'A perfect storm': Article Director of Marketing Duncan Blair on cornering the furniture market

2020 hasn't been a good year to travel or go on vacation, and Americans are spending more on home improvements instead. Furniture brand Article was lucky enough to corner that market with a DTC model that eschews the need for expensive floorspace that has gone unused for several months this year. "We saw this perfect storm for us, where not only were we effectively reaching a whole lot more people who were super motivated to buy, but we also had this really compelling offering for them, because the competitive landscape had shifted so radically," Article director of marketing Duncan Blair said on the Modern Retail Podcast. The advantages have proven big enough for Blair to doubt the need for a company store in the future, of which he questions the efficacy in 2020. "It's such a contrived environment. You walk into the stores, [there are] hundreds of other people, you're kind of sitting awkwardly on this sofa in the middle of the showroom with people looking at you and sort of waiting around. It's not your space," Blair said. "There may not be a good reason for us to go into retail anytime soon." Speaking about the big picture for the company and the sector, Blair said he was confident that "we'll continue to grow as a share of e-commerce, and that e-commerce will continue to grow as a share of the overall furniture market. The question mark is: What is going to happen in the total furniture market over the next 18 months to three years?"