Localized Logistics Simplify Global Vintage Home Furnishings Marketplace
As the market for vintage furniture for the home moves online, growth is being driven by bespoke luxury brands.
Sellers of vintage furniture today are taking advantage of the demand for high-end, unique pieces and using online marketplaces to reach customers worldwide.
Also, having something right there and ready to meet your needs is incredibly compelling. Gregg Brockway, CEO and co-founder of Chairish, a curated online marketplace for high-end vintage home furnishings.
Brockway said that even though they started in the U.S., they knew that the high-end design market was a global opportunity because “design buyers want access to the best things from all over the world, and designers and brands want more access to design lovers.”
Because of this international outlook, Chairish bought the U.K.-based eCommerce platform Pamono last year. It gave Chairish more exposure to buyers in Europe. At the same time, the acquisition has given the company’s customers in the United States access to European dealers and brands.
Brockway said that the merger has brought more than 2,000 European sellers to the platform and added about 250,000 new items to the marketplace. It has also increased the number of people who use Chairish by millions.
In addition to opening up new ways to do business across the Atlantic, the Pamono deal has been critical in adapting Chairish’s offer for the European market. As Brockway noted, the acquired firm has “got a technology platform that is regionalized for a range of languages and currencies to address the international audiences [alongside] a sophisticated shipping and logistics network.”
He said handling logistics on the ground helped him get around one of the biggest problems with selling furniture online.
“Most people don’t even know how to do it across town, let alone across countries around the world,” he said, adding that shipping valuable, fragile items correctly is even more critical.
But international logistics still need to be done, even with Pamono’s knowledge of the local area.
For instance, Brockway called taxes and customs duties “a thorny problem” that makes it hard to figure out how much shipping will cost. “Where we are most challenged today is to […] get taxes and duties and shipping fees correct,” he said.
Vintage Furniture Trends
With more customers in Europe, Chairish has seen firsthand how European customers’ tastes differ from those of Americans.
Brockway says Americans are more interested in traditional pieces like Chesterfield sofas and landscape paintings from the 20th century, while Europeans tend to be more interested in contemporary and postmodern works.
But when it comes to sustainability and taking care of the environment, people on both sides of the Atlantic seem to like the same things.
Brockway said that the growing interest in sustainability had been a “strong tailwind” for Chairish’s growth and other fashion e-commerce sites in the luxury space.
And as long as Chairish’s vintage marketplace continues to fill the need for an alternative to the high emissions and unsustainable business practices of many mass market manufacturers, growing its customer base won’t be a problem.
“What we’re doing with vintage is keeping furniture out of the landfill, out of the junkyard and helping beautiful items find a second or third life — people appreciate that,” Brockway said.
