According to Statista, a digital research firm, revenue from online sales of furniture and homewares is nearly $190 billion worldwide and is expected to grow 11.9 percent per year, reaching $294 billion by 2022.
The United States and China currently top the charts in online sales of furniture and homewares with $65.1 billion and $68.6 billion respectively. Growth in this segment is driven largely by several factors including improvements in logistics and shipping costs for large items, the research company says.
The strength of the online furniture category has increased over the past several years as more retail brick-and-mortar stores have entered the space, including Target and Crate and Barrel. However, the top two sellers are pure e-commerce companies Wayfair and Amazon. Ikea.com, Walmart.com, and Otto.de (parent company of Crate and Barrel) round out the list top five sellers globally.
Amazon is estimated to have the largest market share in U.S. online furniture sales, according to published reports, with sales in the category tripling since 2015. Last year, Amazon reported that it's furniture sales were up by 50 percent. Doubling down on its efforts to sell bulkier non-traditional e-commerce items like furniture, the company opened new fulfillment centers including an 850,000-square-foot facility in Georgia to warehouse furniture and other large items.
The e-commerce giant also developed a comprehensive marketing site – Amazon Home – and released two private furniture brands, Rivet and Stone & Beam, according to the research firm One Click Retail.
However, brick-and-mortar retail furniture stores are not ready to simply cede the online furniture market to companies like Amazon and Wayfair. Ashley Furniture broke ground last year on a $30 million, 500,000-square-foot e-commerce fulfillment and distribution center in its hometown and furniture manufacturer La-Z-Boy is considering selling its furniture on Amazon.
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