Simpli Home's offerings on Amazon include its solid wood and metal sawhorse collection.

TUMWATER, Wash. — For a company like Simpli Home, which has positioned itself as a high-spec, direct-to-consumer furniture business, partnering with Amazon eight years ago meant getting in on the ground floor of what has become an estimated $11.2 billion category for the retailing giant.

From starting with some solid wood RTA products to 1,200 SKUs today in case goods, accent furniture, upholstery, patio, rugs and more, Simpli Home’s Yoram Weinreich found a formula that works on Amazon for getting visibility and sales in a channel that is becoming exceedingly more crowded.

According to metrics supplied by YipitData, Simpli Home sold nearly 15,000 units on Amazon for December 2021, putting it ahead of Amazon’s own brands Rivet and Stone & Beam, although behind furniture powerhouse Ashley.

During 2021, Simpli Home experienced multiple months with unit sales above 10,000, with gross merchandise value (GMV) topping $3 million for the monthly period as well.

While unit and GMV have tempered following the furniture selling frenzy in 2021, Weinreich, who is co-president of the company with his brother, Erez, still sees momentum coming off a successful Prime Days event this summer and is similarly enthusiastic about the next Prime Day in October.

His optimism can be attributed to many of the practices the company has developed over its time with Amazon, including using all of the tools and data provided to drive sales: advertising and analytics; working with an Amazon buyer; developing attractive visuals and effective written content; and being one of the select competitors in the affordable, higher-end product range.

As an early entrant in Amazon’s furniture business, Simpli Home benefited from its top search position in a lot of categories, Weinreich said, which helped the brand gain traction.

However, Amazon’s introduction of more international vendors, specifically companies from China, has made the marketplace more jam-packed, especially at the lower end.

If you go into basic products, there is more competition. It’s a fight for the bottom,” Weinreich said. “It’s easy to make bottom-level stuff, but I don’t want to fight for the bottom even if there is demand. Our goal is to sell mid-to-high level product at mid-level prices.

“The challenge on Amazon is to be able to cut through the noise and attract the right customer,” he said.

Along with sales and brand exposure, selling on Amazon provides some “non-cash benefits,” said Weinreich, such as data. “We use their business intelligence and ours to get more granular,” he said.

Over the years, Simpli Home has broaden its offerings beyond wood furniture, which is its core competency, to pieces featuring fabrics, metal and leather. Its wood portfolio has grown as well from acacia and mango woods to oak and walnut.

“We want to provide whole home solutions everywhere that has some value,” said Weinreich, who is looking to add 300 to 500 SKUs in various categories, while “leaning into higher specs.” The company has also expanded its global sourcing, which encompasses Vietnam, India, Malaysia, China and, most recently, Brazil.

Founded in 2001, Simpli Home has yearly sales in the “high eight figures,” according to Weinreich, who is based near Toronto, as is a large part of the senior staff.

Simpli Home’s products, most of which it designs itself or adapts, can be found at a dozen or more online retailers beyond Amazon ranging from Wayfair and Overstock to Target and Ashley. “Every channel has a different customer,” said Weinreich, “and, at certain times, they are very effective.

“Putting all your eggs in one basket is scary,” he explained when asked why Simpli Home doesn’t sell solely through Amazon, its biggest outlet. “If we cut everyone off, we won’t be as big as we are. We wouldn’t double and triple our business if we just did Amazon.”

The next step, he said is to become more of direct-to-consumer player through its own website. As Simpli Home defines itself as a brand, the goal is to increase its online business to be 15% to 20% of total volume.

“We’re a well-known, little-known company,” joked Weinreich, explaining while Simpli Home is sizable and strong on many platforms, “where we are sold today, it’s hard to get credit.”

I'm Joanne Friedrick, research editor for the Home Furnishings Division. I began my career as a newspaper editor and then became a trade journalist, covering myriad industries including pension funds, supermarkets, gourmet food and security systems, just to name a few. Most recently, I entered the home furnishings category as a contributor for HFN and Home Textiles Today before transitioning into research where I now get to tell the stories behind the numbers for all of the HFD titles.

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