Furniture retail has transformed both ecommerce and logistics as more and more people shop online for even the largest items of furniture like sofas and beds.
The UK furniture ecommerce market is the world’s fifth-largest and in 2019 Statista valued it at $7.8 billion (£6.4 billion).
Worldwide, the market was worth nearly $200 billion in 2019 and Statista’s Digital Market Outlook predicted growth of 10% annually to reach nearly $290 billion by 2023.
Online furniture retail covers the widest range from large international brands with huge bricks-and-mortar stores, to individuals selling bathroom accessories from their bedroom.
With such a vast market, it’s no surprise that so many people want a slice of it, and it’s crucial to have a well designed website to compete in this crowded sector.
The best furniture ecommerce sites really do need to be all singing, all dancing, with vibrant imagery, up-to-date stock levels, fully integrated ecommerce capabilities and intuitive navigation.
While the art direction of your furniture ecommerce website might be subjective, at VisionSharp we focus on the key deliverables that support those design decisions.
Our data-driven approach can deliver objective results in areas including:
At all times we work closely to understand your aims from your new ecommerce site – whether you’re looking to replace a poorly performing site, build brand recognition or increase conversions and order size.
Before we even start to design your new furniture retail ecommerce site, we make sure we have all the data we need about the current market, your unique position within it and how people are shopping for furniture online at the moment.
Good web design layers aesthetics over functionality so that the finished website looks great and works great too.
By designing for industry leading ecommerce platforms and content management systems, we produce a website that’s cross-browser and cross-device compatible, and easy for you to update with new products, prices and promotions.
MWe start with a mock-up of your new homepage as it will appear on desktop computers (including laptops) so we can get your feedback about the visual appearance, colours, branding and so on.
Once everything is agreed, we can start to build more pages and more functionality, while implementing responsive website design so everything looks great at lower resolutions on mobile devices.
Mobile ecommerce design is challenging – mobile devices have widely varying screen resolutions, aspect ratios and may be used in both portrait and landscape orientation.
By keeping all of this in mind, along with the basic functionality and ease of navigation on your new website, we give you a site that will work well across the full range of mobile devices.
Magento is one of the most widely used ecommerce platforms and is regarded by many as the best option by a clear margin.
Ecommerce Magento sites can look great with clean, modern layouts and mobile-friendly tile-based navigation – and they can be totally responsive to different screen sizes and orientations.
But they also offer powerful ecommerce functionality, giving you a platform that optimises conversion rates and increases order sizes, all while being easy to maintain.
Our Magento services include:
If a bespoke Magento ecommerce site isn’t right for what you want to achieve, we can provide original creative designs on a range of other platforms too.
We work with custom WordPress templates, the Concrete5 content management system or completely custom PHP built from the ground up to meet your needs from your new website.
These are ideal options if you want to showcase your furniture without an online ordering system, or you prefer to take orders manually by telephone, email or in person.
We can build a portfolio or brochure site that shows off your furniture, latest designs, upholstery options and so on, while directing visitors in how to make an enquiry to buy.
Mobile apps offer great opportunities for furniture retailers to add value and increase order sizes.
From apps that offer easy browsing of your complete catalogue, to augmented reality (AR) apps that help the customer to visualise a piece of furniture in their own home, there are endless possibilities.
At VisionSharp we specialise in designing mobile apps from the ground up to create creative and unique products, with intuitive user interfaces and rewarding user experience.
This firm focus on UI and UX puts the customer first in your furniture ecommerce app design, maximising conversion rates and revenues.
Just like the changing fashions in the furniture sector, what works in website design changes with time too, which is why it’s important to optimise conversion rates periodically.
We offer A/B and multivariate testing so that the pages on your site are optimised not only based on what works in theory, but also what works in practice.
This leaves you with the best possible design for your pages, so there is no reason why visitors to your site should leave without becoming paying customers.
If you are considering a new furniture ecommerce website or you would like VisionSharp to design your new ecommerce site or app in any sector, please get in touch.
We have case studies of some of our past furniture ecommerce website designs available on request, although we always work closely with our clients to create an ecommerce site that is unique to you.
Click ‘Send us a message’ on any page of our website to fill in our quick contact form. We will reply as soon as possible to any questions you might have. You can also call us on 0161 697 3096 or email hello@visionsharp.co.uk with any enquiries.