Launch HN: Spoken (YC S21) – Better furniture shopping
121 comments
Awesome! Congratulations on your launch.
I noticed this exact phenomenon when shopping for a new armchair recently. I found one I liked on Wayfair but wasn’t 100% sure yet, so I checked a few other sites. I stumbled across the same chair on Walmart under a different name for two thirds the price. When I got the chair, the box didn’t include an assembly manual (and the chair was very finnicky to assemble), so I did a bit more searching and found it on another site under yet another name, which provided a downloadable PDF assembly guide. Of course, the name on the assembly guide was also different, but it was the same chair.
Can you share the most egregious price markup example you’ve seen? Are there certain product categories with more or less price divergence?
P.s. I really like the “Load More” / “Load Forever” buttons. It’s a small but appreciated detail that gives me a feeling that you care. It really fits with the overall theme of your business: giving your customers options so they can choose what works for them. The trend of “corporation knows best” is getting really old, I'm glad to see people working to disrupt it.
I noticed this exact phenomenon when shopping for a new armchair recently. I found one I liked on Wayfair but wasn’t 100% sure yet, so I checked a few other sites. I stumbled across the same chair on Walmart under a different name for two thirds the price. When I got the chair, the box didn’t include an assembly manual (and the chair was very finnicky to assemble), so I did a bit more searching and found it on another site under yet another name, which provided a downloadable PDF assembly guide. Of course, the name on the assembly guide was also different, but it was the same chair.
Can you share the most egregious price markup example you’ve seen? Are there certain product categories with more or less price divergence?
P.s. I really like the “Load More” / “Load Forever” buttons. It’s a small but appreciated detail that gives me a feeling that you care. It really fits with the overall theme of your business: giving your customers options so they can choose what works for them. The trend of “corporation knows best” is getting really old, I'm glad to see people working to disrupt it.
What a crazy story! It makes me wonder if we can aggregate manuals, too.
Soon, we'll allow you to sort by discount you can search yourself. In the meantime, I did find a set of outdoor furniture selling for ~$7,000 on Pier 1 Imports that you could buy on Amazon for ~$900. (Pier 1 did have it "on sale" for ~40% off, which is another dark pattern that is common in the space.)
In general, I find items that get marked up the most are: outdoor furniture, mirrors, and simple metal-and-wood items like coffee tables, shelves or desks.
Soon, we'll allow you to sort by discount you can search yourself. In the meantime, I did find a set of outdoor furniture selling for ~$7,000 on Pier 1 Imports that you could buy on Amazon for ~$900. (Pier 1 did have it "on sale" for ~40% off, which is another dark pattern that is common in the space.)
In general, I find items that get marked up the most are: outdoor furniture, mirrors, and simple metal-and-wood items like coffee tables, shelves or desks.
Oh, yes, the “sales”. I found a mattress pad on Wayfair that I was interested in, but I felt it a bit weird that it was “70% off”. I loaded the product page in the Wayback machine and found that it’s always between 50-75% off, and that the base price fluctuates by $20-40. Weird stuff.
The "sales," yes. Once we have enough price data to show how "sales" change over time, we might be able to help users plan their purchases. Some "sales" are evergreen, while some are episodic but also predictable.
This is admirable, but seems much more difficult! With electronics, there are a handful of brands and products if you look at a particular piece of equipment. Specs are probably well scrape-able. The dimensions of a TV are not easy to fake/confuse.
With furniture, even the definition of the article/product is not always clear, and there are hundreds of small companies making similar items, and differentiation in features or design that is often not visible / you have to lay hands on it to figure out what the difference in quality is (unless you're going for some kind of nameplate item that is easily recognizable, like an Eames chair). Or the addition of some extra feature changes the nature of the product.
I think the difficulty is like trying to create a clothing aggregation engine if you took all the designer labels off the items. On the other hand, if they are truly interchangeable maybe that's all the more reason they can be compared. But, somehow I think people are more opinionated about finding the right piece of furniture that costs $1000 and not believing that the one from some non-brand website is the one they're looking for.
I'm sure you've encountered all these issues, and I'm no expert. I will be interested to watch how it goes!
With furniture, even the definition of the article/product is not always clear, and there are hundreds of small companies making similar items, and differentiation in features or design that is often not visible / you have to lay hands on it to figure out what the difference in quality is (unless you're going for some kind of nameplate item that is easily recognizable, like an Eames chair). Or the addition of some extra feature changes the nature of the product.
I think the difficulty is like trying to create a clothing aggregation engine if you took all the designer labels off the items. On the other hand, if they are truly interchangeable maybe that's all the more reason they can be compared. But, somehow I think people are more opinionated about finding the right piece of furniture that costs $1000 and not believing that the one from some non-brand website is the one they're looking for.
I'm sure you've encountered all these issues, and I'm no expert. I will be interested to watch how it goes!
It certainly is more complicated, and you bring up many good points.
One thing working in our favor is that relatively few manufacturers make a lot of furniture that is sold. There are few suppliers and many channels, which means that often items are truly interchangeable.
It is also the case that the stores with the cheapest prices tend to be recognizable big box brands (Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) not necessarily no-name stores.
Some suppliers control their channels better, especially in the high end of the market. And there are D2C furniture brands that don’t sell through channels at all. We do hope to offer these stores a way to sell through our marketplace via an easy API.
It certainly is the case that buying furniture is more emotional in a way buying a TV is not. We do want to honor this in how our site is organized.
One thing working in our favor is that relatively few manufacturers make a lot of furniture that is sold. There are few suppliers and many channels, which means that often items are truly interchangeable.
It is also the case that the stores with the cheapest prices tend to be recognizable big box brands (Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) not necessarily no-name stores.
Some suppliers control their channels better, especially in the high end of the market. And there are D2C furniture brands that don’t sell through channels at all. We do hope to offer these stores a way to sell through our marketplace via an easy API.
It certainly is the case that buying furniture is more emotional in a way buying a TV is not. We do want to honor this in how our site is organized.
A cursory search for sectionals (something I'm currently in the market for) had appliancesconnection.com as the consistently cheapest place to buy from. So what's the catch with them, why are they so cheap? I buy from Wayfair and other "trusted sites" because they have a rapport, brand, and good return policy.
I think your site should offer more features like a way to validate the sellers or compare them somehow. Read the fine print/do the due diligence for me. Also, are you sure they're selling the exact same furniture and not something that has dings/was previously rejected and sold to these budget companies like TJ Maxx etc do?
I think your site should offer more features like a way to validate the sellers or compare them somehow. Read the fine print/do the due diligence for me. Also, are you sure they're selling the exact same furniture and not something that has dings/was previously rejected and sold to these budget companies like TJ Maxx etc do?
Based on our research, they have very positive customer reviews. (Appliance Connection has 4.5/5 stars on Trust Pilot, where Wayfair has 1.4/5 stars.)
Yes, we couldn't agree more regarding seller comparisons, and on the ability to compare across many dimensions. A way we think about this is that the price you are willing to pay might vary by the experience you expect to have. We have in mind something like Hipmunk's agony index. With a tool like that, users can decide how much more they would pay to avoid a possible bad experience.
Yes, we couldn't agree more regarding seller comparisons, and on the ability to compare across many dimensions. A way we think about this is that the price you are willing to pay might vary by the experience you expect to have. We have in mind something like Hipmunk's agony index. With a tool like that, users can decide how much more they would pay to avoid a possible bad experience.
There was an unfounded conspiracy theory[1] spread in 2020 about Wayfair that continues[2] to affect its review scores. Also, many of the positive reviews from Appliances Connection are marked as having been solicited by Appliances Connection itself[3].
I've never used either site so maybe Appliances Connection is actually that much better than Wayfair but I don't think I would necessarily draw that conclusion from the Trustpilot results.
I've never used either site so maybe Appliances Connection is actually that much better than Wayfair but I don't think I would necessarily draw that conclusion from the Trustpilot results.
[1]: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-53416247
[2]: https://www.trustpilot.com/reviews/6212e0afbc5a51af69c88c9c
[3]: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/appliancesconnection.com?stars=5Great points and excellent research. It impresses upon us the importance of diversifying the source of our reviews and ratings, and introducing our own means of validating sellers.
Trust Pilot is not exactly an unbiased altruistic source of reviews...
I was not simply not aware of the controversy around Trust Pilot or, more importantly, their business model.
Wow! I am right now in the furniture market and wasnt really aware of this problem!
I actually found another problem that is also very annoying, at least where I live. I had specific items from my architect, but I wanted to touch most of the things before buying. Had to call 10 shops for each item to ask if they have it on exposition!
Harder to make money on this, and not sure if this problem is in USA but so annoying for buyers
I actually found another problem that is also very annoying, at least where I live. I had specific items from my architect, but I wanted to touch most of the things before buying. Had to call 10 shops for each item to ask if they have it on exposition!
Harder to make money on this, and not sure if this problem is in USA but so annoying for buyers
Inventory is a big one too. We're working on a way to show you who has what in stock and how many are available. By location would be amazing! What were you buying?
It was big issue when buying sanitary equipment (not sure if thats the word: faucets, toilet etc, shower). It was mostly because of Roca selling through 3rd party shops with physical locations. Every location had like 5% of whole catalogue so a lot of calling to find even a few things.
After that, I did a lot of buying without touching things. Also bought a lot of IKEA because seriously I got fedup with the whole experience of buying furniture
After that, I did a lot of buying without touching things. Also bought a lot of IKEA because seriously I got fedup with the whole experience of buying furniture
Argh, I feel your frustration. When this idea originated, I was so aggravated by the whole experience. I do think that the market is moving toward buying without touching, but your ability to trust the quality and fit for your home is still too low.
I just have to say that the links to the same table on Wayfair and Appliance Direct is one of the most concise, effective ways I've seen of describing the pain point that you're solving. Just looking at that has me 100% convinced that what you're building has real value.
Thank you very much.
Maybe my experience simply isn't representative of the average persons', since before I was a developer I was a professional furniture maker and upholsterer, but the issue I have is generally not the price. Like, it's not a huge deal if a bookshelf is $200 vs if it's $300 since the cost will be "amortized" over a decade or more of use. Furniture is an investment in quality-of-life.
The issue I have, especially with online shopping, is determining whether something is cheapo junk. The quality of most online furniture, especially on Amazon, is so bad, and it seems like 90%+ of the marketplace is heavily "cost-engineered" (particleboard instead of wood, thin tubing instead of rails, cheapest vinyl available, etc.). Junk at a great deal is better than junk at a bad deal, but the real problem with online furniture shopping is determining whether something is junk in the first place.
The issue I have, especially with online shopping, is determining whether something is cheapo junk. The quality of most online furniture, especially on Amazon, is so bad, and it seems like 90%+ of the marketplace is heavily "cost-engineered" (particleboard instead of wood, thin tubing instead of rails, cheapest vinyl available, etc.). Junk at a great deal is better than junk at a bad deal, but the real problem with online furniture shopping is determining whether something is junk in the first place.
Fully on board with this. And a good reason to stick to retailers you know. But it's expensive..
I love 'real' furniture (and design) but it's expensive... Furnishing a small sized condo with DWR or similar quality or vintage/antique easily costs $15k+
It's worth it IMHO and there are less expensive quality options too.
There are some good finds like I have a coffee table from CB2. but have to look closely at the materials. Metal & marble. Solid __ wood or real __ veneer not on top of cheap particle crap.
Nice furniture actually retains value. Lasts forever. Can pass it down. I don't think anyone's Ikea Billy is going to last the test of time. But pieces from 200 years ago still sell at auction and some mid century originals go for crazy amounts of money.
Even though I make good money it's still expensive. after buying I spent like 2 years furnishing it fully.
The problem is almost no one can afford nice stuff upfront
and a recurring cycle of poverty
For instance bigger necessities: a nice pair of shoes or boots will last longer and thus cost 3x less over lifetime than cheapos.
But a large % can't afford the upfront cost.
IDK what a solution could be. Maybe all those online pay over 4 months zero interest are filling this need.
But still would need longer terms to afford something substantial.
Plus if those companies are making money it's from fees and debt. just reinforces the cycle with the added dopamine of ooh i get this for free today one click online buying
I love 'real' furniture (and design) but it's expensive... Furnishing a small sized condo with DWR or similar quality or vintage/antique easily costs $15k+
It's worth it IMHO and there are less expensive quality options too.
There are some good finds like I have a coffee table from CB2. but have to look closely at the materials. Metal & marble. Solid __ wood or real __ veneer not on top of cheap particle crap.
Nice furniture actually retains value. Lasts forever. Can pass it down. I don't think anyone's Ikea Billy is going to last the test of time. But pieces from 200 years ago still sell at auction and some mid century originals go for crazy amounts of money.
Even though I make good money it's still expensive. after buying I spent like 2 years furnishing it fully.
The problem is almost no one can afford nice stuff upfront
and a recurring cycle of poverty
For instance bigger necessities: a nice pair of shoes or boots will last longer and thus cost 3x less over lifetime than cheapos.
But a large % can't afford the upfront cost.
IDK what a solution could be. Maybe all those online pay over 4 months zero interest are filling this need.
But still would need longer terms to afford something substantial.
Plus if those companies are making money it's from fees and debt. just reinforces the cycle with the added dopamine of ooh i get this for free today one click online buying
For my new apartment I'm working with 2-3 younger carpenters who's design and quality I really like. It is going to be significantly more expensive than the cheapest stuff from retailers, but still a lot cheaper than the overpriced "designer" furniture from big names. Plus I can customize everything to a degree to fit the dimensions of the apartment better. But I reckon depending where you are, craftsmanship has been completely driven out of the market.
I do fully agree with your point about a lot of people not being able to afford nice stuff upfront and often ending paying more more over the lifespan of the item. But I also think it is also an issue of consumerist societies where people rather want a 100 cheap things and replace them often, rather than 10 nice and long lasting ones.
Then there I think is also a matter of perceived value of especially furniture. I know many not rich but affluent people that don't bat an eye shelling out a lot of money for some electronic gadget or expensive traveling every other year but won't invest in a piece a furniture that could last a lifetime.
So we end up with either cheap mass produced stuff or designer ware for people for whom money doesn't matter. With little choice in between.
I do fully agree with your point about a lot of people not being able to afford nice stuff upfront and often ending paying more more over the lifespan of the item. But I also think it is also an issue of consumerist societies where people rather want a 100 cheap things and replace them often, rather than 10 nice and long lasting ones.
Then there I think is also a matter of perceived value of especially furniture. I know many not rich but affluent people that don't bat an eye shelling out a lot of money for some electronic gadget or expensive traveling every other year but won't invest in a piece a furniture that could last a lifetime.
So we end up with either cheap mass produced stuff or designer ware for people for whom money doesn't matter. With little choice in between.
oh boy. the amount of real estate listings I look at (lotto dreams) that are many millions and filled with the cheesiest, cheapest looking, ugliest stuff that looks straight off the american furniture warehouse floor...
That's amazing you have a friend that will do that.
I recommend it for art too! Especially paintings.
That's amazing you have a friend that will do that.
I recommend it for art too! Especially paintings.
Interesting points. It is true high quality furniture can retain value.
I hope that if someone has a fixed budget, but can be confident they are finding the best prices, they will by definition buy higher quality goods.
We certainly could offer reasonable financing terms for these higher quality goods.
I hope that if someone has a fixed budget, but can be confident they are finding the best prices, they will by definition buy higher quality goods.
We certainly could offer reasonable financing terms for these higher quality goods.
Totally.
I think your service could add value there in doing manual curation and better cataloging across. Like 'high quality' or search walnut veneer or no cheap fiberboard lol.
Crowd reviews are all gamed now it seems. i would be into some more sources of professional curation.
Financing in general isn't great. Not an easy thing to fix. Personally I'm into having it as a service for low income Americans through USPS. write-off losses or take them out of tax over very long time frames. A few $k with low or no interest + reasonable long ish time to payback would be life saving for a lot of people
I think your service could add value there in doing manual curation and better cataloging across. Like 'high quality' or search walnut veneer or no cheap fiberboard lol.
Crowd reviews are all gamed now it seems. i would be into some more sources of professional curation.
Financing in general isn't great. Not an easy thing to fix. Personally I'm into having it as a service for low income Americans through USPS. write-off losses or take them out of tax over very long time frames. A few $k with low or no interest + reasonable long ish time to payback would be life saving for a lot of people
Yes, this is a great idea, and something I have been thinking about. A clear risk of our site right now is decision fatigue. Some users we have spoken about wanting to be guided through their purchasing journey. I think you're right mass reviews alone won't do this.
We likely would use a partner like Affirm for financing. We don't want to emphasize it too heavily, but we do see it as an important tool in purchasing furniture.
We likely would use a partner like Affirm for financing. We don't want to emphasize it too heavily, but we do see it as an important tool in purchasing furniture.
If you do end up doing manual curation don't let the commission % guide your choices!
It is a fair point. In making this site, I have come to respect quality furniture makers most of all.
I do think there is a place for cheap furniture. Not just as junk, but as a piece of a home when someone doesn't have the budget they wish to have. While there is a place for cheap furniture, there is not a place for overpriced cheap furniture.
I do also think that if shoppers can feel confident they are getting the best prices, then they might upgrade the quality of they are buying within a given price range. We just help them buy better quality furniture at their price point.
We do intend to add reviews at the product level that will help users discern quality. Where there is enough data, we can even gather interesting data like: what were the reviews of a given item at a given price?
I do think there is a place for cheap furniture. Not just as junk, but as a piece of a home when someone doesn't have the budget they wish to have. While there is a place for cheap furniture, there is not a place for overpriced cheap furniture.
I do also think that if shoppers can feel confident they are getting the best prices, then they might upgrade the quality of they are buying within a given price range. We just help them buy better quality furniture at their price point.
We do intend to add reviews at the product level that will help users discern quality. Where there is enough data, we can even gather interesting data like: what were the reviews of a given item at a given price?
Ugh garbage furniture is so annoying.
My partner and I needed a couch and narrowed it down to IKEA, West Elm, and American Leather. We decided that we owned too much IKEA already, so skipped that. We liked the American Leather but it cost 2-3x the West Elm and we doubted it would last twice as long. So we bought the West Elm.
It’s been terrible. It was defective from the start. They sent someone out to fix one problem, and that kinda worked. Another problem popped up and they paid us to just void the warranty and keep the couch. I’m so annoyed. I just wanted a comfortable, durable couch.
I keep thinking we should have sprung for the American Leather one… but just a couple years later we’re changing things up and need a different sized couch. If we got the expensive nice one we’d be screwed because who’s gonna buy that off you.
So it seems that once again I screwed up by not buying IKEA. Higher end IKEA stuff has a great price/quality point. Apparently you have to spend 5x as much to get meaningfully better quality from somewhere else.
My partner and I needed a couch and narrowed it down to IKEA, West Elm, and American Leather. We decided that we owned too much IKEA already, so skipped that. We liked the American Leather but it cost 2-3x the West Elm and we doubted it would last twice as long. So we bought the West Elm.
It’s been terrible. It was defective from the start. They sent someone out to fix one problem, and that kinda worked. Another problem popped up and they paid us to just void the warranty and keep the couch. I’m so annoyed. I just wanted a comfortable, durable couch.
I keep thinking we should have sprung for the American Leather one… but just a couple years later we’re changing things up and need a different sized couch. If we got the expensive nice one we’d be screwed because who’s gonna buy that off you.
So it seems that once again I screwed up by not buying IKEA. Higher end IKEA stuff has a great price/quality point. Apparently you have to spend 5x as much to get meaningfully better quality from somewhere else.
'So it seems that once again I screwed up by not buying IKEA. Higher end IKEA stuff has a great price/quality point.'
IKEA does state materials, and some of their more expensive items are made of real wood - so at least choosing simple items like a desk is quite straight forward
IKEA does state materials, and some of their more expensive items are made of real wood - so at least choosing simple items like a desk is quite straight forward
You are not alone in your struggle with West Elm quality. This blog post describes the 'Peggy truther' community (of people surprised and upset with their Peggy couch): https://www.theawl.com/2017/02/why-does-this-one-couch-from-...
Oh my. Furniture does seem to elicit strong feelings. The moment someone decides their home is worth more investment than they have ever invested before is a special moment, indeed.
Yes, even deciding on preferences, including time horizon, is difficult in the first place. I think rental models like Pabio (YC S21) will catch on for the optionality they provide.
I do agree that IKEA, which is vertically-integrated at scale, offers very compelling price-per-quality.
I do agree that IKEA, which is vertically-integrated at scale, offers very compelling price-per-quality.
IKEA is a great trusted brand for cheap stuff.
Unfortunately the inability to easily determine the quality while shopping online, as well as the long re-purchase times with furniture, drives everything to be junk.
Anything you won't replace within 5 years means the same "brand" names and models won't exist next time you purchase so there's no incentive for any quality whatsoever, and the inability to determine quality is a classic lemon market scenario.
Anything you won't replace within 5 years means the same "brand" names and models won't exist next time you purchase so there's no incentive for any quality whatsoever, and the inability to determine quality is a classic lemon market scenario.
I’m disappointed that I did not source an older bed and chests of drawers, refinish them, and plan to keep them for decades.
The trouble is I barely had the time it took (single-digit hours) to compare new imported laminated particle board options that ship for free and then negotiate preferences with my partner.
Sometimes with things like this you can get lucky and find exactly what you want on Craigslist/Facebook but sometimes you don’t, and you just need a solution to your furniture problem more or less immediately.
That said I will never order any furniture from Amazon or Wayfair. Brand allegiance and avoidance is not always rational but my eyes just see junk there.
The trouble is I barely had the time it took (single-digit hours) to compare new imported laminated particle board options that ship for free and then negotiate preferences with my partner.
Sometimes with things like this you can get lucky and find exactly what you want on Craigslist/Facebook but sometimes you don’t, and you just need a solution to your furniture problem more or less immediately.
That said I will never order any furniture from Amazon or Wayfair. Brand allegiance and avoidance is not always rational but my eyes just see junk there.
> I’m disappointed that I did not source an older bed and chests of drawers, refinish them, and plan to keep them for decades.
Yeah, I feel like I'm the only one in this thread who bought 90% of their furniture at a garage sale.
Depending on condition, half the time you can use it as is immediately and finish it later when you have either time or money.
Couches especially look brand-new when refinished by a pro. My matching leather couches (2x1 seater + 1x2 seater and one rocking char, all reclinable with cupholders) would cost about 15000 ZAR if I paid someone to reupholster, but about 70000 ZAR to replace new.
Yeah, I feel like I'm the only one in this thread who bought 90% of their furniture at a garage sale.
Depending on condition, half the time you can use it as is immediately and finish it later when you have either time or money.
Couches especially look brand-new when refinished by a pro. My matching leather couches (2x1 seater + 1x2 seater and one rocking char, all reclinable with cupholders) would cost about 15000 ZAR if I paid someone to reupholster, but about 70000 ZAR to replace new.
This is an interesting point regarding brand aversion.
We are also looking to add collaboration tools for partners attempting to navigate preferences together.
We are also looking to add collaboration tools for partners attempting to navigate preferences together.
These are great points. The lemon problem is ultimately a problem arising from asymmetry of information. We are hoping to empower our users with more information to tilt buying more in their favor.
The worst of it is that price isn't even a good proxy for quality much of the time. I bought a chest-of-drawers for my daughter, chose one that looked about right and was about $350 - certainly less than a custom made piece but 3x as much as the cheapest option.
It was hands down the worst piece of furniture I've every encountered, never mind owned. It was like a stage prop.
It was hands down the worst piece of furniture I've every encountered, never mind owned. It was like a stage prop.
Yes. Cheap furniture has a place. Marked up cheap furniture does not.
This is awesome. I think you've hit the nail on your head with your problem statement.
I recently helped a relative furnish a new home, and the process of shopping for furniture online was worse than buying a car online, exactly for the reason you described. I thought Wayfair is the only retailer that changes product names, but found out high-end stores like Crate & Barrel do the same thing (and charge 2x).
The process was so bad that we stopped shopping, and the home remains only half furnished. Maybe now we can get back to it...
I recently helped a relative furnish a new home, and the process of shopping for furniture online was worse than buying a car online, exactly for the reason you described. I thought Wayfair is the only retailer that changes product names, but found out high-end stores like Crate & Barrel do the same thing (and charge 2x).
The process was so bad that we stopped shopping, and the home remains only half furnished. Maybe now we can get back to it...
Thanks! Isn't it wild? The more we dig into the problem, the more we find. Hopefully, you're able to fill your home now!
This is amazing! Do you also think the quality of the item delivered would be the same? Despite whatever website we go to? I know for a fact that 'same' electronic items sold at walmart are cheaper and are of slightly lower quality than those sold at home depot, etc.
The majority of the items we list today, we can trace them back directly to the distributor. We have blacklisted some selling websites based on low customer reviews.
I am sure you are correct in tracing things to distributors.
FWIW, I had a long conversation with an ex-enginner who switched to selling European furniture in the US. He described European factories building steel-reinforced furniture on one shift for the European market, then on another shift flimsier too-thin-wood-reinforced versions for the US market.
One easy hack can be to look from the bottom into e.g. a new sofa and reinforce sections which appear likely to sag over time.
FWIW, I had a long conversation with an ex-enginner who switched to selling European furniture in the US. He described European factories building steel-reinforced furniture on one shift for the European market, then on another shift flimsier too-thin-wood-reinforced versions for the US market.
One easy hack can be to look from the bottom into e.g. a new sofa and reinforce sections which appear likely to sag over time.
Oh my, that is very strange and interesting. Thank you for this note!
Yeah, I added steel bottoms to my Scandinavian designs bookshelves, reinforced the bottom edges and braced the corners with steel flashing, and replaced the cheap backer with some good quality hardboard I picked up at the big box. Handed down twice now in 25 years and it’s still in use at my nephew’s house.
Neat idea and I hope you will be successful. On initial inspection it seems like your matching algo or something is off. First example I clicked on is this dining set, which sounded like a great deal: https://www.spoken.io/page/11DmKO6MxLYnRP0tRls8 for $680. But when I click through it's actually $688 and only includes the table (is not a set as originally claimed): https://www.theclassyhome.com/Product/JFN-1511-82/Jofran+Fur...
Same with the higher price linked on your site. It's still only the table and it's out of stock. https://www.afastores.com/jofran-cannon-valley-trestle-dinin...
I think it's less frustrating browsing sites directly because their prices and stock indicators are more accurate. I get this with google shopping results, too, where you click through and either the price was totally wrong or the item is out of stock.
Same with the higher price linked on your site. It's still only the table and it's out of stock. https://www.afastores.com/jofran-cannon-valley-trestle-dinin...
I think it's less frustrating browsing sites directly because their prices and stock indicators are more accurate. I get this with google shopping results, too, where you click through and either the price was totally wrong or the item is out of stock.
Oof. Thank you for this feedback. This particular item (the tables vs the set) happened to be human error. We will improve.
It is interesting to note you prefer browsing sites directly. We do have a Chrome extension that is light weight, and can alert you when an item is available elsewhere. This may offer the best of both worlds.
It is interesting to note you prefer browsing sites directly. We do have a Chrome extension that is light weight, and can alert you when an item is available elsewhere. This may offer the best of both worlds.
Cool site!
I typed "desk" into the search bar and came across posts with desk in the name, e.g. Four Hands Edna Desk Chair-Fedora Oatmeal (https://www.spoken.io/page/f8420225-c2ba-4048-8454-e4e3a897a...), as well as items that weren't desks (such as Signature Design by Ashley Hyndell Dresser, Brown (https://www.spoken.io/page/b0d3e420-34ef-43fe-b7ca-3066f0c98...)).
I also noticed that there wasn't an option to filter the posts by furniture type. I don't know if the metadata of each item keeps track of the type of item that it is, but if so then you could add a type filter.
I typed "desk" into the search bar and came across posts with desk in the name, e.g. Four Hands Edna Desk Chair-Fedora Oatmeal (https://www.spoken.io/page/f8420225-c2ba-4048-8454-e4e3a897a...), as well as items that weren't desks (such as Signature Design by Ashley Hyndell Dresser, Brown (https://www.spoken.io/page/b0d3e420-34ef-43fe-b7ca-3066f0c98...)).
I also noticed that there wasn't an option to filter the posts by furniture type. I don't know if the metadata of each item keeps track of the type of item that it is, but if so then you could add a type filter.
Thank you. Our search is currently fairly fuzzy. We're refining search intent over time. We just introduced filtering, and plan to add more dimensions in time.
As someone that recently had ur chased a couch, and will be looking to purchase new furniture soon, there’s been several pain points.
1) Furniture seems to have bifurcated. There’s the expensive stuff that you can only get from one place, and there’s the very cheap drop ship stuff that dominates search results.
1b) It’s hard to find things that aren’t midcentury. I understand it’s popular now, but I really don’t want my living room look like my grandmother’s.
2) For some things, like beds and couches, you really need to sit on them to decide. Firmness, sit height, and how the back tilts or bulges really make or break of a piece of furniture, and unfortunately they don’t translate into text well.
Sure you a quick return program could help, but getting a guy to bring you three couches is a bit insane.
1) Furniture seems to have bifurcated. There’s the expensive stuff that you can only get from one place, and there’s the very cheap drop ship stuff that dominates search results.
1b) It’s hard to find things that aren’t midcentury. I understand it’s popular now, but I really don’t want my living room look like my grandmother’s.
2) For some things, like beds and couches, you really need to sit on them to decide. Firmness, sit height, and how the back tilts or bulges really make or break of a piece of furniture, and unfortunately they don’t translate into text well.
Sure you a quick return program could help, but getting a guy to bring you three couches is a bit insane.
Interesting points. Our site does, for now, mainly aggregate the stuff that can be found at more than one place. We don't think all of it is merely cheap.
We found that we ourselves sometimes became "siloed" in styles. One goal we have is to help our users understand their style preferences, whatever style this is.
We do believe that younger generations will become more comfortable purchasing things without seeing them. More can be done to increase this comfort, like being able to quickly visualize a piece of furniture in your room, and having some way to qualify difficult-to-see elements like firmness, etc.
We found that we ourselves sometimes became "siloed" in styles. One goal we have is to help our users understand their style preferences, whatever style this is.
We do believe that younger generations will become more comfortable purchasing things without seeing them. More can be done to increase this comfort, like being able to quickly visualize a piece of furniture in your room, and having some way to qualify difficult-to-see elements like firmness, etc.
Agreed. 1) We'd love to have more non- midcentury inventory and be able to filter based on style / design. Tbh, most of the things we call midcentury aren't but are categorized that way. 2) We are also working to aggregate inventory availability across stores as well, so you'll be able to see if a location near you sells that item, and you can go test it out.
This is awesome. Noticed you mentioned building an accurate product graph. Do you use a knowledge graph behind the scenes to find lookalikes?
Yes, we're developing a knowledge graph to score products and represent naming patterns we see across retailers. For instance, the Kirby line at Urban Outfitters is the Curiod line at Walmart and the North Avenue Collection at Amazon.
I LOVE THIS! Been looking and hoping for something like this -- I've been using reverse image search instead.
One counterexample for something I've bought though: https://www.spoken.io/page/f7f35682-d0d3-4f2b-a917-43d8d4926... ($1599)
https://www.burkedecor.com/products/goldie-media-console-by-... ($1279)
One counterexample for something I've bought though: https://www.spoken.io/page/f7f35682-d0d3-4f2b-a917-43d8d4926... ($1599)
https://www.burkedecor.com/products/goldie-media-console-by-... ($1279)
Great find! We'll attach this Burke Decor link to the product to help others save.
Your concept is applicable across all sorts of consumer and wholesale goods. However people are relying on that information asymmetry for margin, which is a powerful motivator. So you will soon be warring with desperate marketers eager to generate more faux differentiation to confound you and consumers. Most of the products in the consumer market that have irrelevant resale value are like this. The information wars over phony value escalation know no limits...
Yes, you are right. We recently found out that Wayfair spends $69 to acquire a customer, and then recoup $59. They have built a machine. It is true that long as there is margin, they will sow confusion. We hope to stay ahead of them.
Awesome, congrats on launch. Any ideas as to when european markets might be a goal? (I guess not soon). Also, I would highly recommend to see if references
to other websites are actually working (response codes). For example:
https://www.spoken.io/page/zeg8dcVkNi8Y56CmxVbe (Aidan Adjustable Desk Chair) - Home Depot -> Visit -> Access Denied.
https://www.spoken.io/page/zeg8dcVkNi8Y56CmxVbe (Aidan Adjustable Desk Chair) - Home Depot -> Visit -> Access Denied.
The Home Depot url seems to be working in the U.S. I wonder if they block, rather than redirect, European customers. It's good idea to look at access codes for urls. Thank you.
We have received quite few requests from users to expand into the European market, and also heard from users that the bad practices are common there. There is no reason our methods wouldn't also work in other markets. It's conceivable we would attempt, or at least test, such an expansion this year.
We have received quite few requests from users to expand into the European market, and also heard from users that the bad practices are common there. There is no reason our methods wouldn't also work in other markets. It's conceivable we would attempt, or at least test, such an expansion this year.
Aha! That could make sense ~Access Denied. Thanks for responding! Good luck, will keep an eye on this ;)
This is a very interesting problem! I'm the cofounder of Pabio (YC S21), we do rent-to-own furniture with interior design, and one of the things I've observed is the vast discrepancy in prices on different websites but also at different times (much like predatory flight ticket pricing). Super excited to see more companies innovate to disrupt the traditional furniture industry! Best of luck and stay in touch!
Yes, prices change often, and by a lot! We are considering price tracking as a future feature.
Renting-to-own is an interesting and important alternative to purchasing. Best of luck to you, too! We're always open to share things we've learned!
Renting-to-own is an interesting and important alternative to purchasing. Best of luck to you, too! We're always open to share things we've learned!
I was skeptical, but this is really cool!
Small, nerdy question: how do you decide the canonical name for an item that is called different things from different retailers?
Small, nerdy question: how do you decide the canonical name for an item that is called different things from different retailers?
Fun question! If we can, we assign the name that's within the context of the seller you're looking at. So, if the table is called the Kirby Entryway Table at Urban Outfitters, we call it that when you're looking at the table though an Urban Outfitters search. If not, we use the more commonly used name for the product. In this case, that would be the Sauder North Avenue Console Table, which includes the manufacturer / distributor name.
This is certainly a tool I have been waiting for, as it simplifies what I do by spreadsheet.
However, one additional step I do is find out of the products are also listed on Alibaba or similar. As you often can find a bed being sold by a large company in America for $5,000.00, and it is actually purchased from an Asian market as a set of multiples (4 or 5) at $200.00/ea unit. Any chance of that being tracked as well?
However, one additional step I do is find out of the products are also listed on Alibaba or similar. As you often can find a bed being sold by a large company in America for $5,000.00, and it is actually purchased from an Asian market as a set of multiples (4 or 5) at $200.00/ea unit. Any chance of that being tracked as well?
Interesting point. We have only started to look into the international market and want to understand dimensions such as shipping costs, shipping times, quality, etc.
We have considered also including secondary markets for the price-conscious.
We love to hear that you were already doing this by spreadsheet. I hope soon we build the tools for you to transition entirely to our site!
We have considered also including secondary markets for the price-conscious.
We love to hear that you were already doing this by spreadsheet. I hope soon we build the tools for you to transition entirely to our site!
How do you get around these retailers blocking your scrapers? Most of them are anti-bot mechanisms to prevent competitors from scraping their prices.
We do a number of things that limit the data that needs to be scraped e.g. key off of sale patterns / pair sites that tend to have the same price. Beyond that we do simple things to space out and decentralize.
I shared this with some friends on Slack, and the response was "another price aggregator, but for furniture? Okay..."
When you explained the problem in your HN post description, I got really excited about the product. But, I don't see that same story communicated on your website anywhere. I'm sure you've thought about this, but: tell users what you are doing differently on the website.
When you explained the problem in your HN post description, I got really excited about the product. But, I don't see that same story communicated on your website anywhere. I'm sure you've thought about this, but: tell users what you are doing differently on the website.
Wow, great feedback. It has been difficult to distill the problem in a concise way.
Would you mind if I asked: how might you do this?
Would you mind if I asked: how might you do this?
How about a little graphic that shows the exact same piece for sale at two different prices, with two different names. Then, the text says something like: "Retailers try to sell the same furniture for different prices just by changing the name. Spoken finds the best price for furniture, no matter what it's called."
Marketing is obviously not my strong suit, but that is what I understand the value of your product to be!
Marketing is obviously not my strong suit, but that is what I understand the value of your product to be!
Thank you! We did have something like this on our site for some time. We recently simplified our language. You have pointed out for us that something was lost.
We did make these fun Instagram posts:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CYnOJt8lk08/?utm_source=ig_web_c...
https://www.instagram.com/p/CY5DOoyvFUk/?utm_source=ig_web_c...
We did make these fun Instagram posts:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CYnOJt8lk08/?utm_source=ig_web_c...
https://www.instagram.com/p/CY5DOoyvFUk/?utm_source=ig_web_c...
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This is awesome! Would be great if the filter functionality could let you filter on functionality (bedroom, dining, etc..) and color palette.
Thank you! Yes, we intend to expand filtering with time. Thank you for the suggestion.
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This is interesting. Recently, I've been trying to buy a decent couch for the first time. What I really want is a "power search" tool, kind of like newegg's search interface. Sorting the results of that by price would be nice too, but right now, just finding products that match my criteria is a challenge.
Yes, we do envision Spoken becoming a "power search" tool, with sorting.
What criteria would you like to search on?
What criteria would you like to search on?
I see that you currently have a "filters" interface, I would love to see that expand a bit. I thought it was a bit funny that aside from price, the only option for filtering is shops. I've been wanting a website like this, largely because I don't really care what shop I buy the thing from. I get that this may be the only data you have readily available to filter on, and that it may be useful for others... just not so much for me.
We built this precisely because we believed users didn't care much about which shop the item came from. We see the context of viewing items through the stores as a marketing tool that leverages established brands. We hope that being able to see much of an entire store's inventories for lesser prices feels like a superpower.
If that's in your plans for the near future, I will definitely be checking on the site regularly.
As for criteria, I'm so glad you asked. I figured that if I'm going to spend thousands of dollars on a couch, then it's OK to be picky, so I have quite a list. A few things to note: this is coming from a very function-over-form, engineer-type person. My family uses our couch in a variety of different sitting/laying positions. Based on the couches I've seen in some houses, and stores, I get the impression that many people only sit straight and upright on their couches, which seems odd to me. I realize that some of these are probably not feasible to catalog, but I'm just sharing all of my notes (the stuff I've written down so far, at least). Research and comparison shopping in this area is a nontrivial task, so this comment reflects the current state of my research.
As for criteria, I'm so glad you asked. I figured that if I'm going to spend thousands of dollars on a couch, then it's OK to be picky, so I have quite a list. A few things to note: this is coming from a very function-over-form, engineer-type person. My family uses our couch in a variety of different sitting/laying positions. Based on the couches I've seen in some houses, and stores, I get the impression that many people only sit straight and upright on their couches, which seems odd to me. I realize that some of these are probably not feasible to catalog, but I'm just sharing all of my notes (the stuff I've written down so far, at least). Research and comparison shopping in this area is a nontrivial task, so this comment reflects the current state of my research.
- Exact dimensions
- Footprint dimensions
- In the case of armrests that protrude, I also want to know the maximum width
- If it is a corner sectional, what shape is the exterior of the corner seat? I.e. what kind of space does it leave open behind the corner? Actual concern: I'd like to put a lamp/table in that space. Shapes I'm aware of: square, quarter-circle, triangle, quadrilateral.
- If it has recliners, how much clearance do the seatbacks need when fully reclined?
- How deep is the seat (front-to-back)? Just a measurement would be nice; but the actual question is, is it deep enough for two people to lay together?
- Is the bottom flush with the floor, or raised? What height are the legs?
- Broadly speaking, what's the "type" of couch design? This is distinct from the "shape" (loveseat, sleeper, sectional, etc), and TBH I don't care about the "style" (mid-century modern, chesterfield, etc) except inasmuch as it affects comfort. I want something that I've been calling "overstuffed", but that's just a term I made up, and I doubt it's clear to others. I suspect that knowing more terminology would help me in my search here.
- Is it a couch for relaxing in my home? Or is it something that looks like it belongs in some office waiting room?
- How high is the back? Can I actually fully relax and lean back when sitting, or is it a glorified bench, with a back that's just there for aesthetics? This also fits in the "dimensions" section, but I don't really need to know an exact number - I just need to know if the back was designed to support a person leaning back or not.
- Is there padding on the arm rests? Can I lay length-wise and use an arm rest as a comfortable pillow for my head?
- Is it a good couch for a home with pets and kids?
- Are there crevices that will collect spills/crumbs/small objects?
- Is the fabric for a single seat section in a single continuous piece, from top to bottom, which eliminates some of those crevices?
- Are there "buttons" in the upholstery?
- Is the material easy to clean?
- Are there removable cushions? If so, do they have removable covers?
- Is it comfortable to lay across multiple seats? I.e. is there adequate cushioning over the seat seams? Is it lumpy or flat?
- If it is modular, can I easily purchase whatever set of pieces I want?
- Recliners: powered?
- Recliners: what's the control mechanism? Lever, handle, button?
- Recliners: how far does the back recline (the angle)?
- USB outlets
- cupholders, remote storage, etc
- Floor-level storage drawers
I would say it is quite useful to see your preferences so clearly communicated. Thank you for taking the time to share them with us.
May I ask, when you say "overstuffed" do you mean the make, as in having the entire frame covered by stuffing and upholstery, so only decorative features exposed? Or do you mean the quality or "feel" of sitting in the couch, as opposed to a firm couch?
We plan to index product details (and possibly reviews) for search, which should enable users to search on qualities like material, color, dimensions, etc. but also more ephemeral qualities like "feel" or ease of cleaning.
Thank you so much for your offer. Certainly, after we set up our filtering, we may reach back out to you!
May I ask, when you say "overstuffed" do you mean the make, as in having the entire frame covered by stuffing and upholstery, so only decorative features exposed? Or do you mean the quality or "feel" of sitting in the couch, as opposed to a firm couch?
We plan to index product details (and possibly reviews) for search, which should enable users to search on qualities like material, color, dimensions, etc. but also more ephemeral qualities like "feel" or ease of cleaning.
Thank you so much for your offer. Certainly, after we set up our filtering, we may reach back out to you!
If I understand your question, I would say I am more concerned with the "feel". But I think most, if not all, the couches I have seen that match this, have a similar appearance and "make". So I wonder if you are drawing a more subtle distinction that is not obvious to me.
Really cool idea! And I love how fast the site is. I wish the filters were a bit better so I could search for a couch of a certain width or material. Do you expect people to first find a piece of furniture they like on another website then come to spoken.io to make sure they get the best price?
Thanks! We just added filtering this week and plan to expand it across many dimensions: color, material, size, etc. We see two primary use cases: (1) price check an item they already know about and (2) want to discover new items since it can be tedious to look at inventory across multiple sites.
We hope to become the best place to discover furniture online. Today, it is more likely that someone might use us to make sure they are aware of the best price. We do have a Chrome extension to "take with you" to this end.
Great idea. I have been experiencing the same pain points in furniture buying. I sincerely hope that you will solve the problem.
You've just launched the site, so some site issues are understandable... I have found some misleading price tags.
https://www.spoken.io/page/cbf0bdd0-81bb-485b-975b-068bdeab3... is currently showing $1,199 at English Elm but https://englishelm.com/products/moes-home-vancouver-display-... is actually $1,499.
You've just launched the site, so some site issues are understandable... I have found some misleading price tags.
https://www.spoken.io/page/cbf0bdd0-81bb-485b-975b-068bdeab3... is currently showing $1,199 at English Elm but https://englishelm.com/products/moes-home-vancouver-display-... is actually $1,499.
Thank you for pointing this out. We are currently updating our prices every week. Indeed, this isn't quick enough for how quickly the sellers change prices, and especially given by how much they sometimes change them.
Congrats on the launch, looking to get a "Cloud Couch" so this is very useful right now.
One website nitpick is the use of a non standard link for the logo and listings auto open in a new tab (maybe this default behavior is better for users?).
One website nitpick is the use of a non standard link for the logo and listings auto open in a new tab (maybe this default behavior is better for users?).
Thanks for the quick feedback! We have listings open in new tabs as users expressed the desire to quickly open items as they browse to look more closely at later. I could see a different UI where users "save" items and then look at all of them in one place.
I'm looking for a plant wall, between 36" and 42" wide, 72"+ high. It can be floating shelfs I mount on the wall, but ideally it's a stand-alone bookcase like unit.
Is this the sort of quest your site would eventually solve?
Is this the sort of quest your site would eventually solve?
Yes! Many home decor products and furnishings are also sold at these retailers, and we intend to add them to Spoken as well.
I think the question was whether your search supports specifying search criteria like that. Because the lack of support for such searches is a major reason why looking for furniture online is often really tedious. One has to sift through hundreds of search results to determine the few products that might fit, or to find out that there’s no product with the desired dimensions.
Ah, yes. I agree that this type of search currently falls flat. We are gathering product specs to be able run searches by dimensions, style, material, color, etc. shortly. I want a table that both looks beautiful and fits into the space I have in my apartment.
I’m unlikely to buy furniture new ever again because of the shenanigans you describe. Facebook Marketplace and others seem to be good but can be difficult if you don’t have a pickup truck or van.
I understand your disillusionment. I certainly respect those who choose to buy used.
This seems cool, we bought a bunch of semi-cheap furniture for a vacation place so I could see how this is useful.
One question I have: how can you be sure "exact same product" is really the same. One item from Wayfair had a defect and I asked for a spare part (seat of a chair). The article came and looked the same but had different hole patterns and even threads. I had to redrill a bunch of holes to make it work.
Building in some kind of feedback loop for this kind of problem would seem really important to me.
One question I have: how can you be sure "exact same product" is really the same. One item from Wayfair had a defect and I asked for a spare part (seat of a chair). The article came and looked the same but had different hole patterns and even threads. I had to redrill a bunch of holes to make it work.
Building in some kind of feedback loop for this kind of problem would seem really important to me.
Thanks. Many of our items we can trace directly back to the distributor.
The question about replacement parts is interesting, and maybe more difficult. We may not solve it directly.
The question about replacement parts is interesting, and maybe more difficult. We may not solve it directly.
What does the browser extension do? I was prompted to install in on your site but I can't get it to pop up on anything.
We found extensions like Honey to be invasive, so we designed ours to be low profile. It will alert you only when we've found item elsewhere. Right now, this is around 200,000 products.
Great idea and congrats on the launch!
I would love to see you compare mattresses. It seems that this entire industry is a few factories with completely different pricing just for the brand name.
What's your business model?
We will soon test charging a transaction fee on the items, which will be fulfilled by the stores.
Buying physical things on the internet is hard. You have to quality-check a product without touching it, double-check dimensions for where the thing will go, and evaluate a seller's credibility, often with little data. But buying furniture online is a special case of hard, because the market is deliberately deceptive.
Furniture sellers actively prevent consumers from easily finding the same item at other stores, or under other names, because this allows them to charge more. The sellers get to name the products and they name them in confusing ways to facilitate price discriminaton. For example, this table at Wayfair (https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/williston-forge-veroni...) can also be found at Appliances Connection under a different name for roughly half the price (https://www.appliancesconnection.com/modway-eei2034brn.html). With most online shopping, the products you want have unambiguous names—if you want, say, a TV, you can simply search “Samsung 55 inch” and see what both Best Buy and Walmart are charging. But with furniture, sellers work actively to disrupt an accurate product graph and keep the market inefficient.
The net result is that buying furniture feels icky, noisy, and predatorial. It is much like buying a used car from a used-car salesperson might have felt before Carmax. This is reflected in how much consumers hate the industry: across 14 of the biggest furniture retailers the average NPS is -11, compared with 37 for e-commerce as a whole.
At the same time, people are buying furniture online more than ever. It is a $50B online market per year (roughly 1/3 Amazon, 1/3 Wayfair, and 1/3 everyone else) but it’s nowhere possible to do a simple apples-to-apples search for like items. Even on Wayfair, you can find the same exact item with different names and prices.
There’s no reason why furniture shopping online shouldn’t have the same advantages over going to a physical store that, say, shopping for a TV online does. It just needs to become possible to search across the entire catalog of furniture inventory.
We encountered this problem when Dane moved to New York and went through the labor of buying and assembling an apartment's worth of furniture, only to discover that one of his pieces of furniture was listed at another store but called something completely different and sold for 50% less. We discovered this behavior was pervasive among furniture sellers. We devised a solution for a small set of items. Our findings generated excitement in several threads on Reddit (here’s one: https://old.reddit.com/r/HomeDecorating/comments/s1oz0p/urba...). Many users told similar stories of frustration and confusion without a good solution and there was a lot of energy in these reactions—it turns out that the feeling of being taken advantage of is universally infuriating.
At the time, we were working on a tool to enable service professionals to grow their businesses. We did not find an acute enough pain for our then-users. When we started getting all these positive responses to exposing exploitative discrepancies in the furniture market, we realized we had hit on something people really care about, so we decided to build Spoken.
We crawl, scrape, and map product data and metadata across 1,000+ furniture stores to connect the exact same product across the internet. The mapping uses both algorithmic and human-driven scoring to evaluate exact product matches. It can be tricky, but it’s doable, to determine which products are the same—in a world of information abundance, there are many crumb trails. Often photos are the same. We can’t give away all the details here. But we do also augment brute human pattern-matching with our own tooling.
We aggregate all retailers’ inventory equally and surface transparent results—without ads, business-preference, or leaving out competitors. This means connecting Amazon, Google, Wayfair, and the long tail of hundreds of regional furniture stores.
Some shopping comparison extensions and applications do in fact show users some places that they can buy items—including some furniture items—more cheaply. However, their business models involve partnering with sellers, whom they give special treatment and won’t undercut. So they will only ever offer partial, not full information. We’ve decided not to do this, as we believe that the most efficient marketplace has a good chance to win in the end.
Our site is live, and free to use (https://www.spoken.io/). Our next step will be to allow users to purchase directly on our site across multiple stores to consolidate check out flows and avoid marketing pop-ups and emails. We will charge a fee and offer users an option to offset the environmental effect of their purchase. The stores will fulfill the orders.
We’re eager to hear your feedback and your experiences with the furniture market!