How to Start a Furniture Delivery Business? Explained 101

What is needed to start a furniture delivery service? ~ Reddit user

That question fits anyone looking to venture into the furniture e-commerce segment forecasted to touch $430 bn by 2029.

If you are one among them and want to make it big in the furniture delivery industry, you are in the right place. 

This blog discusses how to start a furniture delivery business, what’s trending in the industry, and how route planning can help.

So, let’s start.

Step-by-Step Guide on How to Start a Furniture Delivery Business

Well-begun is half-done. 

So, if you want to make your furniture delivery business successful, you must first learn how to start it without hiccups. Below are the steps you can follow for that.  

1. Competitor and industry check

Understanding your competitors’ approach and new business tactics will help you learn what you can do to improve your furniture delivery and how.

Check out market leaders like IKEA, Alibaba, or eBay to learn how they operate, what they offer, and the advertising tactics they use.

Understand the consumer and industry trends to enhance your analysis and financial projections. It will help you strengthen your foundational planning for your furniture business structure.

2. Planning

Detailed market research sets the tone for a robust business plan. You need to decide the niche you want to choose in the furniture moving industry. For instance, you can decide whether you want to be a furniture designer, retailer, custom furniture maker, or restoration business owner. 

Highlighting your business’s legal entity is equally important to show whether it is a partnership or sole proprietorship. It’s time to select the right business model that works for you. You can choose from B2C, B2B, or D2C, based on your budget, preferences, and operational strategy. 

You also need to finalize whether you want to include the assembly services with your delivery part or not.

3. Detailing

Done with planning and market research? Great! Now comes the detailing of your furniture delivery business. Apply for a Tax ID, cargo insurance, and employee liability insurance for your company.

Select a catchy brand name that your customers can relate to and recall when they think of a quality online furniture store.

4. Storage and transportation

Look for a warehouse that can accommodate your furniture items. It should be spacious and have shelving units big enough to store large-sized items. 

Ideally, you should place heavier pieces at the base of the shelving unit and smaller pieces above. It will help you stay compliant with weight capacity ratings. 

For transportation, it’s good to adapt to the ready-to-assemble furniture. Channeling your furniture delivery company towards transportation of ready-to-assemble products helps you adapt to the changing industry.

5. Online store setup

Online presence is crucial to target and engage your audience is crucial to digitizing your furniture delivery business. For that, you need to develop an intuitive, fast, and customer-focused platform for customers to order items. 

Integrate a reliable customer support system to address your high-intent audience’s pain points and queries to simplify their buying journey. Hire a professional developer to deliver a quality user experience to your buyers.

Attract your young buyers with an excellent mobile app portal so they can connect with our brand better.

6. Branding and marketing

Create a solid presence on social media marketing platforms and strengthen your marketing efforts with impactful strategies. Using your USPs and strengths, build a reputed furniture delivery brand and compete with leading industry brands. 

Educate your audience about why your furniture delivery brand is unique and what extra services you offer them. Connect with your potential customers and create a large and happy consumer base. Focus on omnichannel marketing and channel your target audience on your online furniture portal to increase conversions and ROI.

7. Smooth buyer experience

Create an everlasting buying experience for the visitors that you gain through solid marketing and branding on different platforms across the web. 

Enable your customers to purchase their desired furniture goods with minimal clicks on your platform to reduce their buyers’ journey. It will help reduce buyer journey leaks, minimize the bounce rate, and improve conversions. Provide detailed purchase information and tracking code for easy delivery tracking to enhance customer satisfaction.

8. Delivery route planning and assembly management

The most critical stage of your furniture delivery business is bypassing business owners’ pain points. You need to deliver your customer orders safely and on time.

You need a robust delivery route planning and assembly management system to deliver a packaged modern-day furniture customer experience.

As people shift from purchasing furniture in physical stores to fully assembled goods, they look for quick, secure delivery and assembly service from furniture brands.

Hire a talented team of assemblers who can help you deliver your customers a cost-effective assembly service. However, it’s up to you to include this in your business model.

Furniture Delivery Business Trends

People are switching towards buying furniture online without physically visiting the stores. We have spotted important industry trends that can help you plan your online furniture delivery strategy.

1. Rise in transactional searches

People primarily use transactional keywords instead of informational and navigational.

It points towards the fact that customers are looking for tailored solutions online to fulfill their rising furniture needs.

2. Changing consumer demands

The furniture segment is shifting towards ready-to-assemble (RTA) furniture over fully assembled furniture. 

Statista’s research reveals that consumers prefer RTA furniture due to its cost-effectiveness. It’s because the fully assembled furniture is 20% more expensive because of the assembly cost and high labor.

So, businesses are now focusing on delivering RTA furniture with experts on board for smooth delivery and assembly. Enterprise-grade furniture retailers like IKEA have recently launched a new assembly service TaskRabbit, that delivers results at a $36 per item flat rate. 

3. Last-mile digital transformation

Last-mile delivery operations form a crucial part of online furniture sales. These days, the furniture delivery segment is witnessing a huge transformation.

Businesses are implementing new technologies and strategies to tackle the demands of both new customers and old ones. All these are aimed at delivering furniture goods fast and securely. 

For instance, businesses are largely adopting advanced last-mile delivery software to plan routes that make deliveries faster and more efficient. 

Now that you have understood the trends and changing furniture industry shifts, let’s discuss some stats you need to understand.

Furniture Delivery Industry Stats and Growth Projection

Below are the key industry stats and growth projection data.

• The global furniture market size is forecast to grow from $597.71 this year to $878.14 bn by 2022. The market will grow annually by 4.79% (CAGR 2022-2026).
• The market’s largest segment is the living room furniture market with a revenue volume of $75.66bn in 2025.
• The United States generated the highest revenue of $274.30bn in 2025.
• IKEA is one of the largest global retailers with a value of $22 billion. Talking of prominent furniture online shopping stores, Wayfair is a leading brand with over twenty million active customers.
• Consumers are upgrading their furniture at a higher rate than in the past. This is due to rising living standards and consistent growth in disposable money across the board.
• Online sales and e-commerce are changing the furniture purchase landscape and promoting sales.

Why is Route Planning and Optimization Important for Your Furniture Delivery Business?

Effective route planning is the most time-consuming aspect of making quick and secure deliveries to your target audience.

In the case of furniture companies, which require transporting goods in large volumes, you don’t want your drivers to drive hastily and harm consignments.

You want pre-built route planning, optimization strategies, and tools for smooth order processing and delivery.

Multiple businesses use Google Maps or Waze as their go-to route optimization tool, but once the number of delivery orders increases, delivery efficiency decreases.

Google Maps cannot handle multiple order deliveries and help you get the most optimized and shortest path for those deliveries.

It doesn’t sync with Excel sheets or create a robust communication ecosystem with your logistics and transportation team. 

So, if not Maps, which route planning tool is best for your business?

It’s Upper, an advanced route planner that optimizes routes, tracks drivers’ progress, and collects proof of delivery. In short, it provides you with all you need to ensure a streamlined end-to-end delivery process.

Want to know more about it? 

Book a free demo right away.

Make Your Furniture Delivery Operations Faster, Safer, and Reliable

Upper Route Planner for your furniture business has several features that help you streamline your furniture delivery operations. 

Here are the following.

User-friendly design 

Upper Route Planner is simple to use. It reduces the steep learning curve and makes onboarding easy for even non-tech-savvy drivers.

Optimized routes

The software uses AI-based algorithms to create optimal paths, considering traffic, driver’s availability, and delivery windows. This removes delays and ensures safe and on-time deliveries.

Custom unloading and handling information

Furniture items, especially big ones, require different equipment to load and unload. Upper’s software lets you add special handling instructions, including equipment requirements drivers need for unloading and delivery for each stop. When drivers know what they require, they can stay prepared with all they need, which expedites deliveries and reduces returns. 

Integration and digital proof of delivery

Upper integrates smoothly with your current systems It provides digital proof of every delivery. This builds trust and transparency.

Capacity optimization

The tool optimizes vehicle capacity and order loads. It plans stops efficiently to maximize vehicle capacity utilization, reducing trips and wasted vehicle space.