How to choose furniture shop software: a guide for independent UK retailers

Why furniture is different

A sofa sale can take eight weeks from deposit to doorstep. The customer visits twice, chooses a fabric, pays part of the price, the piece is made to order, the supplier delivers it to your warehouse, you book a delivery slot, and sometimes you go back to fix a leg. A generic EPOS sees one line: sofa, £1,450, paid. That is why so many good furniture shops still run on an order book.

The six things the software must do

1. Deposits and balances. Take a deposit as a percentage or a set amount, by cash, card, bank transfer or finance, and always show what is still owed on the order.
2. Order stages. Ordered from the supplier, being made, in the warehouse, delivery booked, out for delivery, delivered. If you cannot see the stage at a glance, the phone will keep ringing.
3. Delivery scheduling. A shared calendar for the van, with postcode-based charges and two-hour slots your customers can rely on.
4. Stock across locations. Showroom, warehouse and on order from the supplier. Selling the floor model twice is the mistake nobody forgets.
5. VAT invoices and Making Tax Digital. Every sale, purchase and expense in one place so the nine-box return works itself out and can be filed to HMRC.
6. Customer updates. Automatic texts or emails at each stage, and a page where the customer can check their order without calling you.

Questions to ask before you buy

• Is it priced per month for ever, or can I buy it once?
• What happens to my data if I stop paying?
• Who loads my existing order book, and how long does it take?
• Can my staff use it on the iPad we already own?
• Does it work in the van and the warehouse, not just at the till?
• Is support a UK phone number or a ticket queue?

What you can safely ignore

Loyalty points, multi-currency, marketplace feeds and a hundred report templates. Independent furniture shops rarely use them, and every unused feature is a screen your staff have to click past.

Our approach

FurnitureShop Pro was built around how a showroom actually runs, for a one-off price with three staff logins, set-up, your records loaded and a month of training included. See the price or book a free demo with your own products.