Was their offering good, or was it the same undifferentiated Chinese-made particleboard-and-metal-tubing junk that Amazon, Wayfair, and everyone else sells? It seems like their main issues were around their import supply chain, so I assume it was the same stuff you can get anywhere. If they actually, like, manufactured the furniture they sold in the UK they likely would not have a problem, but they were optimizing too hard for those profit margins I guess.
I've long wanted to do a "startup" that sells decent furniture online because it's so painful wading through all the cost-engineered crap out there seemingly at every price-point (even pretty expensive stuff!). The main reason I haven't is that industrial real estate within driving distance of me is currently out of my budget, but I think it would do really well.
> I've long wanted to do a "startup" that sells decent furniture online ...
This was what they were doing. Their products were fashionable and decent quality, squarely targetting the middle classes with moderate prices.
Double the price of Ikea, but typically made from wood not particle board - half the price of boutiques and designers.
I can only assume, given they raised 100mil just over 12 months ago that their real problem (unless there is fraud / founder enrichment) they were selling sofas for £1,000 that they paid £2,000 for.
I've long wanted to do a "startup" that sells decent furniture online because it's so painful wading through all the cost-engineered crap out there seemingly at every price-point (even pretty expensive stuff!). The main reason I haven't is that industrial real estate within driving distance of me is currently out of my budget, but I think it would do really well.