Launched in 2015 by Dan and Monty at the age of seventeen, Furniturebox is an expanding online furniture business dedicated to beautiful, quality and affordable products backed up with exceptional customer service.
ufurnish.com Co-Founder and CEO, Deirdre McGettrick, sat down virtually with founders of Furniturebox, Dan and Monty, to learn more about the inspiration behind the brand.
Q1. Furniturebox has an amazing story behind its creation, can you tell our community a little bit about how two seventeen-year-olds successfully created this business?
Monty George, (Co-founder and Managing Director): “I’ve always wanted to run my own business, I was selling bread to my local bakery when I was seven. When I decided to launch Furniturebox in 2015 I asked my close friend Dan Beckles to join me instead of going to University like many of our peers.”
Their first year selling on eBay was a huge success and all thoughts of getting a degree were far behind the pair...
Dan Beckles, (Co-founder and Director): “The first couple of years were hard graft as the two of us did absolutely everything including shipping orders, responding to customer queries and dealing with suppliers. We worked some very long days but we loved every minute of it. Eventually, we expanded the team and we’re now over 30 staff members strong.”
Q2. Furniturebox certainly has some unique selling points can you tell us a little about these?
Monty: “When we started in 2015 the experience of ordering furniture wasn’t keeping up with other areas of ordering online like smaller home items. Next day delivery for a dining set was unheard of and you would expect to wait a week or more to receive it. We knew that we had to offer next day delivery so that we could set Furniturebox apart from many of our competitors.
Over the years we’ve spent a lot of time refining our products to make them stronger and more durable without compromising on the design. We build great relationships with our suppliers which allows us to deliver high quality furniture which looks amazing and suits everyone’s budget.”
Q3. Furniturebox has a fantastic range of products, what will our community love most about your products?
Dan: “Our customers love the sleek, ultra modern look in their home. They want on-trend furniture which will impress their guests and won’t cost them a fortune. Our customers will spend hours collating ideas for their dream home on Pinterest and Instagram and we feel that price shouldn’t get in the way of them achieving that dream.
We’re especially well known for our dining set range which is very comprehensive. There are thousands of table and chair combinations to choose from so there’s something to suit everyone’s unique taste.”
Q4. Can you tell us about some of your best-selling products?
Dan: “Extending dining tables are incredibly popular right now! More of us are hosting dinner parties with friends and family so these tables are fantastic space-saving options that can be easily extended when you need additional seating. Our Lira extending table is the latest in our range which has proven popular thanks to its modern white gloss design.
We’ve also launched a new British Made beds range with some stunning designs and colour combinations. The headboard designs are the epitome of luxury and have taken our Instagram by storm!”
Q5. What new products can we expect from Furniturebox in the coming months?
Dan: “We’ve got big plans for expanding our range of furniture over the next 12-18 months. We’ve put together a team to look at upcoming home interior trends and design new furniture collections which are going to look modern but also be practical for most homes.
We plan to add even more luxurious beds, stunning sofas and accent chairs and accessories like lighting and rugs. We’re also planning to expand our range of outdoor furniture after the popularity of our Orlando rattan sofa which flew out of the warehouse this year!”
Q6. One of Furniturebox’s focuses recently is around the idea of renovating your home for a growing family, what top tips can you provide our community on this?
Monty: “Lots of our team members have young and large families so we like to get their input on furniture for families! Space seems to be the biggest issue and not everyone wants to (or can afford to) move to a bigger home. So making the most of the space you have is the way to go. Children’s bedrooms can be the main source of mess so upgrading the bed to a storage ottoman means that toys can be quickly thrown under the bed and out of sight.
We’re seeing a huge demand for our extending dining tables which, as we said, are great for space saving. If you can’t increase the size of your dining room then an extending table is ideal to allow for large family dinners and then the table can be slid back to its smaller format so that it doesn’t take up space when not in use.”
Dan: “Our customers often call our customer service team up for advice and they want furniture that is low maintenance. Family dinners with young children can get messy so easy wipe faux leather dining chairs mean you don’t have to worry about any spills. High gloss dining tables are also quick and easy to wipe clean.”
Q7. Furniturebox has grown significantly since launching in 2015, what do you attribute this growth to?
Monty: “We’re very fortunate to have a loyal customer base who leave us fantastic reviews and tag us in photos on Instagram. We really focus on delivering the best service possible from fast delivery to the support team solving queries fast. Combine this with a quality product at a reasonable price means we have thousands of happy customers who spread the word about us!”
Dan: “We make the most of every shopping channel at our disposal so customers see our furniture everywhere they shop online. From Wayfair to Amazon, eBay, OnBuy, Mano Mano and of course our website and now ufurnish.com!”
Q8. Where does your inspiration for the fantastic ranges of furniture that you sell come from?
Dan: “Monty has always had a good eye for knowing what our customers love and we’ve really built on that. We know what sells and what’s trending on social media and use that to develop new and exciting furniture designs. We’re willing to try new things and take a punt on an unusual design and see what happens. It’s served us well so far!”
Q9. What does the next 12 months look like for Furniturebox?
Monty: “After our fast growth over the last 18 months we’ve outgrown our current location in Wiltshire so we’ll be moving to a new warehouse which will hugely increase our capacity for more products. We’re excited for the move in Summer 2021 and the opportunity for designing more products to fill the warehouse with!”
Furniturebox is dedicated to beautiful, quality and affordable products. To search and discover products from Furniturebox and many more amazing furniture retailers across the entire market, simply click here.
