Kickstart Your Wholesale Furniture Business Online

The furniture industry saw major demand during the pandemic, due to the increased amount of time consumers spent at home, with many redecorating to build more comfortable living spaces for creating home offices. Let’s find out more about the Malaysia furniture market!

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The Malaysian furniture industry ranked amongst the top 10 largest exporters of furniture in the world. Malaysia exports around 80% of its furniture production. Recently, the Malaysian furniture industry’s wholesaler sellers started to expand their market share into countries like Algeria, Greece, Puerto Rico and Libya.

Malaysia’s top ten export markets for wooden furniture are:

1.  USA (RM2,871.99mil)
2. Japan (RM602.09mil) 
3. Australia (RM531.22mil)
4. Singapore (RM456.02mil) 
5. UK (RM398.99mil)
6. Canada (RM270.07mil)
7. China (RM254.28mil)
8. India (RM239.87mil)
9. Philippines (RM207.08mil) 
10. United Arab Emirates (RM134.45mil)

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Malaysia furniture industry during the pandemic

Despite the recent economic downturns, the Malaysian furniture industry is still supported by strong global demand. Although China and Vietnam pose strong competition, Malaysian furniture continues to develop & grow itself with the original design that places importance on aesthetics as well as its good work ethics.

The pandemic forced nearly 58% of the world’s population to stay at home. At the same time, it caused the rise in demand of people looking for furniture to upgrade their home to a more comfortable place, therefore, a spike in consumer spending on furniture and home furnishings are expected during this pandemic.

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4 steps to start a furniture wholesale business online



1. Study the industry

Do some market research and find out what are the demands in the market. Learning to identify trends should be the priority of every business, especially in the furniture industry. Understanding current market trends will help you get more potential clients for your business. However, you also need to take a look at past trends. It will help you to get your business prepared for a variety of situations. Closely study the history of the wholesale furniture market. You may also need to take a look into seasonal effects on the wholesale furniture industry.



2. Identify your audience

As a furniture wholesaler, your target audience are businesses that sell furniture to consumers. Therefore, you can target budget businesses who, in turn, target budget, mid-range, or high-end furniture stores.

Since there are a lot of potential businesses that you could target, it is important that you are clear about who your business is serving. A clear target and objectives allow you to better market your product to the right businesses.

Narrow down your audience based on different criteria:

• Geographical location
• Monthly/quarterly/annual need for your service
• Budget
• Their target audience
• Type of store (luxury/budget/general)

The clearer you get on who you want to serve, the better your business.



3. Create an online storefront

Due to travel restrictions around the world, an online storefront is essential for the B2B industry to reach and connect with overseas buyers. Let us show you what are the benefits of selling your product on an eCommerce platform! 

• Sellers are able to access a large pool of active buyers
• An online storefront includes ready tools and resources for sellers
• An Online storefront helps with a business expansion like local/ global market.
• An online storefront often works as a search engine, it directly leads buyers to your products. Therefore, less effort and resources are needed for marketing activities.
• An online storefront is often trusted by users with a secure portal for payment transactions.

A safe place to manage and build buyer-seller relationships which include trade assurances that protect buyers and sellers.New Paragraph

3 main things to consider when setting up an online storefront

• Upload high-quality photos with accurate and clear descriptions for each listing. 
• Fill in as much information into the fields provided so that buyers know exactly what you have to offer.
• Optimize your storefront to connect with your audiences such as optimizing each product listing with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind, in terms of product names and keywords.

4. Start selling online

When an online storefront has launched, many wholesalers will consider using marketing and sales strategies to jumpstart the process.

Below are some tips for increasing your wholesale furniture sales:

• Provide reliable customer service such as quick response to daily inquiries
• Pay attention to your product Minimum quantity order (MOQ), make sure it is not too low or too high. It may affect buyers’ decisions.
• Create strategic, compelling marketing campaigns such as investing in eCommerce advertising.
• Encourage referrals and re-orders with incentives and bonuses
• Run promotions or attend online exhibitions to increase brand awareness and connect to more buyers



Why should furniture wholesalers put their trust in Alibaba.com? 

Alibaba.com is the world’s largest B2B and wholesale online marketplace with millions of ready business buyers and suppliers across more than 200 countries and regions. Sellers are able to connect with buyers of all sizes on the platform through online trade shows. In addition, buyers can discover products in different categories, send inquiries and make transactions on the platform. 

Are you ready to start your wholesale furniture business, or take your existing business to the next level?

Click here to schedule an appointment with our export experts today!