Furniture and home furnishing sales have been rooted in bricks-and-mortar stores, but things are changing as shoppers move online.

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Not long ago, if you wanted to buy a new sofa you went to a shop, tried a few out, paid for the one you wanted and arranged delivery.

Even in the past decade, as the purchase of items such as clothes and books has shifted online, the path to purchase for homeware, and particularly furniture, has remained relatively unchanged. Until now, that is.

Exclusive research conducted for Retail Week’s The New Rules of Engagement for the Home and Leisure Sector report has found that more than 40% of shoppers would purchase a sofa online. More pertinently, the majority of homeware and furniture transactions now involve some element of online, whether it is for initial research, price comparison, or to complete a purchase.

Furniture click-and-collect

Game-changing technologies such as augmented reality are making consumers feel more comfortable about buying furniture and other home goods online, meaning retailers are having to develop their multichannel capabilities. Many are remodelling their stores to harmonise the online and offline environments.

Playing catch-up

Operationally, however, some retailers are still playing catch-up. In many cases, current supply chain and IT infrastructures have been designed to fulfil the old model of viewing and purchasing big-ticket items in-store.

Retailers are having to adapt their legacy systems to meet consumers’ desire for a seamless path to purchase across multiple touchpoints and channels.

“More so than ever, an integrated, flexible supply chain can be a source of competitive advantage for home and leisure retailers,” says Jon Wood, vice-president, home and leisure, DHL Supply Chain.

“Retailers are trying to keep stock for as long as possible and only committing it to a certain channel when it’s sold. Unravelling that for companies with legacy systems is quite tricky, but the ones that can solve it will gain an advantage as they have more flexibility in how they get products to people.”

Download the full report

The New Rules of Engagement for the Home and Leisure Sector, in association with DHL, is online at: Retail-week.com/homeandleisure