Sexy Furniture – A Business Model
It all started in 2000 when Michael Lipka happened upon a crowd gathered outside a Boston furniture store. "It was this great big chair shaped just like a high-heeled shoe, and it was sitting out in front of the store for people to look at and sit in," recalls Lipka. "It was a typical dark and dreary Boston day with not that many people walking around, but there were still dozens of people standing around this chair."
But Michael also noticed that all of the potential customers were making themselves scarce after reading the chair's price tag, which was over $1,000. "This clearly was a great piece of furniture, but the main problem people had with it was the price," he says.
A few months and many hours of market research later, which included a handful of TRIPS to furniture factories, the brothers Lipka (Ronald is 29, Michael 28) knew they were on to a viable business model: Internet-only furniture retailing using drop-shipping direct from manufacturers, which would keep overhead down and prices low. Oh – and make sure that furniture had some sex appeal, too.
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