What changes are shaping the future of the home furnishing industry? LogicTrade has been following home furnishing industry developments closely for more than 15 years. Sales Manager Sven Andriessen is in daily contact with furniture stores across the Netherlands and witnesses the shifts from the inside.
Sven: "You can see that interior stores are becoming increasingly professional and want to work more efficiently. Most stores face a choice: hire more staff or automate. At the end of the day, automation is almost always the better option. It delivers cost savings through efficiency, and you also gain better visibility into your orders."
One of the most widely discussed developments in the home furnishing industry is the rise of online sales. Yet the reality is more nuanced than you might expect.
Sven: "Online is definitely growing, but physical retail is not declining. Nearly everyone uses the internet to browse, but actually purchasing interior products online is often still a step too far."
According to Sven, it is wrong to claim that furniture is unsuitable for online sales. "Look at Wehkamp or Flinders — they sell furniture online very successfully. The difference is that they typically do not offer configuration. They sell a product in a few different colors, which makes them simpler products."
The complexity of custom products makes things different for specialist stores. "The moment you come across a mattress available in 15 firmness levels and 50 colors, you really want to see and experience it in person. A local shoe store is easier to replace with a webshop. An interior store is not, because the in-store experience is a very important factor. And people want guidance from a specialist."
LogicTrade's software is built to address the home furnishing industry developments that Sven describes. In total, the company has automated more than 800 furniture stores, building up deep industry expertise in the process.
Sven: "By now, we know business processes from the inside out. We also know that many interior stores need a system that accounts for multiple variables. If you have a sofa available in a hundred colors, with ten different leg options and ten configurations, you already have 10,000 different combinations. LogicTrade's systems are specifically designed for this."
What this delivers in practice for furniture stores:
Automatic validation: the system checks whether a configuration is possible before the order is sent to the supplier.
Less manual work: from quote to order to purchase with a single click, without re-entering data.
Up-to-date product data: direct connections with suppliers ensure that prices and availability are always accurate.
One of the most tangible cost drivers in the home furnishing industry is the ordering mistake. A sales rep who passes on the wrong color, size, or configuration to the supplier: the result is a return, a delayed customer, and extra costs.
Sven is direct about it: "The complexity of products and order errors cost real money. If you order the wrong sofa every week, it can easily cost you a few thousand euros. With the order validation we offer, this can almost never go wrong. That saves you, as a retailer, a lot of money."
That order validation — where the system automatically checks whether a combination is possible — is one of the core elements of LogicTrade. It prevents costs and builds customer trust in the furniture store.