within a few minutes. While the client is still warm.

Therefore, the most important advice of this article.

If you are thinking about selling furniture over the Internet, start with the main thing: training your managers.

Through contextual advertising, you can sell only those goods, the profit from the sale of which per unit is from 3000 rubles. and higher. And only in cities with a population of over 100 thousand inhabitants. In small towns, contextual advertising may no longer work. There will be too few visitors, and the associated costs of creating, setting up and managing contextual advertising will eat up all the profits. In this case, it will help you only if you personally become a specialist in contextual advertising, you yourself will personally deal with it and landing pages, and therefore you will not have associated costs.

If you want contextual advertising, prepare a budget not only for the advertising itself, but also for people who will bring contextual advertising, landing and the work of managers to standard. For a region with a population of 1 million people, the total costs will be in the region of 80-100 thousand rubles. per month. Half - for the advertising budget, the second half - for the entire sales chain to work.
With 20,000 rubles, you will not be able to achieve anything. The money will just be wasted.
And if you need a guaranteed result - ask the International Furniture Consulting Center to first bring your sales department up to standard - in the sales department you have a black hole for your money!

If you do not have enough budget for contextual advertising, unite. Thank God, few of the customers will go to another city for a kitchen. If you are in different cities, then you are not competitors, but potential partners. Not a single contextual advertising is alive business. Clients can be obtained from social networks. Attention and loyalty to yourself can be attracted with the help of reviews. The same contextual advertising, if it is done not for an individual customer, but for a group of customers, will cost much less. Those furniture makers with whom I talked this year, I saw very interesting promotions to increase sales. Judging by Belarus, the right actions work well. One could use for all the most effective.

In passing, I note: association on an initiative basis, when you agree to share your achievements with partners in other cities for free, does not work. I personally checked several times. You can't go against human nature. We need 1 responsible person who works not only for conscience, but also for money.
Although, this advice is a topic for a separate article. I will tell you in detail only if this article arouses interest, and there will be requests from you, dear furniture makers. Write for it.

Furniture businesses need to go online. Go immediately. You will get access to the second half of the market, which is now deprived.
It's worth it.

With respect to you and your business,
Alexander Seleznev,
Founder of the agency "Content Farm",
[email protected]

P.S. 10th of November International Furniture Recruitment Center holds webinar "Problems of small furniture business when accessing the Internet, and how to deal with them." There will be more practical information - what and how to do for you. Webinar free you just need to pre-register.

Nizhny Novgorod

Igor Kochetov
trade network "Furniture-plus"

Now we are seeing serious changes in the structure of consumer demand. First, there was a significant drop in sales. upholstered furniture. Accordingly, its share in our trading floors. Upholstered furniture was not a profile product category for Mebel-plus before, this position was well represented by subtenants who cooperated with local suppliers. However, with the onset of the crisis, many small operators turned their points. We are faced with the need to increase purchases in order to fill the vacated space. When choosing a “soft” assortment, we focused on the most inexpensive models costing from 10 to 15 thousand rubles: they sell best. The products of federal suppliers operating in the middle segment simply ceased to be in demand. Here, for example, sofas from the Pushe factory have always been well bought from us. Today they are no longer relevant. Now everything is dictated by the price. Logically, it needs to be reduced, and factories, on the contrary, increase the price tag. We have no choice but to suspend work with them.

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In the sector of cabinet furniture, the furniture of our own production "Ash" has moved to the leading positions. We have been striving for this for a long time and now we are very pleased that, thanks to assortment restructuring, we can influence selling prices ourselves. The most popular commodity items of "Ash" are small furniture forms. Small walls, kitchen corners, cabinets, cabinets, chests of drawers, inexpensive beds and computer tables. By our direct order, Yasen has launched the production of popular analogue models. For example, now we are successfully selling an analogue of the Samba Lotus wall and several kitchen modules, the prototype of which was the Stolplita model. We don't feel any remorse. We would be very happy to sell the furniture of the factories themselves, if it were released to us on time and in the right quantity.

Nevertheless, the products of the Stolplit factory still occupy a significant share in the Mebel-plus assortment portfolio. Stolplita kitchens are the most popular among buyers. I also cannot complain about the sales of Miassmebel and Volgogradmebel factories. They also run smoothly.

In general, I want to note that the average check in our stores has decreased by 30 percent. People most often make purchases that do not exceed 15 thousand rubles. Buying up to 20 thousand is already considered large.

Belgorod

Irina Bondarenko
network of stores "Expert"

From the beginning of this year upholstered furniture began to sell worse. Buyers have lost interest in sofas worth more than 80 thousand rubles. Since last year, we had two sofas for 200 thousand each at the exhibition, and we are happy that we managed to sell them at the beginning of February. We do not plan to order such models now. For our customers, they definitely moved into the category of expensive ones. The most popular models are eurobook sofas. And it doesn't matter who makes them. The main condition of demand is the price. It should not rise above 50 thousand rubles. As far as suppliers are concerned, Int and Freiling factories show the best results in our stores. The rest fell thirty percent.

In sales of cabinet furniture, the dynamics are better. The products of our main suppliers - Dyatkovo and Angstrem - are still on sale. True, consumer preferences are gradually changing in the “corps”. The average check for a purchase decreased by 15 percent. At Dyatkovo, sales of the mid-price Melody program have practically stopped, but the interest of buyers in the economical Concept has not disappeared. By the way, the factory has recently introduced new colors. The new ones are getting worse. The buyer needs time to get used to the updates. I don't know how far-sighted it is to experiment with running models during a crisis.

Ufa

Farit Sakaev
Trade network "Uyutny Dom"

Tables, chairs, chests of drawers, computer tables - these are now the most relevant positions in our stores. Sales volumes of small molds did not decrease. However, there was a change of favorite suppliers. Previously, the undoubted sales leader for us was the products from Elburg. Until recently, we actively supported their corporate format "City of Tables and Chairs". However, with the growth of the exchange rate, the prices for Elburg's positions rose by 20 percent. The buyer responded immediately. Sales have dropped. Now, in the sector of tables and chairs, sales of furniture from another wholesale and retail company, Domoteka, have gone up. Their prices are lower, and the offer in the economy segment is wider. Domoteka has its own production, and they are less dependent on currency fluctuations.

The demand for bedrooms has fallen. Not to say that they are not bought at all, but somehow not very active. People stopped taking full-fledged sleeping sets right away. They prefer to buy a bedroom in parts. First a bed, a month later - a closet, then - a chest of drawers ... We understand that it's easier for them, and we meet halfway. We “remember” customers and notify them of new arrivals.

The most popular models in the bedroom category are the Legend set by the Lotus factory, as well as Geneva and Eden under the same brand.

Perhaps, Lotus products remain one of the most sought after by the buyer. Their famous Samba wall and a number of models for living rooms are still very popular. Tellingly, similar models from the same "Interdesign" are sold much worse. In general, I can say that against the backdrop of negative sales figures in the living room furniture sector, only Lotus demonstrates at least some positive dynamics. Unfortunately, it is still difficult to work with Lotus due to systematic violations of contractual obligations.

In the segment of economical furniture, the best performance is shown by the factories "Three Ya" and "Intedi". Children's rooms and hallways are sold well.

Sales of upholstered furniture have fallen. The situation with the Rival factory worries me especially. Previously, their sofas sold very well, now they are almost a 50% drop. However, this picture is observed only in federal suppliers. The production of local factories becomes relevant. Sofas they make are the same, and the price with them, unlike Moscow manufacturers, can be negotiated. Now the share of products of local producers in our assortment matrix has increased by 40 percent. Accordingly, the share of federal producers decreased. The most popular models in the upholstered furniture sector are eurobooks and sofas with roll-out mechanisms. That is, sleeping options. Nobody needs chairs.

The average check in our stores has decreased by a third - from 30 to 20 thousand rubles. Now is a difficult time for active sales. Not only is the crisis, but also the beginning of the off-season. Of course, we have already begun to prepare to pass it with the least losses. It is important to maintain customer loyalty. Now we have developed an installment payment program with one of the banks. We see that people are ready to buy a complete set of the same bedroom, but there is not enough money - we give installments. In this case, we release the goods to the buyer without a discount, since the amount of the discount goes to the bank. This service is now gaining popularity, because people, despite the crisis, have not yet lost their consumer instinct.

Moscow

Evgeny Leontiev
trade network "Sofas and armchairs"

I can't say that we have reduced the amount of the average check. Of course, some redistribution of price preferences took place, but this did not particularly affect the chain's turnover. Sales of models of the middle segment fell, but indicators in the "economy" increased. Profit, of course, declined, but this was due to lower margins and our desire to keep prices as low as possible. Today our task is to keep prices at the pre-crisis level. As long as it succeeds.

I also can’t say that there are some hit models on the network. We have managed demand. If we decide that this month it is necessary to sell the maximum number of "Eurobooks", then we are preparing an appropriate promotion. Since such promotions are planned for a year ahead, we do not expect any surprises in the form of an unexpected change in the relevance of models. For us, the product that we ourselves choose is effective.

Meanwhile, the development of the "Sofas and armchairs" network continues. We are expanding our trading platforms and opened 9 new stores in the last three months.

Chita

Alexander Dmitriev
trade and retail enterprise Rimex-M

We have six own stores. In Chita, Khabarovsk, Krasnokamensk, Mongolian Ulaanbaatar, and another one was opened in the city of Borzya in the Trans-Baikal Territory. We work in the "medium" and "medium plus" segments. In Chita, we have a separate trade format "People's Furniture", where we sell economy class products.

It is clear that in different segments we observe different situations. In the "economy" the average check fell by half. A purchase of 10-15 thousand rubles is considered very successful for the store. Although earlier the average check exceeded 25 thousand rubles. The leader of sales in the economy - "Stolplit". First of all, the kitchens and beds of this factory are selling well.

In the "medium plus" segment, the decrease in the average check is not as noticeable as in the "economy" segment. In principle, we still manage to sell all the furniture displayed in the halls. Unlike other operators, we continue to actively trade in imported furniture of the medium-high price segment. Everything is simple here. They just reduced the margin a little and remained at the same prices. However, “average” Italy and China have significantly “sunk”.

Sales of kitchen furniture fell 15 percent. Our former leaders - factories "Maria", "Rossibalt" and "Ulyanovskmebel" - so far show a negative trend.

In the upholstered furniture sector, MTs-5 continues to be a priority factory for us. Of course, the amount of the average bill for the furniture of the Kirov-Chepetsk company has decreased. Previously, we easily sold sofas worth up to 500 thousand rubles. Models costing from 70 to 250 thousand are now selling well. Dobryi Stil and Pinskdrev are leaders in the middle segment.

Kirov's Lotus has good sales in the mid-price "corpus". But we, unfortunately, do not earn much on it. Delivery delays and organization own service eat up all our profits. I hope that the situation with Lotus will improve over time. In any case, they have been swearing this to us for more than a month now.

Novosibirsk

Elena Zemtsova
Escado store

The interests of buyers are slowly but surely shifting towards furniture essentials. We sell a lot of chests of drawers, cabinets, tables and chairs. The hallway is already considered a big purchase. People are splitting orders. One bedroom can be bought within three months. First they will come and buy a bed, then - cabinets, then - a wardrobe. We are not talking about dressing tables. They are already considered a luxury.

The same is observed in the sector of upholstered furniture. Sets of a sofa-"troika" plus armchairs are not relevant now. But small case models worth up to 16 thousand rubles are very popular.

The same price shift is observed in the "corpus". Ready kits are in demand. Among them - Lotus "Samba", Diamond "Sakura", Angstrem's "Freestyle". The old proven models of "District" and "Red October" - "Arcadia" and "Lunaria" are selling well. In general, the old economy series show a positive trend in almost all factories. One gets the feeling that the buyer is afraid of new products and prefers to take what is sold at a stable price and has proven itself well.

We, focusing on changing customer needs, are forced to revise the assortment policy. Of course, we are wary of changes in price or some characteristics of popular models. We believe that now is not the time for such experiments.

Irkutsk

Valeria Vasilyeva
trade network "World of furniture"

I don't see dramatic changes in the structure of demand or the scale of purchases. There has always been a specific buyer in Irkutsk. And in better times people did not make large purchases, preferring to buy furniture sets in parts.

The demand for the assortment has not changed much compared to November last year. Bursts of interest in some specific product groups depend on seasonality. Now living rooms and bedrooms are in great demand.

The tastes of buyers have not changed, which cannot be said about their capabilities. The average check dropped by 10 percent. In addition, we noticed that people began to buy more often, but for less money. Large amounts, and in our case it is a purchase of 10 thousand rubles, are afraid to spend.

In general, it is rather difficult to track consumer trends in furniture retail by the visitors of our stores. The tastes of our customers, in fact, are formed by suppliers. We sell what we want to sell, not what they want to buy from us.

The Dyatkovo programs "Concept" and "Octava" remain the leaders in sales, the modular system "Prestige" of the Angstrem factory is selling well. The line "Arts and Crafts" of the Avangard factory near Moscow is also very popular.

Vladivostok

Dmitry Semakov
trade network "Mebel-Grad"

I am not yet able to provide accurate data on changes in the structure of demand. We only do calculations and analysis. Unlike other Russian regions, which reported a serious reduction in demand already in November, Primorsky Krai held on for another three months. Our decline began at the end of February and continued in March. Now we are seeing a 15% decline in sales and a change in the nature of demand throughout the network.

The average check fell by 10 percent. In general, it has never been particularly high - it stayed at the level of 15 thousand rubles. Now we are seeing a gradual decline in consumer activity and a clear desire to save as much as possible. This is how the situation in Vladivostok is developing. In regional centers and towns, the decline is more noticeable. The average check is kept at the level of 8 thousand rubles.

We have already adjusted the purchasing policy. So far, we have suspended work with suppliers offering middle-class furniture. Focused on economy. In the previous volumes, we trade the entire line of Stolplit, but we have removed furniture from the Lotus factory from the matrix. Couldn't agree on terms. We reduced the mid-price range of Dyatkovo. On the podiums in stores, we strive to leave only those models that will be of interest to our buyers, that is, "economy" and "budget".

Rostov-on-Don

Valentina Novikova
wholesale and retail company "Mebeltorg"

Sales volume has been declining since the beginning of the crisis. Several times we failed to meet the monthly plan. November of last year and February of this year were quite severe months. However, in March the dynamics improved. Probably, the consumer panic has subsided, and we, in turn, being not only a retail but also a wholesale company, have increased the number of counterparties.

We do not lose optimism: whatever the times, furniture in the South is still sold quite briskly. Serious volumes are bought by Chechnya and Adygea.

We cover an economical niche with goods from numerous local manufacturers. Quite stable and the middle segment. Our main suppliers are the Kaliningrad factories Interdesign, Mann-Group, Feiga, Eurofurniture, as well as the Ufamebel company. In addition to our own stores, we serve the trading floors of our partners in the Rostov, Volgograd and Astrakhan regions. In the near future we intend to open a wholesale warehouse in Grozny.

Despite the general decline in sales, we are not going to revise the assortment. The recently held furniture exhibition in Krasnodar showed that operators are not losing interest in our furniture. Of course, the buyer now focuses on inexpensive models, but there are such models in the assortment portfolio of our suppliers. Now the “Italian” collection of “Interdesign”, the “Sahara” program of the Mann-Group company are selling well. Also, the new Ufamebeli program, Cary Princesses, has a good dynamics.

Yekaterinburg

Arkady Potorochin
trade network "Centromebel"

Since the beginning of last fall, we have recorded a 40% drop in sales. I can’t say that some segment “sank” more, and some less. We observe a uniform drop in demand for all categories of furniture. In this situation, we, of course, have to revise the assortment - to abandon slow-moving models and develop a promising product. Our stores sell well the products of the companies "Yartsevo", "Borovichi", "Angstrem". All their popular lines are still in demand. After the Zarechye factory adjusted the prices for its Harmony program, this collection also began to be sold. There was no drop in sales for Louis Dupont furniture sets. This company, perhaps, shows our best sales results.

The issue of customer demand for furniture is of interest to all manufacturers, it helps to correctly form their product group and increase income. What furniture is in high demand?

Manufacturers and sellers conduct consumer market research, order such research from the relevant companies. Is it possible to determine exactly what buyers prefer? It is difficult to do this, the market is floating, the tastes and capabilities of consumers are changing. Furniture is not an essential item, many refuse to buy until better times, look for cheap options, make it themselves, and look for other solutions.

Having studied the forums where the question is asked - what kind of furniture do you prefer, you can come to the conclusion that the possibilities and desires of people do not coincide. For example, to the question: what kind of furniture will you buy: cheap or expensive, many answer that they prefer to collect the required amount and buy high-quality expensive furniture, others say that they simply cannot afford it.
Statistical studies show that most of all buyers are interested in cabinet, upholstered, children's and kitchen furniture, which is what they buy most often. They buy less and, accordingly, produce furniture for the living room. If we consider these indicators as a percentage, then the share of cabinet and upholstered furniture accounts for about 60 percent, but about 30 percent of consumers are interested in bedroom sets and kitchen furniture. Demand for children's furniture and bathroom furniture is on the rise.

What kind of furniture was produced more last year? In different regions, these figures differ significantly.
However, furniture production declined in almost all regions last year. The situation in the Moscow and Kostroma regions and the Krasnodar Territory remains relatively stable. Here is the release of furniture in money equivalent showed a positive trend. Such regions as Voronezh, Vladimir, Novgorod, Kirov and Rostov regions became anti-leaders in this list - a significant reduction in production volumes was noted here.

What furniture do they buy domestic or foreign? Previously, the share of imported furniture on the market was about half, but now the situation has changed somewhat and buyers are looking for domestic furniture of acceptable quality. But, those who appreciate quality, and the price does not matter to them, remain adherents of imported furniture.
The consumer has become more careful about the choice of furniture, they especially pay attention to the quality of fittings, because its service life and comfort depend on it.

Hardware selection
When buying finished furniture products, the buyer cannot choose fittings, he is forced to trust the manufacturer, and at most he can test it for reliability empirically. There are quite a lot of manufacturers of fittings on the market - these are domestic and foreign companies. The main requirement for fittings is reliability. At the same time, both consumers and furniture factories make such requirements. After all, the low quality of the accessories used can cause great harm to the business reputation of any company. So, the products of such companies have proven themselves well:

• Hettich is a German company producing a wide range of furniture fittings. It is a frequent participant in various furniture exhibitions, there are many interesting developments that make furniture functional and comfortable.
• Blum is a well-known Austrian manufacturer. On the market for a long time, the pride of the company are modern lifting and sliding systems. Blum's new developments often win various awards in furniture fittings competitions. Innovative developments, the release of products that are needed on the market right now - allowed the company to achieve great success and win the trust of many consumers.
• AMIG - a company from Italy, produces accessories for professionals and those who appreciate quality. Why is she popular? Professionals appreciated the opportunity not to change the entire mechanism, it is enough to change individual parts if they break.
• GTV - a Polish manufacturer offers a wide range of good quality front and functional fittings at an affordable price.
• Boyard - Russian company, is popular among buyers and furniture manufacturers. Success is due affordable price, good quality. In addition, Boyard does not stop there, constantly offers new models of fittings, for which he uses innovative developments.
• Valmaks is a Russian manufacturer of facial fittings, supplies the market with high-quality, interesting products.

Where do you buy furniture?
Production of high-quality furniture is not a guarantee of success. A well-thought-out marketing policy, the ability to correctly present your product, to interest a potential buyer is the most important component of demand formation.
Furniture, the product that is chosen after a visual inspection. But, at the same time, most buyers begin their initial acquaintance with the necessary furniture with the study of Internet offers. Therefore, the presence of a high-quality website, where prices for products, assortment, promotional offers will be indicated, is a prerequisite for successful sales. Additional success is guaranteed by the presence of representative offices of the furniture manufacturer in large cities. By the way, they often look for promotional offers, discounts on furniture, that is, many people have a desire to save money.
Internet sales without the opportunity to see the furniture cause distrust among most buyers. Experience shows that buyers are more interested in the cost of a particular model in order to find the most inexpensive option. An order is made when they have already decided on the model and found the best offer in the Internet store.

Information: info.ssd.su

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Recently, the furniture market on the World Wide Web has become more active. The competition in this market is very strong, there are many manufacturers, and even more sellers. And everyone is trying to convince a potential buyer: "We are the number 1 company, leaders in our business, we know what you need and we will definitely give it to you." But is it true?

How competent are all these commercial sites in selling furniture to the public? What mistakes do they make in the online sales process? And how can novice furniture sellers avoid such mistakes? Before you start selling anything, you need to put yourself in the place of the client. You must understand what the customer wants and develop a specific strategy for how to deliver it to the customer.

Knowing these simple and uncomplicated desires, you can correctly form your own sales strategy. What are the main needs of a potential client who wants to order furniture online?

He wants to consider the product he likes from all sides. To do this, you need to add large and beautiful photos of the product to the site. Moreover, they should be made from different angles, showing all sides and parts of the product in the smallest detail. Since a visitor to your e-commerce site will literally buy with their eyes, they should like what they see.

Niche selection. No need to try to sell "everything to everyone" - this is a very ineffective way to achieve success. Try to find your narrow niche, such as "office furniture", "kitchen furniture", " wooden furniture for the bedroom. The narrower the niche, the more “clear” you will look in the eyes of potential buyers. They will already know that in order to purchase a product of a certain category, it is better to contact you, because you are the one who deals with this category. And this means that you are much better than other sites and companies that do not have a specific specialization and sell "everything for everyone."

Price. Nowadays, on the World Wide Web, you can review about ten different commercial sites in five minutes, compare the catalog of goods sold on them and prices. To increase the demand for your products, try to indicate the prices of the goods without taking into account the cost of delivery, collection and transportation. This will help to reduce them somewhat, which will positively affect the demand for your products.

Delivery, installation, service. An additional service must be present in your list of services. Without it, the sales process will be incomplete, which will significantly affect demand. Provide your customers with a range of a wide variety of services - deliver products directly to the customer's apartment, assemble it, serve it. For all these additional features, you can earn good money, it is also important nuances that buyers pay attention to.

Loyalty program. Your customers need to be "attached" to your site. Even if they made a purchase from you once, you need to keep them, make them loyal, gain their trust. This can be done by different ways- give them discount cards, invite them to closed workshops, give free consultations, make them registered members of your site and give them the opportunity to view closed materials. Retaining a customer is seven times cheaper than finding and acquiring a new one.
Remember this list of simple rules and apply them in life. Then your furniture store will be successful.

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My husband and I are engaged in Internet advertising, both have long and successfully operating agencies (Media stars and RealWeb), which have already grown in relatively independent businesses. At some point (it was in 2011) I wanted something new.

I wanted to open a new business based on the competencies that we have developed. They began to look at Internet commerce, which is now incredibly rapidly growing and even profitable in some places. There was no point in poking into electronics and household appliances, it should have been done five years ago.

We discussed bed sheets, something else. And then I met a friend who had a showroom of premium furniture and decor in Twinstore. She said that she was attracted to online. And we thought that we understand online sales, but we didn’t want to create a warehouse and organize logistics ourselves. In general, we decided that we could help each other.

Where did they start

We created an online store where we placed the goods that were presented in the showroom, as well as those that could be brought to order, and in September 2011 we launched sales. Any online store has two main ways to promote in Russia - Yandex.Market and contextual advertising. But it quickly became clear that they did not work with furniture at all.

The context is suitable to meet the current existing demand. Moreover, the request for which an advertisement is placed must be formulated as specifically as possible - for example, a Samsung phone of such and such a model. In furniture, there are no such requests in principle. Nobody is looking corner sofa mustard color. People write simply: “buy a sofa” or “photo frame”. And this is almost the same as writing: "I want something." It turned out that those who are looking for photo frames most often have in mind a cheap Chinese frame for 50 rubles, where you can insert a letter. That is, if you sell furniture, you can buy ads in the context, but the conversion (the ratio of visits to the site to purchases) will be very low. We ourselves realized this by burning a certain amount of money.