How to sell home decor online
It is pretty easy to start your own online shop in home décor. There are a lot of competitors in this market, so you will need to search carefully and pick a niche of products. This article is a roadmap to find your product range, with tips and tricks about starting your own home décor store.
Starting a new online store in home accessories
Ecommerce businesses that sell home accessories focus on products that highlight or enhance the atmosphere, furnishing and design of a room. These include a wide range of products such as pillows, lamps, mirrors, figurines, candles, (flower) pots, clocks, etc. While there are a lot of other stores selling these items, you could still start your own online store. The market is big enough.
You can sell decorative home accessories all year round. Whether it is a cute pillow, a nice flower pot or a decorative lamp: home accessories can be found in almost every home. Despite a good lifespan, these accessories are often replaced rather quickly. Either because people have grown tired of them, new trends emerge or because they want to change the atmosphere, colors or furnishings.
Product range: which products will you sell?
There are many atmospheric items for the interior that can be sold online, depending on the target audience and trend. Trends and styles are constantly changing. By keeping up with these, it becomes easier to discover which items are best to sell. Some possibilities are:
By keeping up with trends, it become easier to decide which products to sell
Pillows and plaids: Pillows or rugs are a perfect addition as interior decoration. By offering different colors, fabrics and sizes in your online store, you quickly have an extensive assortment in a fairly specific niche.
Lighting: Light is an important element to create a cozy atmosphere in a room. Be sure to offer different types of lighting such as pendant lamps, table lamps or floor lamps. If you sell candles and use a lot of social media for marketing, you can bet on repeat customers.
Plants and flowers: Greenery gives a fresh and natural look to a room. Offer different varieties, from small plants to large houseplants, so your customers have a wide choice. You can also sell fake flowers and plants well in an online store.
Wall decorations: Posters, prints, paintings and picture frames, are a popular way to add personality to a room. There are plenty of options online, from minimalist prints to eye-catching paintings. Mirrors and clocks are also a nice niche. Picture frames make great gift items.
Storage accessories: Neat storage is important in the home, which is why a variety of storage accessories can be found online, such as baskets, storage boxes and shelves. These accessories are not only practical, but can also add a decorative element to a room.
Most new online stores start out with a focus on one product category, trend or style
You could sell all of these, starting one huge home décor store. But that means that you will also need to buy a lot of products right away. It also makes it more difficult to distribute your marketing evenly across all categories. That is why most new online stores start out with one product category, trend or style.
Home accessories in a particular style
When you sell items in a specific style, there are some things to think of. A store that mainly sells gift items has a completely different target audience and look than a shop with luxury items. If you are interested in becoming a niche seller, it is advisable to sell products that are less common.
It is advisable to sell products that are not commonly available
You can sell products made of a specific kind of material, such as plastic, leather, wood or stainless steel. It is easier to differentiate yourself from competitors if you only work with sustainable materials or exclusive handmade items.
Purchasing items or producing them yourself
Are you crafty? Handmade home accessories are great items to sell online. By creating them yourself, you can create your own unique brand and offering. However, it will be more difficult to create a wide product range if you create them yourself.
In addition, it is difficult to keep everything adequately stocked. You can also easily buy your assortment from a wholesaler or supplier. There are several wholesalers for home accessories. Some popular platforms with suppliers are:
With dropshippingXL, you can sell over 90,000 vidaXL products to customers in Europe, Australia, Japan, Canada, USA, and the UAE without the hassle of inventory management, shipping, and returns. Enjoy fast delivery and seamless integrations.
BigBuy has more than 150.000 products and is able to dropship all over Europe. Product categories range from home and garden, beauty and health, sports, toys, fashion, and electronics. With their Marketplace package, you can easily sell their products on marketplaces.
The b2b platform Orderchamp is full of wholesalers for retailers with low purchase thresholds and minimum orders. Signing up is free. Larger retailers often use the platform to find great additions but small boutiques and concept stores can really find a total offering here.
Software to create an online store
When you start a home décor store, you will need to pick the right ecommerce software for your online store. Home accessories are often available in multiple sizes, materials and styles, so try to pick software that has features to show all these different options.
Pick software that has enough features to showcase products in different colors and styles
It is also a nice addition to show plenty of images and/or inspiration via blogs or articles accompanying a product. Apart from that, actually all popular platforms are suitable for a successful online store. Well-known solutions are:
With no technical knowledge required, Webador's user-friendly drag-and-drop website builder is ideal for launching a webshop. Easy to use steps make it easy to customize your site yourself. Normally a steal at just €9 per month, users can now get started for a promotional price of €1 per month.
Create your own online store yourself thanks to more than a hundred themes and the complete app store. Shopify also connects well with dropshippers. The software is technically fully SEO-optimized and offers all social media integrations.
Marketing strategies
Personal, trendy or fashionable articles like home décor are perfect for inspirational blogs, styling tips and advice on trends, styles or room design. Both with beautiful products and good photography, you can make your home accessories store unique and persuade customers to buy your products.
With good photography, you can make your store unique
Online marketing can reinforce this strategy well. With great product photography, you can build a good reach on social media like Instagram, Pinterest or Facebook. Additionally, influencer marketing or affiliate marketing are also great for selling attractive or distinctive items for the home.
Many accessories are also seasonally sensitive and perfect as gifts. Days like Valentine’s Day, Father’s or Mother’s Day or around holidays in December can be well catered to with search engine advertising or email marketing. Emails are also ideal for staying in touch with regular customers.
Setting prices for your products
Because home accessories are very personal, it is important that pricing matches the quality and expectation that the customer has in this regard. You want to offer fun impulse buys at affordable prices. In addition, discounts, promotions or positive reviews from other customers can quickly increase conversion.
Discounts, promotions or positive reviews can increase conversion
With luxury accessories, on the other hand, discounts and low prices for these items can sometimes come across as messy or unsafe. Are you going to start your own online store in homemade products? Even then you want to avoid an image that is too cheap. Higher prices can contribute to a sense of exclusivity and professionalism.
Logistics
Logistics are a challenge for many online retailers. It is easier to send parcels with small accessories and decorations. But for fragile items, such as mirrors, clocks, vases or similar items, good ecommerce logistics are essential.
Many wholesalers also offer dropshipping. In that case, you don’t have to buy the items in advance. The wholesaler sends the item directly to your customer after each order. However, if a customer returns an item, it will be returned to you. Good product photos and descriptions help, but do not solve everything.
Overall, home accessories have a high return rate
Home accessories overall have a relatively high return rate. It can be difficult for customers to judge color, size, texture or material online. Because accessories are often purchased with existing furnishings, it is difficult to assess online in advance whether there really is a match. Make sure that you show your products on photos from multiple angles. It can also help to show each item in a picture with stylizes furnishings, to give customers an idea of matching styles to the product.