Internet entrepreneur Brent Hoberman’s hotly anticipated online furniture venture Mydeco.com has launched today.
The site has products from more than 400 retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Argos, Heal’s, John Lewis and Conran Shop.
Users will be able to load dimensions or photographs of rooms to create a 3D version of how they will look, either building from scratch or adding to interiors.
Hoberman, co-founder of Lastminute.com, wants to transform the way customers shop for furniture and homewares and hopes to capture more than£400 million of consumers’ spending in the next two years.
He said: “We, as a nation, spend about£14 billion a year furnishing our homes. Mydeco gives the tools to shop wisely, stylishly and confidently.”
Designers, such as Sir Terence Conran, will give customers advice on the site.
Products can be viewed online, but purchases will take place on retailers’ sites. The site will also allow independent designers to sell directly to consumers through a platform called DesignBoutique.
The e-tail business will be headed by chief executive David Kelly. Kelly previously held roles at eBay and Amazon, and was chief operating officer at Lastminute.com.
Hoberman is understood to have raised about US$10 million (£5 million) of funding from backers, including NewMedia Spark’s Tom Teichman and Arts Alliance’s Thomas Høegh, both of whom invested early in Lastminute.com.
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