PHILADELPHIA — The furniture leasing sector is a little-discussed but rapidly rising market. The furniture rental service market, which is dominated by a few corporations, is expected to reach $139.05 billion by 2029, according to Fortune Business Insights. In 2021, it was $67 billion.
With that predicted expansion, there is an opportunity for more than a few enterprises, and Fernish is one of them at Home Delivery World 2022. The furniture rental company, founded in 2017 by Lucas Dickey and Michael Barlow, has seen its market expand and now serves six locations, including New York City and Washington, D.C. The company also has offices in Southern California, Seattle, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Austin, Texas.
Every year, 9.8 million tons of furniture end up in landfills, according to Fernish. Fernish, billed as a circular firm, attempts to give furniture second and third chances. Renters normally keep the furniture for 12 months with one renewal (rentals can be for shorter or longer durations). Many customers prefer to purchase the items altogether at the end of the renewal period, but those that are returned are reconditioned and re-rented, liquidated, donated, or sold as used, according to Kristin Toth, president, and COO of Modern Shipper.
CB2, Crate & Barrel, and Floyd are among Fernish’s furniture partners, however, Toth says the company has begun to “reach upstream to some wholesalers” and has even begun developing a few pieces itself.
Toth stated that Fernish initially teamed with third-party companies to deliver, build, and pick up its furniture, but the cost was prohibitively expensive. In each location served, the organization has now created its own delivery and assembly service.
“As we increase in scale, we have peak hours, and we’ve identified some partners [to help],” she explained, adding that she was strolling the Home Delivery World floor looking for new delivery partners to help with some of those peak times.
While the company’s primary focus has been on furniture and developing a circular economy, it has also found itself in the shipping and warehousing market, according to Crunchbase.
Toth explained that Fernish launched in Los Angeles but wanted to serve the San Diego area as well, so it needed to construct a cross-dock plant. A warehouse on the East Coast serves both Washington, D.C., and New York City.
Fernish guarantees seven-day delivery, therefore it acquires and holds products in warehouses. Initially, the delivery radius was 50 to 75 miles from a plant, but as “we mature,” Toth said, “we’re going to increase where we go from our warehouses and build more of a hub-and-spoke model.”
Some clients’ furniture deliveries have been delayed for nine months or more due to supply chain issues, but Toth says continual communication that began before the COVID-19 pandemic has helped Fernish weather some of these obstacles. Fernish might have supplied more of some things, but it has worked hard to ensure that only items in stock are represented in its online catalog.
Toth said Fernish has a tiny B2B business based predominantly around corporate moves that require outfitting a full apartment or house, with a focus on home furniture – living room, dining room, bedroom, and office. When the epidemic hit, the company saw an increase in desk and chair rentals.
Fernish’s goal with all of the furniture she rents is to either sell it to the consumer or re-rent it to another customer. Assuming a four-year life cycle for its products, Fernish is profitable while also helping to save the world.
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