SLF24 is an online furniture business whose focus is on design, comfort and craftsmanship at an affordable price. Each piece of furniture is handmade and from when you place your order, it takes just 2-3 weeks for it to be delivered straight into your home.
ufurnish.com Co-Founder and CEO, Deirdre Mc Gettrick, sat down with two of SLF24’s Sales and Marketing Team, Abby and Gillian, to learn more about the inspiration behind the brand.
Q1. SLF24 has a fantastic presence across 7 countries in Europe, to those who are not familiar with the brand please tell us more about SLF24…
We started our business supplying contract furniture and dealing primarily with trade customers in a commercial environment. It soon became clear though that retailers were interested in buying our furniture for their customers in a domestic home setting. So, we gradually adapted and increased our designs and fabrics for this new market. When the Covid pandemic hit, the demand for our furniture increased dramatically, as so many people were at home and wanted to update their interiors. Therefore, we soon recognised that there was a huge need for furniture at an affordable price, with a quick delivery time. By supplying direct to the consumer, we could offer this service, as well as a great choice, because we had the ability to make everything to order. We started with a website in the UK, and have now expanded to online stores in Poland, Ireland, Germany, France, Austria and the Czech Republic, and will continue to grow wherever the demand takes us.
Q2. The furniture market is a highly competitive space, tell us a few reasons why people should consider SLF24…
Yes, it is competitive and there are many many furniture stores out there, which is why we knew we needed to have a different offer to our competitors, in order to be successful. We listened to our customers and knew that it was a fairly simple strategy that was required –furniture that was good quality, affordable and that was guaranteed to be delivered in a reasonable time.
We’re also committed to the environment. It is very important to us, and we believe our customers too, so we are constantly looking at ways in which we can improve our environmental credentials. Our offices and factory are heated with thermal energy produced from our wood waste. If we have more waste than we need, we supply our eco-friendly wood pellets to the local community. All the glues we use in production are water based to limit chemical use, and we ensure all our wood that we use in the construction of the furniture comes from forests that are sustainably managed. So, for every tree that’s felled, it is replaced with a new one and all our wood suppliers have FSC certification to endorse this. The packaging we use is cardboard, which can be easily recycled, and polyethene which is made from recycled materials. We even now offer fabric that is made from recycled polyester, which is a beautifully soft and warm fabric with no compromise on comfort.
Q3. Your sofas are made to order and in recent times the market has had some struggles with lead times and delivery, how does SLF24 combat these issues?
The majority of furniture retailers buy their furniture from manufacturers, which is a tried and tested format and works very well, but the downside of this formula is that you can’t always guarantee the supply of the goods. Much of the mass market sofas that are sold in the UK are made in China, which have much longer lead times, and during the pandemic the supply of these goods was adversely affected by a variety of factors. This led to many customers waiting exceptionally long times for their sofas, often without guaranteed delivery, as the retailers were struggling to secure supply. Even though supply is better than it was for these companies, the industry has been damaged by recent bad customer experiences and negative media coverage. We still have so many customers who don’t believe our delivery times, because they have been sadly let down by other furniture stores. It is always great to be able to say with confidence, ‘don’t worry we will deliver your furniture as promised’, and then prove it!
The other factor in supply is that many traditional retailers have had financial restraints, due to the pandemic and in recent times, the cost of living crisis, so this has resulted in less investment in stock holding. Therefore, even if other retailers can now deliver in a day or two, they tend not to have a big selection of furniture that is available for express delivery. As we make all our furniture to order in our own European factory, we never run out of stock. So, we can offer a much greater range of choice, and with our delivery for anything being 2-3 weeks, most customers prefer to wait to get exactly what they want rather than compromise on style or fabric.
Q4. What do you believe our community will love most about your products?
Primarily, choice and quick delivery! With over 40,000 combinations of furniture styles, fabric and leg options, why look anywhere else? However, we don’t rest on our laurels and are constantly bringing out new models and fabrics to add to our collection. Recently we have seen great success with our modular sofa ranges. This style appeals to those who want a more bespoke look and those who have delivery access issues. We have many customers in London who live in apartments and older properties, where it is not always possible to deliver a traditional 3 seat sofa into the home. With this in mind, we have just launched a ‘flat pack’ sofa – not exactly flat but is delivered in a box – and is designed to fit through restricted access areas and then assembled in the desired room. It can also easily be dismantled for moving too. It’s something we’ve been asked for, and so we have developed a solution for those that need it.
Q5. You’re an online company, what if I want to try before I buy? Do you have any stores or showrooms?
We are primarily online, but we did recently open a warehouse showroom in Worcester, for anyone that wants to come and see our furniture, as we do appreciate it is a big investment to make for an online purchase. If I’m honest I would love a selection of stores across the country, as we want to spread the word and show off our beautiful furniture, but regrettably with that comes greater cost, and we think the most important criteria at the moment is to keep the prices as low as we possibly can. With that sort of expense, it would be very difficult not to have to increase our prices to offset the cost of this. We do also offer sample swatches of all our fabrics, which we always encourage our customers to order before they buy, as we want all our customers to be as informed as possible before placing an order. It’s simple really – a happy customer makes us all at SLF24 happy. We are here for the future of furniture and that’s why we are so committed to delivering the best possible furniture with the best possible customer service we can.
