anyone run their own design and manuf furniture co.

[Stuart]

I do not want to be too negative but to go from working in the navy to then moving into designing and building furniture whether one off, fitted or whatever is one big jump. My advice is get a job in a workshop even if it is only one day a week while in the navy and just see how fast, skilled, and organised you have to be to earn a living. This could be a better way of finding out the possitives and negatives because it would your personal experience not other persons on this forum. Just be prepared for a reality check! I

 

[Emanuel]

I am thinking about starting a small furniture co. designing and making my own range as an online business i have the outline of a business plan and many original designs (used to design for a company up north years ago, went to college and all that) the thing i have made seen to be well received so i am trying to give it ago

has anyone gone down the same route, im looking for some advice and potential pitfalls

regards

paul

Paul, can you get a share from the market? - that's the question that you need to ask yourself before starting anything.
There are a lot of potential pitfalls/threats that could affect you negatively (the market is already full; you don't have enough funds to enter the market; your potential customers don't like your designs - I am not saying that they will not like them, but there is a possibility).
the thing is that threats will always be there, but if you are confident that you can make a good product and have the means to supply, then go for it.
Who would be your target? have you thought about targeting furniture suppliers?

 

[navypaul]

I do not want to be too negative but to go from working in the navy to then moving into designing and building furniture whether one off, fitted or whatever is one big jump. My advice is get a job in a workshop even if it is only one day a week while in the navy and just see how fast, skilled, and organised you have to be to earn a living. This could be a better way of finding out the possitives and negatives because it would your personal experience not other persons on this forum. Just be prepared for a reality check! I

Some valid points but day release is not possible and I intend to make in my time off at first as I expect.it to be very slow

Paul

 

[navypaul]

I am thinking about starting a small furniture co. designing and making my own range as an online business i have the outline of a business plan and many original designs (used to design for a company up north years ago, went to college and all that) the thing i have made seen to be well received so i am trying to give it ago

has anyone gone down the same route, im looking for some advice and potential pitfalls

regards

paul

Paul, can you get a share from the market? - that's the question that you need to ask yourself before starting anything.
There are a lot of potential pitfalls/threats that could affect you negatively (the market is already full; you don't have enough funds to enter the market; your potential customers don't like your designs - I am not saying that they will not like them, but there is a possibility).
the thing is that threats will always be there, but if you are confident that you can make a good product and have the means to supply, then go for it.
Who would be your target? have you thought about targeting furniture suppliers?

Ultimately I am my target market my sort of age around probably have kids that are approx 10+ both work full time with stable jobs, are competent with the Web and fully ofay with social media. Products will not be cheap (but not ridiculous), peer priced, so I expect then to do their research on me and the company and the things I make I would not expect any less and I will give them all they need in that respect. Well that's the plan.

 

[Jacob]

....
Ultimately I am my target market my sort of age around probably have kids that are approx 10+ both work full time with stable jobs, are competent with the Web and fully ofay with social media. Products will not be cheap (but not ridiculous), peer priced, so I expect then to do their research on me and the company and the things I make I would not expect any less and I will give them all they need in that respect. Well that's the plan.

Sounds good. The bit of the market you know best is the bit you inhabit yourself.
25 - 30 products sounds a lot. If very different you have the prob of sourcing and storing 25/30 different materials, fittings etc and could lose economy of scale compared to getting 25/30 orders for just one thing.
25/30 close variations of same thing might be good but then won't necessarily increase sales - if you just had on they might all go for that one.
What about kicking off with your favourite one and seeing how it goes?
Web sites are different from shops - you want as big a footfall as you can achieve, maybe many 1000s, in the hopes that just a few of them will end up buying. To get the visitors you give away lots of free advice, demos, anything to make it interesting and relevant, including links out - which gets you a sort of through trade like a high st.

 

[navypaul]

....
25 - 30 products sounds a lot. If very different you have the prob of sourcing and storing 25/30 different materials, fittings etc and could lose economy of scale compared to getting 25/30 orders for just one thing.

25/30 close variations of same thing might be good but then won't necessarily increase sales - if you just had on they might all go for that one.
What about kicking off with your favourite one and seeing how it goes?

Web sites are different from shops - you want as big a footfall as you can achieve, maybe many 1000s, in the hopes that just a few of them will end up buying. To get the visitors you give away lots of free advice, demos, anything to make it interesting and relevant, including links out - which gets you a sort of through trade like a high st.

The reason i picked this figure is that i dont trust web shops that have a small range unless its something very specific. I have about 15 designs at the mo. some on a theme eg living room table similar to hall table to add continuity in the house, and some stand alone because not everyone wants to match.

I want validity in my 'shop' too few items to me does not add any credibility, and for buying something unseen i need as much as possible as im not a name anyone knows, so they could find it hard to trust my products. and a full store adds a bit of an air of established and trustworthy, do you not think ?

designing and making the things is not the hard part getting them noticed will be, one shop in the world that makes a set range could be quite insignificant, i asked in a earlier post how people market their business, i dont think anyone replied to that. i believe marketing is everything. would you still eat mcdonalds junk it they didnt have a sound marketing strategy? obviously i dont have their budget but i think you still need to plan as much of a strategy as you can. if not how else are people to know your there?

they wont. WOM is no where near enough.

 

[Zeddedhed]

You're absolutely right about marketing.
I firmly believe that with the right marketing, publicity and branding any product can be sold at a better(higher) price. Look at Apple. Although I must admit to being something of a fanboy it isn't THAT much better than everything else, but it sells for twice as much, if not more.

Good marketing works well, but it does cost a lot of money.

 

[RobinBHM]

I used to advertise in lifestyle magazines like homes and gardens, sussex life etc.

Over a period of 18 months I designed a new website, built from the ground up with search engine optimisation in mind. I now have a site that gets first page results for many keyword phrases. It means I no longer need to spend any money on magazine advertising.

Google analytics is very useful and if you look in google adwords you can find the number of searches a keyword phrase has generated. A lot of SEO is common sense and the more you can do yourself, the more you will understand about selling your product online. Yes website design and search engine optimisation can be done by specialists but they will never have the knowledge, interest or time to understand your products like you will.

You are correct that a website needs to be a fair size to appear established, also google gives better rankings to larger sites, there is simply more relavent info for its spiders to index. Can you buy in a small range of accessories to sell alongside your furniture - an opportunity to widen the product range perhaps.

lifestyle products such as furniture need great imagery. I use a professional photorapher, its expensive but I have a few shoots done a year and so after a few years its possible have an excellent portfolio. You will probably want individual products shots as well as fully dressed room settings.

A local shop to me is oka, they have an online furniture shop

https://www.okadirect.com

Maybe not your contemporary style, but a good example of fantastic imagery.

Best of luck with your venture

 

[Togalosh]

The comment about your computer losing your accounts data is a bit odd as you should back it up and also most of these packages can be cloud based anyway..

So then you must back-up every single day without fail. If only we were so fastidious.
We had 2 PC's & 2 laptops fail in 3 months last year. We had QB 2010 software that wasn't 100% compatible with the new PC with windows 8, then the new QB cloud wouldn't recognise 2010 QB but we could send our data to Australia to have it made compatible but this would take weeks & ££ ..so we went for new pc based software but got a windows 7 PC instead. In 1 week alone it took me 20 hrs after work trying to figure out why we couldn't email estimates & invoices. Modern life is stressful at times.

A 3 column journal in pencil or a spreadsheet is would be great but QB does more than just bookkeeping.

So if you do need software do you spend £120 for a PC based software or spend £180 a year for the cloud based option?

 

[Emanuel]

Ultimately I am my target market my sort of age around probably have kids that are approx 10+ both work full time with stable jobs, are competent with the Web and fully ofay with social media. Products will not be cheap (but not ridiculous), peer priced, so I expect then to do their research on me and the company and the things I make I would not expect any less and I will give them all they need in that respect. Well that's the plan.

Ok. It's good that you have a target audience in mind. I am not trying to discourage you, but would these people buy furniture online? even if they are competent with the Web, if they don't buy on-line, then you might face a problem.
Then, are you "comfortable" to compete with the big manufacturers and suppliers? Let#s take as example made.com they invested a lot in advertising and it worked for them because they had/have deep pockets. Do you have enough money to invest in advertising your brand name and for optimising your website?
I am not trying to discourage you because you have chances to be successful, but you need to take all of this into account when taking your decision. Just as an idea, maybe you can position yourself in the market as a bespoke furniture maker? - that could give you an edge over the competition.

 

[Jacob]

.....
Ok. It's good that you have a target audience in mind. I am not trying to discourage you, but would these people buy furniture online? even if they are competent with the Web, if they don't buy on-line, then you might face a problem.

Yes if he targets people who buy on line

Then, are you "comfortable" to compete with the big manufacturers and suppliers?

You wouldn't attempt to compete with big manufacturers you would be looking for a niche which they don't cover too well. e.g. take IKEA designs (which is their strength)but make up-market versions (their stuff is tacky and cheap)

lLet#s take as example made.com they invested a lot in advertising and it worked for them because they had/have deep pockets. Do you have enough money to invest in advertising your brand name and for optimising your website?

Web sites are dirt cheap - if the site is interesting and the product is any good there will be sales. "Optimising" a web site isn't a mysterious technical process it's about having an interesting site kept simple with plenty of relevant text on the front page. Content is king and text is essential as that's what search engines search for.

I am not trying to discourage you because you have chances to be successful, but you need to take all of this into account when taking your decision. Just as an idea, maybe you can position yourself in the market as a bespoke furniture maker? - that could give you an edge over the competition.

By all accounts on forums everywhere "bespoke" is a struggle - though there is a middle ground where adapting your product for a client might be worth looking at e.g. having a design which you can make to a clients desired size - more or less what fitted furniture is but can be free standing.
"Bespoke" often strikes me as a bit odd as it seems clear that the punters don't want to pay what it costs. I don't know why people submit themselves to this ordeal - making stuff you don't necessarily like for people who don't want to pay for it!

 

[navypaul]

Didn't need to say a word

 

[Emanuel]

You wouldn't attempt to compete with big manufacturers you would be looking for a niche which they don't cover too well. e.g. take IKEA designs (which is their strength)but make up-market versions (their stuff is tacky and cheap)

Even if you are not attempting to compete with them, they are in your market so you are competing automatically. Any firm that offers the same service as you do, to the same audience that you do, makes a competitor.

Web sites are dirt cheap - if the site is interesting and the product is any good there will be sales. "Optimising" a web site isn't a mysterious technical process it's about having an interesting site kept simple with plenty of relevant text on the front page. Content is king and text is essential as that's what search engines search for.

You live in a perfect world, don't you?!
There's more to a business and to a product than being interesting and good - Your competitors can have the same product (or similar), as good as yours (maybe better) and at a better price that you can afford to sell it. Plus, they have built a brand name for themselves and people know about their products. You, on the other hand, will have to get to these customers and convince them that they should buy your product and not your competitors'.

By all accounts on forums everywhere "bespoke" is a struggle - though there is a middle ground where adapting your product for a client might be worth looking at e.g. having a design which you can make to a clients desired size - more or less what fitted furniture is but can be free standing.
"Bespoke" often strikes me as a bit odd as it seems clear that the punters don't want to pay what it costs. I don't know why people submit themselves to this ordeal - making stuff you don't necessarily like for people who don't want to pay for it!

Taking all of the things that I said before about having to compete with other firms which are bigger than you and have bigger pockets than you have, going on a niche from the market could be a strategy to use. Bespoke furniture could work if you have the means to create something that your customer wants, in good time and at a good price. This is something that bigger companies might not be able to offer as they are too big for this and it would mean turning everything around for a single product/customer - too much of a hassle for them to do it, so your advantage. You: 1 - Competition:0
Good luck, Paul!

 

[doctor Bob]

One thing is for definite, there are certainly plenty of people on here who can talk a good business.
I often think this little clip sums up a lot of people who offer business advice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YawagQ6lLrA

 

[Adam9453]

Reminds me of a few meetings I've been unfortunate enough to have to sit through.
At the start of the meeting I proposed the solution which solved the problem without any issue.
Everyone then offered their proposals which solved some or none of the problem and had various issues.
At the end of the meeting I re-stated my original proposal to which everyone now agreed was the way we should proceed.
We then had to discuss who was going to do it, when they were going to do it........
In the end I got so irritated with the procrastinating, I announced I needed to leave the meeting. I then started doing the work.
My colleagues were still in the meeting an hour later when I had done approximately 20% of the overall task.
Meetings can be great but if unchecked can be just as wasteful as discussing business on an internet forum lol

 

[navypaul]

was that the popular peoples front of judea or the peoples front of judea or the popular front of judea?

 

[navypaul]

Meetings can be great but if unchecked can be just as wasteful as discussing business on an internet forum lol

thats ok its only my future

 

[AJB Temple]

There is an old adage that advice that you get for free is worth exactly what you pay for it.

On-line marketing of anything at impulse purchase price point loses most of its traction if consumer cannot pay on-line straight away. So fix that too.

 

[navypaul]

On-line marketing of anything at impulse purchase price point loses most of its traction if consumer cannot pay on-line straight away. So fix that too.

There are over 50 different ways to pay online PP and sage being the most popular in this country, which is prob what ill use as they are known and trusted.

 

[navypaul]

.....

Then, are you "comfortable" to compete with the big manufacturers and suppliers?

You wouldn't attempt to compete with big manufacturers you would be looking for a niche which they don't cover too well. e.g. take IKEA designs (which is their strength)but make up-market versions (their stuff is tacky and cheap)

This sort of sums it up as my design philosophy maybe a little more sunday roast tad less meatballs perhaps