Family Run Online Furniture Businesses Thriving

With the economy still down, some families have started successful furniture eCommerce businesses to help their families, in some cases with great success.
By: Home DIY Tips
Jan. 20, 2012 - PRLog -- There have been several stories in the media recently about ordinary families who are running very successful online furniture businesses, in many cases from home.  With the general economy still in a state of turmoil, many workers are turning to the internet to make extra money to help support their families. With the barrier to entry in e-commerce much lower than in brick-and-mortar based businesses, some families have even been able to tap into the furniture market, and had outstanding success as a result.

Natalie Cox, a woman from Gilbert, Arizona, in the US, started a thriving business almost by accident, after racking her brains to figure out something she could do to help her family’s financial situation in the down economy. "With the economy down, we were struggling and I just felt like I needed to do something and help out," said Natalie. "I stayed up late one night mentally thinking of things I could do."

Natalie soon came up with the idea of refurnishing furniture and selling it online on classifieds websites like Craigslist. She quickly put the idea into action, only to realise that her plan worked out even better than she had hoped. "They sold a lot faster than I thought they would," said Natalie. "It all took off from there”.

It wasn’t long before Natalie was running a thriving business out of the family garage called “Natty by Design”. Natalie’s business also encompasses a blog, and companies in the industry have started to take notice, with many now advertising on the site.

Another successful family furniture business is run by Dan Mayne, from Ontario, Canada. Dan’s business, Much More Furniture, started as an online furniture store, exporting from ports in the United States and distributing to customers on the island of Bermuda. Dan has since been able to grow his business to service islands right throughout the Caribbean, all the while running his business from his home in Canada.

Not only has Dan been able to rapidly grow the distribution network of his business, he is also now selling the ecommerce platform that he designed to power his company’s website. Several high street businesses have already made a commitment to purchase the system, which enables companies to view, zoom and alter an inventory of 16,000 products.

It is not only overseas-based online furniture businesses that are currently thriving. Here in the UK there is also a family owned furniture businesses that is very prominent online. SofaSofa, a company based in Wales, is owned and run by the Ridgwell family, and now supplies sofas to over 1000 customers each week from right around the UK, and counts previous customers in the millions. The family business was founded in 1981, and now services many customers online from its website, sofasofa.co.uk. While perhaps not so small anymore, the success of SofaSofa demonstrates how far a family run furniture business can come in the booming information age.
End
Source:Home DIY Tips
Email:***@digivate.com Email Verified
Zip:WC2E 9AB
Tags:Furniture, Sofa, Sofas
Industry:Furniture
Location:Covent Garden - London, Greater - England
Account Email Address Verified     Account Phone Number Verified     Disclaimer     Report Abuse



Like PRLog?
9K2K1K
Click to Share