Redesigning the broken cycle of furniture | Oliver Space - Medium

Oliver Space
Jun 30
In the blink of an eye, it’s been three years since Oliver Space launched in June of 2019. Our small team of 10 has grown to over 100, we’ve expanded from San Francisco to service six cities along the West Coast and Southwest, and have gone from furnishing our crammed co-working space to furnishing 10s of 1000s of homes.
At the same time, we’ve seen the problems of the furniture industry become more dire than ever. The good news is, we’ve innovated quickly to offer consumers a solution to the broken system.
When we initially launched Oliver Space a short three years ago, “supply chain disruptions” and “inflation” were not part of everyday conversation. These challenges are becoming the new normal, and nowhere is it more dire than in home furnishings.
The furniture inflation is nearly double the overall inflation rate, which is at a 40-year high. This makes an already expensive category even less affordable. Supply chain disruptions have turned delivery delays from weeks into months, or even over a year. Furniture is the #1 category by volume that American consumers buy, with untenable price tags and unacceptable lead times.
The alternative may be furniture resale marketplaces, projected to grow 70% from 2018 to 2025. Unfortunately, in the resale market you’re limited to unpredictable selection, quality, and cleanliness of items, and forced to deal with complicated logistics and negotiation.
When your furniture no longer works for you, selling is also no walk in the park. You either give it away for pennies on the dollar, or worse yet, resort to discarding it on the sidewalk just to get rid of it. The result is that furniture is the fastest growing waste category, at 20 billion pounds every year and only going up.
Simply put, the industry and consumer experience are at unsustainable breaking points.
2. We have tirelessly innovated on the furnishing experience over the last three years, most recently launching Refurbished products and Trade-In.
Oliver Space is reimagining the industry with consumers at the forefront. We recently launched two exciting updates to the way we help people furnish their homes: Refurbished products and Trade-In, which together provide our customers a fully circular platform from purchasing furniture to finding a second home for their pre-owned Oliver products.
Refurbished Products: Similar to “certified pre-owned” programs, we guarantee the quality of our refurbished items, while still providing the same all-star service our customers expect.
Every time we receive an item back from a customer, we meticulously clean and refurbish it to meet Oliver’s standards for a specific condition tier. Customers can then choose from Brand New, Like New, Very Good, and Age-Worn conditions (at varying price points) to find the perfect item that fits their aesthetic and budget. This way, Oliver has the unique ability to give consumers what they want: affordable items without sacrificing quality, style, or time.
Trade-In: What about the part no one likes to think about — what to do with the furniture you no longer want? Our trade-in program takes care of that. We pick up your Oliver items in exchange for credit to use on future Oliver orders.
While some brands are launching resale and trade-in programs, they leave customers to figure out packaging and transportation themselves. By handling all aspects of delivery, pickup, and refurbishment, we’ve combined the great value of used furniture with the convenience of white-glove service and our brand promise of a cleaned and refurbished item.
3. Oliver users are raving about the experience.
After becoming accustomed to the stress of what has always been a broken experience, it can be difficult to imagine things being any other way. But every day, we hear from our customers the difference a painless furnishing process makes. That’s what keeps us working hard to continuously improve the experience.
This is what Oliver users have to say:
At Oliver Space, we have always made the process of furnishing your home easier. That means the fastest delivery in the category, assembly included on every order, and an affordability that makes elevating your space more accessible than ever. We’re excited about what we’ll learn over the next year and are grateful to those who have been along for the ride so far.
Chan Park, CEO
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