How to Start a Furniture Store

Some enjoy furniture shopping and others don't. As the owner of a furniture sales store, your customers need to enjoy looking through your store.The decision to open a Furniture Store must be made with the recognition of an over saturation of furniture goods in most markets and hence intense competition for customers. Under those conditions, a new furniture store would need to firmly ascertain that a need exists for the store, then acquire inventory, financing, and an operations staff. 

Instructions:

1.Assess start-up costs. Costs will include furniture, warehouse space, staff salaries, website maintenance, and advertising.

2.Do a survey to evaluate if a consumer need is currently not being met by available outlets in the market. There could be an unmet need in the type of furniture offered. Perhaps the local market is known for its high birth rates and so a store catering to baby and children's furniture might be successful. The business owner should field a survey of his potential consumer base to determine if their needs are genuine and strong enough to support the business launch and growth.

3.Establish relationships with a number of different furniture manufacturers. A new furniture store would have to contact manufacturers and understand their product lines and wholesale terms. Manufacturers may require that a certain minimum dollar value of merchandise be ordered and want to know more about a new store's image to gauge if it reaches its known consumer market and features its products well.

4.Create showroom ambiance. Customers who enter the store want a clear picture of how their house can be shaped by a piece of furniture. Complement each desk or chair with a background that matches its aesthetics. Victorian settees should have heavy drapes and curvy desks to match. Sleek minimalist Scandinavian furniture should have a subtle color palate of black and white with few additional pieces placed in the room. Do not clutter different pieces of furniture together, leaving the overall look and feel to the imagination of the customer. You need to be part salesman, part designer.

Place brochures next to each room, outlining details and costs of the furniture in the room. The brochures can be an additional sales pitch even after the customer leaves the showroom.

5.Offer options for sources of financing for customers who will potentially be purchasing thousands of dollars of furniture. This will necessitate an agreement with a bank or financing company to offer financing to your customers with agreed to terms.

6.Interview and hire one or morepeople as floor sales staff depending on store volume. These people must have knowledge of the store's inventory and an ability to close sales with customers. Salespeople tend to work on a salary plus commission. Your store would need to have its own administrative staff to process bills and payments, deliveries, and do customer service.

7.Keep in contact with customers. Request that customers sign a guest book when entering the showroom that includes their email address. Maintain a newsletter that offers insight on new furniture and discounts. A customer may not buy any furniture on the first trip, they will likely return to your store if they receive reminders and notifications periodically.

8.Design a website. Usually, only one person will go furniture shopping and will report findings to their spouse or roommate. It's quite common to hear, "I'll have to run it by my" wife or husband for large ticket items. A website will allow you to carry your sales pitch into their homes,, especially if the spouse does not want to come to the showroom.

A website also expands your customer base. Offer inexpensive delivery: while this will cut into your profit margins, it will entice people in other states to purchase the item if the cost no longer exceeds the cost of furniture they could find locally.

9.Arrange for trucking for deliveries, either owned outright or leased. Because of the expense of the purchase and its product life, customers will travel miles to furniture stores to find the right decor look at the right price. Furniture stores oblige these long-distance customers with delivery of goods often with or without additional charge.

Things You'll Need 

• Consumer Market Survey 
• Supplier Relationships 
• Sales and Administrative Staff
• Warehouse
• Staff 
• Website 

Reference

• How to Start a Furniture Store

Photo Credit

• Furniture Store/apps/photos/
• Furniture Store/apps/photos/