If you’ve embraced the e-commerce world, you know how often things change and how much the sector is growing.
That’s why online-savvy retailers value statistics that let them analyze the market, understand opportunities for growth, and see what the competition is doing.
In the most recently measured period, furniture and home furnishing sales accounted for 11.78 percent of total retail e-commerce sales in the U.S.
And while e-commerce hasn’t caught on as much in the furniture industry as it has in other retail sectors, it’s still critical to know what’s going on in the industry and how you can succeed.
A report from Sourcing Bro outlines some important things you need to know about the e-commerce world, and we’ve broken down the highlights.
- How Many E-tailers Are There? In 1994, there were only 3,000 websites, but today, more than 547,200 websites are created daily — which totals some 1.9 billion.
The report estimates that of these websites, there could be between 12 million and 24 million e-commerce sites.
That may sound intimidating until you find out that less than 10% of e-commerce websites make more than $1,000 a year.
Luckily for home furnishings retailers, that means they have a chance to get on the e-commerce train and learn how to consistently make money from it before others.
- E-commerce — The Hardest Game in Town. We know that most e-commerce sites are not very successful, but Smallbiztrends.com found that 90% of all established e-commerce sites will fail in the first 90 days — which is the same rate of failure among startups in general.
Some reasons e-tailers fail?
- Poor online marketing – 37%
- Lack of online search visibility – 35%
- Little to no market for their products or services – 35%
- Cashflow problems – 32%
- Issues around pricing and costing – 29%
- Tough competition – 23%
- The market is dominated by retail giants – 19%
- Lack of customer service – 16%
- Poor team around the founders – 14%
- Choosing a wrong time to launch a product – 11%
However, we also know that in the furniture industry, those who solely focus on e-commerce have little luck. It’s those who deploy an omnichannel strategy that have the most success.
- How Often Do People Buy Online? Oberlo, a supplier of dropshipping software, reports the number of digital buyers worldwide at 2.14 billion — which equates to 27.6% of the world population.
In the U.S., more than 263 million people shop online, and that number is expected to pass $1 trillion by the end of 2022.
And as you might guess, because Millennials make up the largest group of online shoppers in the U.S., that e-commerce is growing thanks to younger generations.
One report found that “for men, the share of online shoppers among internet users is slightly higher than for women (74% and 73% respectively), while people aged 25-34 are more active e-shoppers (85% of internet users) than other age groups, according to Sourcing Bro.
The future looks bright for e-commerce, as experts predict that by 2026 e-commerce payment transactions will exceed $7.5 trillion globally.
But the key for furniture retailers is to have an omnichannel retail strategy — one that blends in-store and online sales — to ensure you hit every customer where they are.
