Furniture purchased online will reach 7.6 percent of total category sales in 2018
NEW YORK – Attendees of HFN’s Total Home Omnichannel Summit in November will get a bird’s-eye view and analysis of new proprietary data on the state of the furniture e-commerce business conducted and presented by Blueport Commerce.
Carl Prindle, president and CEO of Blueport Commerce—who will present the proprietary research study as an exclusive to summit attendees—covers the state of furniture e-commerce and how retailers can accelerate success and address the challenges competing against pure plays such as Wayfair, Amazon and Overstock.
“Furniture purchased online is growing at a rate of nearly 14 percent and will reach 7.6 percent of total category sales in 2018,” Prindle said. “But that’s only the tip of the online furniture iceberg.” Traditional retailers’ omnichannel opportunity dwarfs pure-play furniture e-commerce, according to Prindle, who will explain not only why but how retailers and manufacturers can leverage this opportunity.
“In working with our Retailer Advisory Board, nearly every member polled said the industry is starved for home furnishings e-commerce data that can be used to benchmark their own omnichannel performance,” said Maureen Azzato, chief brand office of HFN. “We are thrilled that Blueport Commerce chose to present its study for the first time to our summit attendees. The data and insights are provocative and exciting, and clearly show a path for significant growth in the future.”
Blueport Commerce is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology company that enables furniture retailers to compete in e-commerce, “solving the unique challenges they face selling online and unlocking ground-breaking omnichannel shopping experiences,” according to Prindle, who previously served as senior vice president of product development for the original Furniture.com, then a pure-play furniture e-commerce site. At Furniture.com, he was responsible for website design, merchandising and direct marketing efforts, and drove online furniture sales to an annualized $84 million in less than a year.
When Furniture.com closed, Prindle led the effort to purchase and repurpose the company’s name and technology assets. The idea, which today is Blueport Commerce, “was to apply the technology and learnings from the dot-com boom to the retail furniture industry and bring this last large retail category online,” he said.
Prior to Furniture.com, Prindle worked for McKinsey and Co., where he served as consultant and engagement manager for retail, technology and growth strategy projects.
HFN’s Total Home Omnichannel Summit Nov. 1-3 in Houston—with charter sponsors including Furniture of America, Blueport Commerce, Amber Engine and MicroD—will gather three critical constituents for omnichannel success: home retailers, home manufacturers and suppliers, and third-party service providers, including technology, logistics and supply chain companies; retail strategy consultants; and financial services and research companies.