For Colleen Stellato, Director of Partnerships at Furniture.com, growth is not just about traffic or transactions. It’s about building the kind of retail partnerships that shorten the consumer journey while giving retailers fresh ways to reach new shoppers.
Speaking with ClickZ at ShopTalk Fall, Stellato outlined how Furniture.com is positioning itself as both a discovery engine for consumers and a technology partner for retailers.
Meeting retailers where they are
At its core, Stellato said, partnership success is measured by results: new shoppers, new sales, and incremental revenue. But beyond traffic, Furniture.com aims to serve as an extension of a retailer’s team sharing insights on what’s working and helping them navigate technologies like AI.
“Every retailer has different capabilities,” she explained. “Some are large with big teams, others are just getting their feet wet. Our goal is to meet them where they are and help them adopt the innovations that matter most.”
Completing the room
Unlike single-brand platforms, Furniture.com thrives on cross-sell. Shoppers can mix styles, price points, and aesthetics across multiple retailers in one place. Stellato noted that three-quarters of visitors arrive without a brand in mind - they know the product they want, but not who sells it.
“That’s where discovery happens,” she said. “We help them find, compare, and soon purchase directly.”
From 10 retailers to 70 partners
Furniture.com’s early traction underscores the appetite for this model. When Stellato joined, just 10 retailers were on the platform. Today, nearly 70 are live, and many report that their ROAS through Furniture.com is stronger than any other channel.
“Growth isn’t just about numbers,” she added. “It’s also about the strength of our relationships. I spend time on the road, meeting partners at conferences and markets, making sure we’re learning from each other.”
Research-driven evolution
A major consumer research project this year - thousands of survey hours and hundreds of interviews - revealed frustration with the furniture shopping experience. Shoppers, Stellato said, juggle multiple tabs, Google searches, and store visits before committing.
The clear request: a more streamlined path to purchase. In response, Furniture.com is rolling out a native checkout model in time for Black Friday, replacing the current “click out” approach with a consolidated cart.
“Shoppers told us the old flow felt strange,” she said. “They want to buy on our site. Implementing checkout not only shortens the funnel but gives retailers a direct lift.”
Preparing to scale marketing
So far, the company has held back from large-scale marketing, preferring to perfect the shopper experience first. Early tests, from paid social and UGC content to OTT, have already delivered 10x traffic spikes.
“We know our marketing works,” Stellato said. “Next year, when we scale campaigns, the opportunity for retailers will be significant.”
The takeaway
Furniture.com is carving a unique role in the home category: part marketplace, part tech partner, part discovery platform. By helping shoppers “complete the room” across multiple brands, while giving retailers higher-performing acquisition, Stellato and her team are betting that the next wave of furniture retail will be less about single-brand loyalty and more about simplifying choice.
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