How to Sell More Housewares in Your Online Store

If you’re ready to venture into the world of ecommerce, housewares could prove profitable for your online store. Research shows that the United States home furnishings industry represents roughly 17.3% of the total e-commerce market share. But you also need to stand out in a saturated market to come out ahead of the competition. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be difficult; you just need the right strategy & lots of persistence. Here’s a round-up of the easy ways to sell more housewares in your online store.

Focus on a Houseware Niche

Every good business starts with the right niche. Simply selling towels or drinkware will mean competing in a sea of look-alike competitors. A niche can help you stand out & put your signature style on a product. Your niche could be custom-designed blooms, travel themes, or products geared toward urban dwellers in cozy apartments. The idea is to focus on your niche & market it accordingly to attract specific buyers who resonate with your products.

Start Small; Think Big

Housewares can encompass everything from throw pillows to cookware, & some people even lump furniture into the mix. If you love housewares but are afraid of housing all the inventory involved, you can turn to POD instead. CustomCat makes it easy to start selling housewares by uploading your favorite designs to your library & applying them to our range of products, including:

• Rugs & mats
• Pillows
• Drinkware & mugs
• Blankets
• Ornaments
• Towels
• Wall Art

View all of our POD houseware categories here.

Once you’re all set, grab one of our easy integrations for your online store & start selling. When an item sells, we produce it, fulfill it, & ship it out on your behalf, so you never have to touch the inventory. We’ll even use a shipping label to reflect your business, so your brand is always at the forefront of every order.

Get Creative with Your Products

If you picked a good niche, you’ve already laid the foundation for establishing specific products for a particular target market. But you can take it a step further & infuse more creativity & style into your niche with the help of POD. Print-on-demand takes the risk out of experimenting with new trends & designs. Instead of investing money & months of product research & testing, you can upload a design to your CustomCat library & start selling right away.

Think about how to combine popular concepts, like quotes & inspiration, with trendy designs. Or look through your online store’s analytics to see which products & designs sell the best & look for ways to integrate them into new ideas.

Develop the Right Content

Winning product descriptions is just the first step to developing good content. A blog, video, or gift guide showcasing your housewares also educates your customers on how to make the best use of the products. For example, pairing a POD beer stein with an online beer & cheese pairing guide helps ignite customers’ imaginations & develops an affinity & trust for your brand. The content is also easy to share & helps spread the word about your related products.

You can also ask customers to contribute user-generated content (UGC) to help promote your products. Ask them to upload a picture of your product with a specific hashtag & shout out to your online store. You can spark more interest by gamifying the experience with discounts & freebies for the most creative content.

Curate Different Looks & Rooms

Instagram & Pinterest rose to prominence for their curated, dreamy houseware content (along with all the stuff that travel fodder is made of). Suddenly, living rooms weren’t just spaces to hang but stunning representations of what’s possible with the right housewares & decor.

Curating different looks & rooms is eye-watering for your online store, but it also makes it easier to share when posted on your favorite social media channels. Suddenly, your customers’ homes look drab & bare compared to the award-winning bedroom you put together with pillows, rugs, blankets, wall art, & more.

Team Up with Like-Minded Affiliates

If you need more inspiration and revenue streams for your online store, look to affiliate programs to earn more. You can team up with like-minded businesses that aren’t competitors. For example, an ecommerce entrepreneur selling clothes to college students may be interested in selling customized drinkware or cozy blankets for dorm rooms. Or you can simplify the process & sign up for CustomCat’s affiliate program. Start selling products with no ceiling on your earnings to grow your revenue.

Housewares are a promising ecommerce market with room to grow. But instead of loading up the inventory & refreshing your sales count in nervous anticipation, you can let POD step in & do all the heavy lifting for you. CustomCat supercharges your creativity & what’s possible for your online store, but the first step is developing your inspiration & designs.

How do you plan to sell more housewares in your online store? Let us know by leaving a comment below!