New handcrafted furniture startup - where to sell?

[Syd]

Good morning, I have recently set up a small business working from home after losing my job during the pandemic, I make handcrafted dining tables as attached below.

So far I have set up Facebook and Instagram accounts and I have listed the current table I have for sale on etsy, my question is, other than approaching local furniture stores to see if they might try and sell my products physically how can I sell my furniture online? the channels for selling pieces of furniture online are limited, should I focus on SEO etc?

Thanks!

 

[Free Stuff For Startups]

Have you thought of approaching interior designers and facilities specifiers ? I'm guessing you dont have massive stock ( you refer to a single table) so bespoke commissions are probably the best route to market with your current " stock" as a sample of your workmanship. That then makes your online strategy much more focused, and as you are then selling B2B rather than B2C, your target audience is much easier to identify. There are directories of designers you can google as well as Linkedin groups you can join. I have a couple of lists I created for a client a couple of years back, if you message me, I'll send them to you.

 

[yyovvo]

Very nice table! I always find marketplaces like eBay, Etsy, Amazon etc asset-light, capital lean and marketing-free when starting a new project. Within a couple of days you can setup shops in the 5 most relevant marketplaces to your product without spending a penny or leaving your house, and you can start getting some revenue. Once this takes off, then you can consider the heavy lifting of setting up your own shop, talking to other established shops etc.
Good luck, you have a great product!

 

[MBE2017]

Bear in mind OP, if you intend to ask a retailer to sell for you, to account for this in your online pricing. Personally I doubt you will have much luck with a single item in a retailer, so better to concentrate on direct online sales atm imo.

eBay, gumtree, Facebook marketplace, etsy etc.

 

[WaveJumper]

A nice table just a suggestion might be a good idea to think about producing a line of desks especially with the working at home trend going on

 

[Syd]

thanks all!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I would suggest you make say half a dozen in different colour / design so that people have a choice, make sure you have a makers mark that is permanent fixed onto the items, then try a local furnishing shop and see if they are interested which would get things moving slowly, giving you room to expand both production and other sales routes

Smaller items like coffee tables may be easier to dispatch online

 

[Dillon Lawrence Ltd]

I’d advise having a site developed to grow your brand awareness too. Even if you initially just talk about your brand then link through to the marketplaces but the goal I think should be direct ecommerce sales.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Syd, when you were writing your business plan and investigated sales routes, what did that say?

 

[fisicx]

I’d advise having a site developed to grow your brand awareness too.

He’s got a website.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I dread to think what you might be thinking of posting on here

Syd, when you were writing your business plan and investigated sales routes, what did that say?

I would bet that Syd did not do this
I would bet that he is a good designer / manufacturer but now he has this site to help him

 

[Dillon Lawrence Ltd]

He’s got a website.

Cool, didn’t spot that anywhere? Only saw him mention the social media and marketplaces