S
Starter Story
Business Idea
Start An Office Furniture Business
About
Starting an office furniture business requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.
If you're interested in how to sell office furniture, or selling office furniture online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.
Want to learn more? You can check out our full guide on how to start an office furniture business ➜
Key stats
market size
$71B
starting costs
$34.3K
gross margin
52%
avg product price
$21000
time to build
9 months
Startup Costs
| Min Startup Costs | Max Startup Costs | |
|---|---|---|
| Office Space Expenses | $35 | $3,250 |
| Employee & Freelancer Expenses | $0 | $5,500 |
| Equipment & Supply Expenses | $550 | $6,000 |
| Website Costs | $232 | $6,500 |
| Business Formation Fees | $600 | $4,700 |
| Retail Business Expenses | $0 | $16,150 |
| Inventory Expenses | $350 | $14,750 |
| Specific Industry Expenses | $500 | $4,000 |
| Advertising & Marketing Costs | $75 | $4,786 |
| Software Expenses | $0 | $420 |
| Other Expenses | $0 | $300 |
Successful Businesses
| Business | URL | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Furniture and Home Appliances on Rent in Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, India | rentickle.com | #55,601 |
|
ValueCityFurniture.com | valuecityfurniture.com | #56,240 |
|
Rent Furniture Online | furlenco.com | #60,010 |
|
Rent-A-Center | rentacenter.com | #65,675 |
|
Furnished Finder | furnishedfinder.com | #77,610 |
|
CasaOne | casaone.com | #117,910 |
|
Fernish: Premium furniture rentals that feel like home | fernish.com | #118,311 |
|
unknown | livefeather.com | #119,514 |
|
CORT Furniture Rental | cort.com | #126,489 |
|
CORT Furniture | cortfurnitureoutlet.com | #202,506 |
|
Furniture on Rent in Delhi | fabrento.com | #347,317 |
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Description |
|---|---|
| Flexibility | You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own. |
| Scalable | With businesses and processes changing daily, there will always be demand for new features, products and services within your office furniture business. Additionally, there are several different business models and pricing tiers you can implement that will allow you to reach all types of customers. |
| Meaningful business connections | You never know who you will meet or get to work with for your office furniture business. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity! |
| High customer retention rates | Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your office furniture business becomes an integral piece of their every day lives. |
| High margins | The gross margins for your office furniture business are typically around 52%, which is considerably high and allows you to grow your business and manage costs easily. |
| Control of workload | With a office furniture business, you get the unique ability to choose how little or how much you want to work. You also have the freedom to decide which projects you want to work on, and can turn down the ones that do not interest you. |
| Cons | Description |
|---|---|
| Motivation of employees | If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees. |
| High employee turnover | In the office furniture business, employee turnover is often high, which can be quite costly and time consuming for your business. It's important to try and avoid this as much as possible by offering competitive pay, benefits, and a positive work environment. |
| High overhead expenses | With starting an office furniture business, there are overhead expenses that come with selling a physical product. You will want to make sure you strategically budget for these overhead costs. We discuss this more in the startup costs section below. |
| You may need to charge sales tax | If you are selling your products in various states, you may be required to charge sales tax. Although this may not impact your financials specifically, it can be a headache to create a process and procedure for this. To learn more about sales tax, check out [this article](https://www.thebalancesmb.com/do-i-need-to-collect-sales-taxes-in-my-state-398913) |
| Customer churn | With a office furniture business, people can cancel their subscription - which can make income unpredictable. It's important to focus on your churn rates and trends so that you can prevent this as much as possible. |
| Time commitment | With starting a office furniture business, all responsibilities and duties will be in your hands. Although this is not necessarily a negative thing, it's important to understand that your work-life balance may be a bit unbalanced at times. This can place a strain on friends and family and add to the pressure of launching a new business. |
Marketing Ideas
-
1
Affiliate program
An affiliate program is a way to reward people outside your organization to share your product.
-
2
Word of mouth
The most tried and true way to grow a office furniture business is through word of mouth - some entrepreneurs would say it's more important than all social media.
-
3
Advertising on social media
Social media advertising is one of the leading ways to get the word out when it comes to office furniture business.
There are various different Social Media platforms available to you. Some may be more critical for your marketing efforts than others, however, it's important to have an understanding of what's out there and available to you.
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