Question 1

What is Article?

Accepted Answer

Article is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) modern furniture brand that designs and sells high-quality, mid-century modern furniture online and through physical showrooms. Founded in 2013 in Vancouver, Canada, Article has grown to become a $200M+ revenue company with over 1,000 employees, offering a curated selection of 2,000+ furniture SKUs with a focus on Scandinavian minimalist design and clean lines.

Question 2

Who founded Article and what's the company's origin story?

Accepted Answer

Article was founded in 2013 by Aamir Baig (CEO) and Andy Prochazka, along with other tech entrepreneurs who were frustrated with the furniture retail industry. They noticed that IKEA had painful assembly processes while traditional retailers like Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel charged 3x markups due to retail overhead. Their vision was to create a direct factory-to-consumer model that eliminated the retail middleman and made beautiful, quality furniture accessible at fair prices.

Question 3

How does Article's business model differ from traditional furniture retailers?

Accepted Answer

Article uses a direct-to-consumer (DTC) vertical integration model where they design furniture in-house and manufacture directly through factories in Vietnam and Malaysia, bypassing retail intermediaries. This approach allows them to offer quality mid-century modern furniture at significantly lower prices than traditional retailers while maintaining high margins. The company combines e-commerce with a newer omnichannel strategy featuring digital-first physical showrooms.

Question 4

What types of furniture does Article sell?

Accepted Answer

Article specializes in mid-century modern furniture with a Scandinavian minimalist aesthetic, featuring clean lines and natural materials like walnut and oak. Their curated product range includes sofas (averaging $1,500), chairs, tables, beds, storage solutions, and home décor items, totaling over 2,000 SKUs. This curated approach contrasts with competitors like Wayfair that offer 14 million products, allowing Article to maintain quality and aesthetic consistency.

Question 5

How are Article's prices compared to competitors like West Elm and Wayfair?

Accepted Answer

Article's pricing is significantly more competitive than traditional retailers. For example, Article's mid-century modern sofas average around $1,500, while equivalent West Elm pieces can cost $4,500. Article achieves these lower prices through direct manufacturing and eliminating retail middleman costs. Their prices are also more accessible than high-end furniture stores while offering better design aesthetics than mass-market alternatives.

Question 6

What is Article's approach to shipping and returns?

Accepted Answer

Article offers free shipping on orders, making furniture delivery more affordable for customers. The company also provides a 30-day return policy, giving customers time to evaluate their purchases. This customer-friendly approach is part of Article's strategy to reduce friction in online furniture shopping, though the company did experience strained customer service during the post-pandemic correction period due to high return volumes.

Question 7

What makes Article's design philosophy unique?

Accepted Answer

Article's design philosophy centers on mid-century modern aesthetics with Scandinavian minimalist influences, emphasizing clean lines, functional beauty, and quality materials like walnut and oak. The brand specifically targets urban millennials aged 25-40 with $75K+ income who appreciate minimalist design and reject both cheap assembly-required furniture and overly expensive traditional retail markups. This coherent design direction helps Article differentiate from marketplace-style competitors with fragmented aesthetics.

Question 8

Who is Article's target customer?

Accepted Answer

Article primarily targets urban millennials aged 25-40 with household incomes of $75K or more who value modern design and quality. These customers are typically first-time homebuyers or young professionals seeking contemporary furniture that reflects their aesthetic preferences without the high markup of traditional retailers. The brand built significant traction through Instagram marketing with #ArticleHome generating 500K+ posts from style-conscious customers.

Question 9

What are Article's physical showrooms and how do they work?

Accepted Answer

Article operates over 50 digital-first physical showrooms across major U.S. markets including Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Toronto. These 5,000 sq ft showrooms feature a 'try before buy' model with no inventory on-site—customers experience furniture in person using QR codes to order directly. This innovative omnichannel approach, launched in 2018, reduces returns while maintaining the efficiency of the DTC model.

Question 10

How did Article perform during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Accepted Answer

Article experienced significant growth during 2020-2021 as pandemic-driven nesting demand and remote work boosted home furniture sales. The company's revenue doubled to over $200M+ during this period, and demand for home office furniture surged. However, this growth led to severe supply chain strain with backorders extending 6+ months, and the company faced challenges as pandemic demand eventually normalized.

Question 11

What challenges has Article faced in recent years?

Accepted Answer

After explosive pandemic growth, Article faced a post-pandemic correction starting in 2022. The furniture market declined 15%, mortgage rate increases killed moving demand, and industry competitors like Wayfair laid off 20% of staff. Article experienced oversupply in inventory, strained customer service and returns processing, yet continued expanding showrooms to 50+ locations as part of their omnichannel strategy to weather the market downturn.

Question 12

How does Article compare to major competitors like Wayfair?

Accepted Answer

Wayfair generates $12B in revenue but operates as a marketplace with 14 million SKUs and lower profitability, while Article focuses on a curated 2,000-SKU selection with stronger unit economics and design consistency. Other competitors include West Elm ($1.5B, owned by Williams-Sonoma with 100+ retail stores), Floyd ($50M, modular furniture specialist), and Burrow ($100M, modular sofas). Article's competitive advantage lies in its DTC vertical integration, coherent design aesthetic, and direct manufacturing relationships.

Question 13

How does Article use digital marketing and social media?

Accepted Answer

Article built significant brand awareness through Instagram influencer marketing and user-generated content, with #ArticleHome generating over 500,000 posts from customers showcasing styled rooms and product unboxings. This organic social media presence helped the brand reach and resonate with urban millennials, making digital-first marketing a core part of Article's brand strategy. The hashtag became a community hub for modern furniture enthusiasts.

Question 14

Where is Article headquartered and what is its organizational structure?

Accepted Answer

Article is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with over 1,000 employees supporting operations across the United States and Canada. The company maintains its tech-entrepreneur roots in Vancouver while operating significant U.S. operations supporting sales, customer service, showroom management, and logistics. This distributed structure allows Article to combine design and manufacturing oversight from Vancouver with customer-facing operations across North America.

Question 15

How has Article's product selection strategy evolved since 2013?

Accepted Answer

Article started with a beta launch of 100 SKUs in 2013, focusing on a carefully curated mid-century modern collection. As the company grew through 2015-2019, they expanded their offering while maintaining strict design guidelines to avoid the 'everything to everyone' trap that plagues large marketplaces. Their decision to keep selection at 2,000+ curated SKUs (versus Wayfair's 14 million) reflects a strategic choice to prioritize design coherence, quality control, and customer experience over maximum variety.

Question 16

What is Article's growth trajectory and funding history?

Accepted Answer

Article was founded in 2013 and raised approximately $50M+ in seed and Series A funding from investors including Greycroft and Spruce House during 2014-2017. The company experienced hypergrowth from 2015-2019, then explosive pandemic-driven expansion in 2020-2021 reaching $200M+ revenue. While facing market headwinds post-2022, Article has maintained its $200M+ revenue level in 2024 while strategically expanding its physical showroom footprint to 50+ locations.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Article?

Who founded Article and what's the company's origin story?

How does Article's business model differ from traditional furniture retailers?

What types of furniture does Article sell?

How are Article's prices compared to competitors like West Elm and Wayfair?

What is Article's approach to shipping and returns?

What makes Article's design philosophy unique?

Who is Article's target customer?

What are Article's physical showrooms and how do they work?

How did Article perform during the COVID-19 pandemic?

What challenges has Article faced in recent years?

How does Article compare to major competitors like Wayfair?

How does Article use digital marketing and social media?

Where is Article headquartered and what is its organizational structure?

How has Article's product selection strategy evolved since 2013?

What is Article's growth trajectory and funding history?

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