uFurnish.com is incredibly excited to announce the launch of AI powered, image search functionality. Developed specifically for the furniture industry, uFurnish.com’s image search functionality allows consumers to use the photos and screenshots of furniture they have seen to search the entire UK furniture market and find exact or very similar products within seconds.
To develop a market leading image search platform, uFurnish.com has worked incredibly hard to understand how AI can and will significantly transform the way people search for furniture online by making the process more personalised, efficient and intuitive. Image search is the first of many AI powered features uFurnish.com will release for consumers with many more features to be released throughout 2024 and 2025.
Through extensive research and testing across millions of users, the product team at uFurnish.com learned that interaction with product imagery on the uFurnish.com website has increased by 1,000% over the last 3 years. Users reported that they found it incredibly hard to describe furniture products using text based search and that they were almost always visually led in terms of how they wanted to search for/ make purchasing decisions for furniture.
uFurnish.com’s product development team took the user research findings and turned them into an ‘easy to use’ image search tool. To engage image search on uFurnish.com simply:
Through extensive research and testing across millions of users, the product team at uFurnish.com learned that interaction with product imagery on the uFurnish.com website has increased by 1,000% over the last 3 years. Users reported that they found it incredibly hard to describe furniture products using text based search and that they were almost always visually led in terms of how they wanted to search for/ make purchasing decisions for furniture.
uFurnish.com’s product development team took the user research findings and turned them into an ‘easy to use’ image search tool. To engage image search on uFurnish.com simply:
• Select the camera icon in our search bar
• Take a photo of the item you love on your phone or tablet and upload it
• Instantly find the exact or very similar product matches from retailers across the entire UK furniture market.
Similarly, consumers can upload a screenshot from a website or social media or a photo from a magazine or paper. All the products that appear will be in stock and available to purchase in the UK.
The changing landscape of the furniture industry
It’s not just uFurnish.com’s user insights that are pointing towards the consumer’s desire for image search but so too is the overall changing landscape of the furniture industry. 95% of UK home furnishing consumers start their journey online when searching for furniture and furnishings for the home. According to Statista¹ by 2025 it’s estimated that 35% of furniture purchases will be made online, this is up from 20% in 2020. This trend will continue to grow as technology advances and consumers consistently blend online and offline shopping experiences to make informed product choices.
Commenting on the release of image search, uFurnish.com’s founder and CEO, Deirdre Mc Gettrick stated:
‘My vision for uFurnish.com has always been to create a world class consumer experience that enables people to find the perfect furniture for their home and our advancements over the past 4 years since launching have absolutely taken us into that space. Not only is our solution delivering for consumers but it's enabling retailers through their product listings and imagery to connect with consumers in the most meaningful way when they’re searching for furniture. The most pleasing part is that this is only just the beginning, we now have millions of users on uFurnish.com and we’re only going to get stronger as we leverage our millions of data points and drive meaningful insights for consumers and retailers in the furniture market.’
uFurnish.com officially launches its image search feature on Monday 19th August 2024.
¹ - Statista Market Insights Furniture - United Kingdom, here.