Young Money: Couch surfing for deals
I was in the market for a new couch after a recent move, but instead of buying a $700 one at Macy's, I bought a $400 one online.
It was a slightly stressful, time-consuming and nerve-wracking process that ultimately saved me hundreds of dollars and resulted in a perfectly compacted box of couch pieces at my door within a week (assembly was required), rather than waiting two months for the Macy's couch to go off back order.
I spent days searching across multiple websites, reading customer reviews, comparing prices and features like how long each couch was, measuring and remeasuring the living room to try to imagine how the couch would fit and still felt my nerves flutter as I pressed the "submit" button on a beige, 78-inch sofa with an average of 4.4 out of 5 stars from previous customers.
Despite the apparent drawbacks of buying something whose most important feature is how comfortable it is without taking it for a test run first, more and more people are turning to the Web to outfit their homes.
The online furniture industry, while still a fraction of the furniture store industry, grew more than 16% in the last five years, according to market research company IBISWorld. Furniture store sales grew less than 1% in the same time period.
The reason: lower prices, wider selection and the ability to comparison shop without driving all over suburbia visiting warehouses named Bob and Ashley.
Still, when you're in your 20s, a couch may be one of the most expensive purchases you've made in your life. Buying one sight unseen can feel like you're asking for something to go wrong. What if it's too big? What if the color looks different in person? What if it's too stiff? Am I going to haul a 99-pound box up four flights of stairs only to find out I don't like what's inside?
Turns out my exhaustive research and fretting was my natural instinct kicking in, of weighing the risk of such a large investment without the comfort of a sales associate to answer my questions or a showroom where I could see what the couch looked like and how it felt, says Graham Jones, an Internet psychologist.
"It's all about the psychology of risk," says Jones, the author of Clickology: What Works in Online Shopping and How Your Business Can Use Consumer Psychology to Succeed. "Our brains go into risk reduction. That's not so straightforward when it's a massive piece of furniture. You can't wrap it up and take it back."
The companies that dominate online furniture shopping, sites like Overstock.com and Wayfair.com, entice customers toward big-ticket purchases by offering perks such as free shipping, nearly 24/7 customer service and incredibly detailed customer reviews.
Those features are imperative to helping customers feel more comfortable with the purchase, Jones says. "They need to have as much information as possible," he says, and "lots and lots of images."
There's another reason online furniture shopping is expected to grow nearly three times as much in the next five years as furniture stores: the amount of options companies give customers.
"What you can find in a store is a thimble of what you can find online," says Seth Marks, senior vice president of merchandising, sourcing and strategic initiatives at Overstock.com, which has more than a million products available across categories including home, beauty, apparel and electronics. Furniture is the site's largest category, and sales of living room furniture have seen double-digit growth in the last 12 months.
Wayfair has more than 7 million products available on its site, with more than 4,900 results for sofas alone, more than any furniture store could ever hope to fit inside.
More of everything is part of Wayfair's strategy, says CEO Niraj Shah. "That selection is what keeps (customers) coming back," he says.
Wayfair sold 50,000 couches online last year, which was double what it sold in 2013. (Disclosure: It's where I ended up buying mine.)
To get more people to shop, the company has invested in upgraded photography and styling products to give customers design inspiration and a better idea of what the products look like in real rooms, Shah says. He expects the industry, which did $16.5 billion in sales last year (furniture stores did $58.3 billion), to get a boost as Millennials age.
"You have this group of folks whose experience and willingness and interest in buying online, they're now getting to the age where they're actually buying in the category," he says.
Here are Shah, Jones and Marks' tips for making a couch purchase online:
• Decide what features are important to you. You can get a sofa for $400 to $500 if you don't mind foam cushions and lower-quality fabrics. "For a nice upgrade, look for down blend cushions, kiln-dried hardwood and performance fabrics that can stand up to everyday family life," Shah says.
• Check out the return policy before you buy to see what it would cost you if you end up not liking the item and how easy the site makes it to send back such a large package.
• Read customer reviews and the complete product details for information such as whether you have to assemble the couch yourself, plus insight from former buyers on how difficult assembly might be or whether the color differs from what it looks like online.
• Look for above-and-beyond customer service. Does the site offer live chat? Is it easy to get ahold of someone to help with product questions or even assembly instructions after you've received your item? "That's showing you that they are more focused on you than sales, and therefore they are more likely to help you if you get into trouble with something," Jones says.
• Create a mock-up. Cut a piece of paper the same dimensions as the sofa you're thinking of buying and place it on the floor where you'd put the sofa. Make sure it's not blocking windows, doors or a walkway, and that you have enough room to walk around it.
• Order swatches. Not all products will have this option, but go for it if it's available. It will give you a much better idea of what the fabric looks and feels like before committing to the entire sofa.