E-commerce isn’t a side channel anymore—it’s how furniture shoppers buy. Online and in-store aren’t alternatives anymore—they’re the same journey. Winning means delivering speed, expertise, and personalization at every touchpoint.
The power of e-commerce is reflected in the rapid growth of the digital-only furniture retailers. New players such as Temu have taken the world by storm and grown from 5 million US users in 2022 to 82 million in 2025, according to Bloomberg. These new players offer a low-cost proposition and a huge diversity of products. In recent years, these companies have been increasingly trying to localize parts of their storage or production to avoid delivery challenges and now tariffs.
“We anticipate that consumer tolerance for friction and inconvenience will continue to decrease while their expectations for service and speed will increase—both within existing categories and beyond them. Consumers will continue to raise the bar: Speed will become table stakes for delivery and e-commerce. Additionally, consumers will add low cost, reliability, and the ability to make returns to their expectations.”
McKinsey 2025 customer habits report
Amazon Home, Shein and Temu now account for
$37 billion
market sales in the home and furnishing industry
How brick and mortar takes revenge on the digital competition
To remain competitive over the digital-only furniture retailers, brands must be aware of their competition’s weaknesses. Digital-only platforms, such as Temu and Amazon, often struggle with delivery issues or delays, inventory issues, lack of customer service, offer no possibility of refunds and lack personalization options. These negative experiences can discourage customers from making future purchases. This is why traditional furniture retailers still have an advantage over digital-only retailers when it comes to delivering a better customer experience.
For many families, purchasing furniture represents a major investment, and selecting the right pieces often requires guidance from design specialists or knowledgeable sales associates. By leveraging an omnichannel customer engagement platform, like Salesfloor, furniture retailers can provide clients with seamless opportunities to connect across multiple digital touchpoints, helping them remain the go-to choice for online shoppers seeking expert advice and timely, personalized service.
Furniture retailers using Salesfloor surpass digital-only retailers on all their weaknesses:
- Connect online on any preferred channel
The Connect™ feature allows customers to connect with local specialists by chat, video call, SMS and more. When interacting with the Salesfloor module, shoppers will be paired with the closest store through smart routing.
- Take in-store appointments
Being able to take in-store appointments is becoming critical in the furniture industry. Customers want to both see and touch the product and have access to a specialist before making an important decision on an expensive item.
- Personalize outreach with relevant recommendations
Every profile on the Salesfloor app gives retailers visibility into past interactions and purchasing patterns. When a customer reaches out, the sales associate is prepared with a clear view of their preferences, enabling more personalized responses that have proven to boost conversions, reduce return rates and increase AOV.
- Avoid Inventory issues with a localized, omnichannel system
Salesfloor is connected to the retailers’ inventory, ensuring sales associates do not recommend an unavailable item. Oftentimes, not only are web-only retailers unable to deliver a personalized service, but they also struggle with inventory and delivery issues. By localizing customer service and by connecting the inventory in the clienteling system, retailers can overcome these common issues.
While web-only furniture retail sector is growing, the local retail world can bet on their quality-for-pricing, ability to localize and personalize their services where Temu and Amazon can’t, to remain relevant, competitive and to drive repeat business.
“What makes Salesfloor remarkable is its ability to help us nurture our client base while providing the level of personalized service customers expect for major purchases. Equally important, it keeps our sales experts motivated and proactive and even in the pilot phase, it has already driven strong results, showing an 8% sales increase compared to the benchmark.
It simplifies our sales associates’ work and gives them more opportunities to build lasting customer relationships. In fact, their 1-to-1 emails achieve an impressive 56–66% open rate, more than double the performance of a standard marketing email. In the first 3 months, a single sales associate had sold 26k of furniture using Salesfloors’ personalized emails feature.”
- VP of Store Operations, Leading Home Furnishings Brand
In conclusion
E-commerce is no longer an optional channel for furniture retailers; it is the standard by which consumers now measure speed, service, and value. While digital-only giants like Temu, Shein, and Amazon Home dominate on price and product variety, their weaknesses in service, personalization, and reliability leave critical gaps. This is where traditional retailers have the opportunity to differentiate themselves.
By embracing omnichannel solutions such as Salesfloor, furniture retailers can combine the trust and expertise of in-store specialists with the convenience of digital channels. The result is a seamless, high-touch shopping experience that web-only platforms struggle to match. From personalized outreach to localized inventory visibility and real-time customer connections, retailers can transform these strengths into lasting competitive advantages.
Are you ready to implement clienteling and AI tools in your sales strategy? Don’t hesitate to book a free consultation with one of our specialists.
