Online only retailer Milan Direct is leading the way for online furniture in Australia over bricks and mortar giants IKEA, Harvey Norman and Freedom Furniture, according to an IBISWorld report.
The report states the company has a 6.1 per cent share of the $300 million plus industry and predicts the online furniture sector to grow by 16 per cent this financial year.
“The desire to visit a physical retail store takes on increasingly less significance as more people experience the ease, value and convenience of buying furniture online,” says Dean Ramler, Milan Direct co-founder.
“From the very beginning we were told we were crazy, that furniture would never sell successfully online. These so called ‘experts’ were adamant that furniture – whether it be office chairs or mattresses – would always be something people preferred to see and test first.
“It’s fair to say our success has silenced those critics. In the end though it all comes down to price, service and quality and with a purely online business model these aspects can be exploited without compromise every time.
“In addition we knew that the key to true and sustained online success was removing any remaining risks the customer perceived through things like photos, videos and money-back guarantees. The success of our approach speaks for itself.”
This article first appeared on Giftguideonline.com.au.