HIGH POINT — Following a presentation during High Point Market about Mine, a company that has been described by owner and founder Eoin Harrington as “transforming the world of physical retail,” one designer attendee summed up the reaction of many in the audience to the most recent roll-out of features.
“This is huge,” she said, referencing the passive income potential of Harrington’s latest evolution of the proprietary platform, Studio Mine.
With an ongoing goal of creating profitable synergies between manufacturers, designers and retailers, as well as new home builders and development companies through a network of model home showrooms already established, Harrington recently launched Studio Mine. Through this latest expansion of the Mine platform, interior design professionals can create curated room vignettes using Mine’s partner manufacturers, in effect designing shoppable moodboards that function as unique, signature online stores.
Once designers create their custom vignettes with manufacturer products, consumers can shop directly from the moodboard. Mine personnel handles all billing and logistics including delivery, and the designer receives a check when the transaction is complete.
“This shopppable design can be broadcast on the social channels and website of the designer,” Harrington said. “It turns the moodboard into a shoppable e-commerce experience.”
“Designers using Studio Mine can also build a profile that showcases numerous shoppable ‘designs’,” Harrington said. “The number of vignettes is limited only by the designer’s time capacity to create. Once live on site, all of the designs can be shared and shopped anywhere on the web.
“We have a live marketplace with inventory,” he added. “Currently, we have more than 250,000 SKUs and are updating the site daily. We are in the process of adding another 30 vendors in the next few weeks and we won’t stop there.”
Model homes that showcase manufacturer products
Noting that his goal with Mine is to “make the world shoppable,” Harrington has also built a network of 1,560 physical furniture showrooms across the U.S. in recent years, and these showrooms connect manufacturers and retailers with designers in a different setting.
Through work with builder groups in every part of the country, Harrington developed a plan for “showrooms” in model homes that feature curated products courtesy of designers working with builders, a physical version of shoppable design that allows a consumer to buy a home and furnish it at the same time with items used in the model space. Designers can work with manufacturers as well as local retailers for product sourcing and fulfillment, connecting consumers with each through turnkey interiors in new home communities.
“These showrooms in model homes are open seven days a week and feature dozens of manufacturers,” Harrington said. “In one community alone, we have 16 model homes and 55 different beds shown just on one street. We partner with top homebuilders, often in master plan communities, and the diversity of product on show is quite significant. We’re connecting builders with designers, consumers with designers and manufacturers with all of the above.”
With previous experience at Restoration Hardware, Harrington is well-versed in many of the challenges faced by designers, retailers and manufacturers. Noting that he believes interior design is one of the most challenging professions when considering sourcing, logistics and installations, Harrington says that his goal is to give designers, their customers, homebuyers and builders the tools they need to create beautiful living spaces with product from leading manufacturers.
“We’re the largest furniture store by door in the U.S.,” Harrington said. “You could think of us as matchmakers bringing everyone together in one platform.
“We have built tools to reduce the chance of error. We take on the role of procurement, improving turnaround times and managing the line-by-line checklist of logistics and delivery. Manufacturers are introduced to consumers who might not otherwise know them. Designers earn revenue on every sale generated, a passive revenue opportunity where we handle the complexity of fulfillment and customer service.”
“Our showrooms play a role in introducing both the trade and consumer to learn about brands they may not have seen before,” he continued. “We encourage our designers to attend market where they can experience the vast breadth of vendors and their respective assortments on display.”
Harrington noted that designers using Studio Mine have the option to turn their projects into physical showrooms and add them to the network that already exists. These physical spaces could be in model homes, short-term rentals, restaurants or hotels, he said.
“In the near future, thousands of designers will be adding tens of thousands of new shoppable spaces every year,” he said.
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