Furniture Dropshipping Niche Insights. How To Dropship Furniture [Full Review Report]

The next on our Top Niches Series is furniture dropshipping, another popular niche you can start to sell on your online store.

So, read on to find out why dropshipping furniture can be a great idea for an online store, what type of furniture sells and trends better in 2023, and many more.

Why start dropshipping furniture?

Dropshipping furniture is now more than ever a popular niche in the ecommerce world. In other words, it has never been a better time to start selling furniture items. Why?

Well, the global demand for purchasing furniture online has grown a lot in the last few years, mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and people spending more time at home. The ecommerce industry has also been growing, which translates to people still shopping online for furniture now more than ever.

In a report done by GrandViewResearch, the global furniture market size is predicted to grow from $480.7 billion in 2017 to $718.3 in 2025. Now, in the USA alone, online sales for furniture have grown by 10% per year on average between 2016 and 2021. 

In another survey done by Statista, the global market value for furniture was estimated to increase every year to approximately 650.7 billion U.S. dollars by 2027 from 509.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. 

More key statistics on the furniture market 

All the above means that your audience is a strong one and, as long as you do your research to find out what can sell better in your area, you have a great chance to have a successful online store if you chose to dropship furniture. 

As to the data we have on how much money somebody can make dropshipping furniture, well there are some great statistics that show how profitable this niche can be. So, according to Statista, the highest average order value for furniture is around $170, and the median gross profit margin is around 31.1%. 

In other words, this means you can make approx. $50 in gross profit for every sale. Of course, this number doesn’t take into account any marketing or operating costs.

According to this data gathered by Growcode, the average conversion rate for the ecommerce furniture industry is 0.68%.

So, here’s a fun example of what your monthly gross profit can look like:

If you get 10,000 visitors per month to check your online store, your monthly gross profit is calculated as it goes:

10,000 x 0.68% x $50 = $3,400/month = $40,800/year

Doesn’t this sound amazing?

Important niche insights and analytics

In this section, we discuss a few important keywords of this niche and how they trend on Google Trends, Keyword Planner or other SEO tools, like Semrush and Moz. 

But before getting into more details on what’s trending in terms of furniture, let’s talk a bit about what are the most important markets for furniture in terms of revenue, of course. As you probably guessed, the USA is the largest furniture market in the world, generating over 226.78 billion U.S. dollars. On the second and third were China and Germany with 72.5 billion and 53.5 billion dollars respectively. 

More on the Revenue of the furniture market worldwide in 2021, by country

Now, let’s check how a few important keywords are trending on Google, Keyword Planner and Semrush. 

We will start with the search term ‘furniture online’ and “furniture” on Google Trends which, as you can see below, shows already how popular is to start dropshipping furniture. 

For more proof of how popular is this niche, let’s look also at the search volumes for furniture and other related keywords on Semrush and Keyword Planner.

Now, as you can see, the avg. monthly searches for  “furniture” is between 1M and 10M worldwide, and in the USA that number is between 100K and 1M. 

Also, “furniture” has 301,000 monthly searches in the USA alone, and if we check for “sofas” there are over 201,000 monthly searches according to Semrush. 

If we look at the monthly search volumes for terms like “tables” and “beds” on Semrush, these are also quite high. Over 33,000 and 90,000 average monthly searches in the USA and an even higher global volume.

In terms of prices and profit margins, furniture items have medium to high prices which means that you can also have higher profit margins. For example, you can find sofas at pricing ranging from $180 to $3000 on Amazon.

If we think that the common retail markup for furniture can be between 200%-400%, we recommend if you’re now dropshipping for the first time start with 100%-150% markup. This profit is actually enough to cover all of your expenses (especially advertising) and will not get your final prices too high for customers to come close.

Keep in mind that it’s better to start small and test your product potential before making significant profits.

Let’s give you an example: for a piece of furniture that costs $50 on the supplier side, your listing price should be around $120 – $150. And as you go along, try raising and lowering your price depending on your conversion rates and profit margins. 

What are the countries you should dropship in? Well, if we look at the data from Semrush, we can see that the monthly searches for those terms are higher in USA, India, UK or Canada. But we don’t recommend starting to sell in those regions just because you have this data. 

Choosing the best markets to sell your furniture items should be based on many factors, such as what exactly is trending in a specific region, what’s the competition, what are some items that customers are looking for and have difficulty finding. And most importantly, what’s the market you know best? Is it USA or the EU? This is the first question you should ask yourself.

The best market is always the one you know the best, so start by searching for what kind of furniture works best in your region. 

Advantages and disadvantages of the furniture niche

Now that you are inclined to choose this niche, you need to also know what are the pros and cons of that niche.

Let’s start with what are the pros of dropshipping furniture:

• Very profitable: As you saw above, if done right, dropshipping furniture can be extremely profitable.
• Fewer complaints: You can choose to sell only high ticket products which means you will deal with a specific type of customer and if you do it right, you won’t have so many complaints.
• Fewer dropshippers: There are not so many dropshippers, especially not beginners, that will go for selling high-ticket products. This means less competition for you.

Now, of course, there are cons to dropshipping furniture, as this is a highly competitive industry:

• High shipping costs: These items are heavy and take a lot of space, which also means high shipping costs.
• Highly competitive industry: As with all popular niches, dropshipping furniture is also highly competitive, as you not only have to compete with other successful dropshipping stores but also well knows brands, like Ikea, and marketplaces, like Amazon.
• Vulnerable to damage: Furniture is that type of product that can potentially get damaged when shipped, which in turn can cause high return and refund costs.

How to build a furniture dropshipping store?

Here are the main steps you need to follow to start a dropshipping business:

1. Research all about the furniture dropshipping business model
2. Make a business plan that’s specifically built for selling furniture online
3. Choose a furniture niche – this is the best way to start, for example, you can choose to sell only outdoor furniture
4. Choose a name for your online store – now that you know what are you going to sell, you need to pick a name for you business and online store
5. Incorporate your company – this is a must for every dropshipper
6. Create your ecommerce store – this is also a very important step in your dropshipping journey
7. Find a dropshipping supplier to source your products from – now that you have your online store ready to go live, you can start importing products from suppliers
8. Start marketing and then advertising your products – the final step is to actually get your products in front on the right people so you can start selling.

 

Of course, you need to read a lot on each of these steps, so you can start with our detailed guide for starting a dropshipping business. 

How to setup your furniture online business properly?

This is a very important fact you need to be aware of, as setting up your online business properly has huge legal and financial implications for your business. 

Now, what you should know is that before actually starting selling products, you need to read about all the legal issues and requirements for an online business. So, first, check what are the legal obligations in your region and then you can decide |(together with an attorney or another legal professional) what type of company you need to setup depending on the country you dropship in.

Read more on the legal issues behind dropshipping

Most of the time, dropshippers choose to go for a sole proprietorship (also known as a sole trader in UK) or LLC ( LTD in UK). 

If you want to dropship in the USA, this article on how can you setup a dropshipping business in the USA is great.

Want to dropship in the UK? then you can check this guide on how to start a dropshipping business in the UK

What furniture to sell?

Product research is essential for any type of online store and is one of the most important steps on your way to a successful dropshipping business.

So, below we have gathered the best and most popular furniture products you can start to dropship. How did we get to these products? Well, we did our research on Google, using tools like Google Trends, Semrush, Keyword Planner or Moz. On top of these, our own experience helped us put together a list of subcategories of furniture and another list with specific products you can sell. 

Here are some furniture subcategories that usually sell great:

1. Outdoor furniture – There are more and more people these days who love to spend their time outside, either chilling in their garden or going hiking. That’s why outdoor furniture is a great addition to your dropshipping store.
2. Home furniture – This is one furniture subcategory that’s going to be more and more popular. Or will never be unpopular. So, either build your store around furniture and home decor or be sure to add some items from this category. 
3. Office furniture – If in the past, this was a furniture subcategory that you couldn’t get near due to a lack of online sales. Companies were the main customers that bought office furniture and they would always prefer to order from big offline retail stores. But, as more and more people work from home, there is now more online demand for desk chairs, office desks or laptop table stands.
4. Furniture accessories – If you are just now starting to dropship, you know we always recommend to start small, maybe with some low-ticket items. So, what’s better than furniture accessories to test out your ecommerce skills and market? 
5. Pet furniture – Millennials are spending a huge amount of money on their pets, including furniture built for them. AlliedMarketResearch confirms that the pet furniture market size is estimated to reach $5,1 billion by 2027, which means it has never been a better time than now to start selling pet furniture. 

Now, below you have a few furniture items that have been trending in the last couple of years. And to prove that we added the Google Trends results for each of them. 

–  Computer desks and office chairs are among the winning items you can sell from the office furniture subcategory. 

– Outdoor Patio Furniture Sets are on a growing trend in recent years as many families are making the best out of their backyard or garden. 

– Sofas and couches are great furniture items you can sell as most families will invest in a goos coach or sofa. 

– Bookshelves are furniture pieces that can be used in almost every house which means you can go wrong with them if you build your online store around this subcategory. 

– Dining tables are always on the best furniture products you can dropship everywhere. Just like bookshelves or sofas, every house needs a dinning table. 

– Round side table is this multi-use piece of furniture that can be added to any furniture set and almost any room.

Now, these are just some of the furniture items trending in the last couple of years, this doesn’t mean they are the only ones. There are many more other furniture pieces that can sell great in your region. They can be for the kitchen, garden, bedroom, and so on, the list is huge. 

If you decided on a region to sell these products, then now is when can start researching what works better in your market. After you made your choice, you can start testing a few products to see which one does great in your area. Besides finding a furniture niche that’s trending in your region, you need to sell furniture made with the highest quality materials on the maket. 

So, let’s discuss how to find the best products and suppliers.

How to find dropshipping furniture suppliers?

As we’ve been saying, this is a niche with great potential but it’s also a highly competitive environment. One of the most important decisions that can help you stand out if the crowd is to find the right furniture suppliers for your online dropshipping store. 

So, after you decided which type of furniture you want to sell, where you want to sell it, and built your online store (check this article on Woocommerce vs Shopify) you need to start your research on what are the best suppliers or dropshipping platforms you can use for your online store. 

We recommend working with multiple suppliers as in this way you can offer more options to your customers and have better chances of making a sale. Also, you have backup options in case one of your suppliers runs out of stock or worse, closes down. 

Having more than one supplier will also help you figure out what type of furniture sells better and which suppliers offer the best products in terms of quality and price. 

You can find these suppliers on a marketplace like Amazon or eBay or dropshipping platforms like AppScenic. 

As it’s essential to find a supplier that can offer high-quality furniture pieces, it’s very important that you take your time before deciding which supplier or platform works better for you. Another fact you need to keep in mind is to find suppliers with the fastest delivery times, as it’s known that 42% of shoppers expect a 2-day shipping option available.

With over 240,000 furniture products, AppScenic has tens of reliable and top suppliers that can ship to USA, CAN, EU and beyond. The AppScenic product catalogue includes all kinds of furniture, from home deco products and wall art to furniture for the living room or the office. 

How to start advertising for the furniture niche?

Here are a few channels you can start to promote your furniture store on:

• Facebook – According to a survey by Statista, 86% of USA users on Facebook have over $100K annual income. In the UK,  81% of users have over £48K annual income. Well, this means that you have a huge chance to reach your audience if you put together great furniture Facebook ads.
• Google Shopping – This is a great channel from Google you have access to for free. With Google Shopping, your online products will appear next to others from the same category when users search for that specific product on Google. Customers can compare prices and choose the one they like. We recommend using their paid services, Google Shopping Ads, so you have better chances to reach your potential customers.
• Pinterest – 40% of users on Pinterest earn more than $100K annually and 66% of them purchase something after they saw it pinned on this platform. So, you need to be on Pinterest too. 
• SEO & Blogging – Having a blog and optimizing your website (plus blog) for Google is one step you need to do if you want people to find you when searching for extra information on Google.  

Now, how much budget do you need for advertising your furniture store, well, that depends on many factors, but we recommend having at least $500-$1,000 for testing different strategies and channels. 

How much money do you need to start a furniture dropshipping store?

As this is a highly competitive niche, we think you will need at least $2000-3000 to build an awesome online store, source and test different products (at least 15), advertise and fulfill orders. 

Of course, it all depends on what products you decide to go for, if you want to sell furniture accessories, then the upfront investment won’t be so high as these are low-ticket products. 

But if you want to start selling high-ticket products, like sofas and furniture for the outdoor area, then you will need to have a bigger starting budget. 

Why dropship furniture with AppScenic?

With over 240,000 furniture products, AppScenic is a great dropshipping platform to start with. On our platform, you can find lots of suppliers that sell unique, high-quality furniture from all over the world. 

And on top of this, we will automate everything for you, such as import and sync products, orders, payments, tracking numbers and more. All this means that you will have more time for activities that you actually enjoy doing, like actually growing and building a successful online business.

Everything you need to know about AppScenic

Conclusion

The furniture industry has never seen a bigger growth than now. And yes, as with all popular niches, it comes with advantages and disadvantages, such as lots of subcategories you can choose from (you can sell low-ticket or high-ticket products) and high-profit margins or lots of competitors on the cons side. 

But we hope that this guide will help you understand if furniture dropshipping is for you and what it takes. Dropshipping furniture means putting in the extra work, researching, testing, and choosing the right furniture suppliers and platform. 

It’s time to rate this niche based on the interest and success rate and how easy or not it’s to get started (plus our own experience with it).

So, we decided that the furniture niche has a rating of 7/10, mostly because it’s both a very popular niche but also a complex one to start with. 

Want to read more of our Top Niches Series articles? Then go check them out now.