Furniture News explores the practices and philosophies behind website Urban Icon, in an interview with owner Jonathan Spence. Urban Icon is an online retail store that specialises in attractive, state-of-the-art designer home and garden furniture, and offers over 400 products.
Why visit your website?
All the designer pieces in our online store are aesthetically inspirational, functional and a must-have for the home and they all come from Europe’s leading design centres. Users can transform their homes with designer art and furniture from some of the industry’s most reputable brands such as Gallotti & Radice, Witamina D and Planika.
How did you enter this industry?
Urban Icon is the brainchild of my business partner Mike Laking and I. With over 10 years’ experience in the industry, we came to realise that many manufacturers needed another platform to showcase their beautiful furniture designs for the domestic environment. Hence Urban Icon was born.
Who is your e-commerce hero?
Not too sure about a hero but I really admire James Lillis – I can just hear everyone saying ‘who?’!
Yes sure it would have been easy to pick Jeff Bezos but James Lillis’ story resonates so much with our approach and philosophy that I just had to choose him. He is the owner of Black Milk Clothing based in Australia and if you have a teenage daughter I am confident that they will know of the funky leggings/clothing that they sell online.
Black Milk Clothing really pioneer the power of social media with Instagram/Twitter and Facebook being a focal point of the brand and making them accessible rather than just having an e-commerce website selling products they really engage with their audience and tell stories – something we would love to emulate with our new domestic furniture ranges!
Describe a typical working day
I really don’t think there is a typical day! I spend a lot of time speaking with architects/designers/contractors regarding their schemes that require our standard products or bespoke options. I also converse with our partners that are based all over Europe and my Polish, Italian and Spanish is improving with every year!
What part of your job would you prefer to avoid?
Administration.
What has been your greatest challenge to date?
Making the leap from being a senior manager in a large PLC with all the benefits, comfort and security that entails to pushing through an MBO with a partner and becoming an entrepreneur in uncharted waters for the first time.
How much do you invest in making your site more visible?
A lot in both time, energy and money. We utilise Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Pheed well and have thousands of followers that we engage with. Our relationship with our web company is also crucial and we regularly meet to discuss the performance and how we can improve.
What’s your take on how the relationship between online and physical retail might develop?
I would have said that at one point in time a showroom or physical presence in our industry would have been a given for success, but with clients being ever-more tech-savvy and comfortable with online purchases, it’s less of a prerequisite now. Manufacturers are better now at providing sales materials that are of a higher quality – whether it’s images, PDFs, finishes or renders that we can use – and it’s a given that a great looking and functional website is key to success.
“A showroom or physical presence in our industry... is less of a prerequisite now”
Do you have any plans to grow your business?
Yes we are excited by the future and have seen growth over the last three years in our contract business after the economic crisis in 2008. Our focus is always on consolidating sales growth and the website has been developed to capitalise on the confidence in the UK housing market, although we do work overseas too!
What advice would you offer an aspiring e-tailer?
Have conviction in what you do, be prepared to work harder than you have ever done before and go for it! Have fun!
This article was featured in the April issue of Furniture News magazine.
