Shownotes
Omni Talk Retail is live from eTail West 2026 with continued coverage powered by NetElixir.
In this interview, recorded on site at eTail West, Anne Mezzenga speaks with Alex Seaman, Senior Vice President of Furniture.com, about the company’s recent relaunch and its vision for the future of furniture shopping.
Furniture.com is building a unified, AI driven platform designed to simplify one of retail’s most complex and considered purchases. By partnering with trusted national furniture retailers, the platform enables shoppers to browse, compare, and check out across multiple merchants in one seamless experience, while retailers retain ownership of fulfillment and first party customer relationships.
Alex explains how Furniture.com is leveraging standardized product data, conversational search, and its in house AI agent Dottie to reduce decision fatigue and bring joy back to home design. The conversation also explores why brand trust and strong retail partnerships will matter even more as AI powered discovery reshapes how consumers shop.
Key Topics Covered:
- The recent Furniture.com relaunch and AI powered foundation
- Agentic checkout and multi merchant cart functionality
- Standardizing and enriching product data across 75 plus retailers
- Why trust and brand strength matter in an AI driven search landscape
- Balancing B2B retailer partnerships with a shopper first experience
- Solving decision fatigue in high consideration purchases like furniture
Stay tuned for more interviews from eTail West 2026.
#eTailWest #RetailInnovation #Ecommerce #AIinRetail #FurnitureRetail #OmniChannel #DigitalCommerce #RetailLeadership
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Transcripts
This is omnitalk Retail.
Speaker A:I'm Anne Mazenga.
Speaker A:We are so thrilled to be able to bring you loads of interviews this week with the retailers and the brands that are shaping the future of the retail industry.
Speaker A:Now before we get started here, I want to make sure we give a big thank you to Net Elixir.
Speaker A:Net Elixir is the AI powered growth engine behind mid size E commerce at brand brand growth for over 22 years.
Speaker A:Big thank you to Net Elixir for helping us bring you all of our coverage of ETOs this week.
Speaker A:So now without further ado, let me introduce my guest.
Speaker A:Next to me I have Alex Seaman.
Speaker A:Alex is the SVP and co founder of furniture.com and first, Alex, thank you for this beautiful setup.
Speaker A:This is the most comfortable interview I've ever been able to, to do in my probably entire career.
Speaker A:So thank you.
Speaker B:We're thrilled to hear it.
Speaker B:We're furniture people.
Speaker A:You are?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Well, tell us more about that for our audience who are meeting furniture.com for the first time.
Speaker A:Tell us a little bit about, about the company and then what you oversee in your role as svp.
Speaker B:Yeah, so, so I actually come from a background or a family business of traditional retail furniture.
Speaker B:So big mass market, you know, lots of stores and I've, I've grown up around that my whole life.
Speaker B:You know, actually my dad's business is one year older than me.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker B:Yeah, so, so I, that's really how I came up.
Speaker B:And then after I went, you know, after I worked in tech post business school, we acquired the domain furniture.com and we sort of.
Speaker A:That's lucky in itself.
Speaker A:I mean that's a big deal right there.
Speaker B:It's great.
Speaker B:It's a great domain name.
Speaker B:It's pretty clear what we do.
Speaker B:But we sort of said to ourselves, okay, the sort of E commerce, digital commerce landscape is changing so much.
Speaker B:We feel like we really know furniture shoppers and we really understand furniture retailers retail.
Speaker B:And so how do we create a platform that's going to be the best furniture shopper experience and bring the best parts of the stores and the retailers, the trusted national retailers that we all
Speaker A:know
Speaker B:into your phone, onto your phone.
Speaker B:And so that's sort of where furniture.com was incubated, if you will, four years ago.
Speaker B:We launched the site a couple of years ago and we actually relaunched the site a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker A:Oh my gosh.
Speaker A:That's a huge task.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Huge.
Speaker B:And it's completely, completely different.
Speaker B:It really is built on Top of, you know, AI, if you will.
Speaker B:But I think, I think what's really the most unique and Most interesting about furniture.com is it's kind of the one place, the one tab instead of the 20 tabs that you can go if you're shopping for furniture, where you could shop your favorite trusted retailers and brands.
Speaker B:And we help you narrow down.
Speaker B:We have furniture, merchandising and design expertise that's built into Dottie, who's our agent, she's the design expert.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker B:And then you can actually check out in one car, one multi merchant cart now.
Speaker B:And so I think, you know, it's one place to go when you're shopping for furniture.
Speaker A:And it's a dropship model.
Speaker A:It's all housed like.
Speaker A:Tell us a little bit about like the, the experience both from a consumer side and then how operations are handled.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's, it's, that's a great question.
Speaker B:We're actually so from the shopper experience it feels sort of like a blend of maybe a lot of the great platforms they know and love.
Speaker B:And the furniture shopper is somebody who's typically using like four or five different tools, has probably, I think 13 tabs open, spends like 12 plus hours and they get caught in this like decision fatigue.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so that's what we are trying to solve.
Speaker B:And so how do we bring those tools and lay them atop like in a seamless, easy, pleasant, fun, navigable way that doesn't feel like work.
Speaker B:Lay them atop sort of just the furniture shopping feed.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:And so how do you bring non product content into the feed that has, you know, guides.
Speaker B:How do you bring like tools like room designer, complete the room, similar items.
Speaker B:How do you all those types of things into the product feed and I think do it in a way that doesn't feel overwhelming and that really just meets the shopper wherever they are in their journey.
Speaker B:So for the shopper, that's sort of what we're trying to do.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Help you decide and help you do it in one place and then help you check out easily, seamlessly.
Speaker B:And then our model is actually not dropship.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:It's agentic commerce, but it's an agentic checkout.
Speaker B:And so we are facilitating checkout on behalf of the shopper with our participating retailers.
Speaker B:If you know, like Google's Buy for me tool, it's similar, similar to that.
Speaker A:Fascinating.
Speaker A:Okay, so you're really doing, you're partnering with brands like Rugs, usa, Rooms to Go, all of those, giving those to me in one shoppable platform and then I can, I can, you know, do a multi cart now it sounds like.
Speaker A:And in a snap, how, how people are actually shopping for furniture.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:Almost like auto checkout on steroids for, for the shopper.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I think what's key here is so they check out on furniture.com.
Speaker B:it's great.
Speaker B:It's clear that they're going to get like their shipping follow ups from the individual retailers.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:And the retailers are the ones who are the experts, the in shipping who have built their logistics, you know, operations over decades and decades.
Speaker B:And like we don't, we don't need to even try to do that.
Speaker B:They're, they're the best at that.
Speaker B:And so we just want to connect the shopper with the right product from the right retailer and then let them, you know, do what they're best at.
Speaker B:And for the retailers it's great because, you know, it's as opposed to generating leads and there's attribution gray area.
Speaker B:They're paying for what they eat, they're paying only for a sale and they get to retain that shopper in their loyalty.
Speaker A:They get that first party data.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker A:Huge part of, of what retailers are trying to hold on to, especially in this age of agent.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker A:Well, Alex, you just got off stage talking about how retailers should be prepared for kind of this shift in omnichannel shopping.
Speaker A:What, what did you share on stage that you think is kind of most important for the audience there and for our audience to take away?
Speaker B:Yeah, I think that people, you know, we talk about Omnichannel and the title was Everything Everywhere all at once.
Speaker B:Like there's so many channels, there's so much information and advertising coming at shoppers all the time, right in their hands, right on their phones.
Speaker B:And how do you cut through that noise?
Speaker B:And I think brands are also worried about like AI, like is brand still going to matter?
Speaker B:And I think a lot of people make the argument that it'll matter less.
Speaker B:I would make the argument that it matters a lot.
Speaker B:And this is why brands that have strong, you know, great reviews, great products, whether it's like an actual physical product or a technological product, great products, great customer service and just a really helpful experience like utility and that have a very clear message.
Speaker B:Those are the brands that the AI agents are going to share back in their results when they're prompted.
Speaker B:And so if you want to make sure you show up in this age of AI that we're going into, you need to make sure that your own brand experience is really strong and really consistent.
Speaker B:Across channels and really trustworthy.
Speaker B:Trust is really, really important and it's important to consumers.
Speaker B:The age of all the sponsored ads, just like competing and bidding against each other, it's changing.
Speaker B:And I think that like, I think brand is still top of mind, at least for us, for sure.
Speaker A:So then, Alex, how does furniture.com kind of set that apart so that you are preparing for this agentic future?
Speaker A:What components are there when you built furniture.com, what has to be there?
Speaker A:What are your non negotiables in order for you to be successful as you kind of continue building the brand?
Speaker B:Yeah, I think, I think our biggest secret sauce, to be honest with you, is not technology.
Speaker B:I think it's, I think it's the retail partners.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Like, you know, if you compare us to these other big marketplaces that sell furniture or sell furniture and other things, furniture is a very, very considered purchase behind a home and a car.
Speaker B:It's the third most expensive thing that someone buys.
Speaker B:And it's very visual and it's very tactile.
Speaker B:And that's why like furniture stores are, they're, they're not going anywhere, which is great.
Speaker B:And so we said let's work with the real trusted retailers, not random white label brands from overseas.
Speaker B:The ones here, the ones who have, you know, a large degree of the, of market share, but it's so fragmented.
Speaker B:So how do we take that fragmented landscape?
Speaker B:It's fragmented.
Speaker B:It's, it's, it's like geographically based.
Speaker B:And how do we put it into one central, integrated, easy to use shopper experience?
Speaker B:And it was, it was no small feat.
Speaker B:But I think the retailers themselves, their products, the quality of their products, their brands are really, really core.
Speaker B:And I think that really is like what we rest, we rest on is that great product.
Speaker B:And then I think the other thing that, you know, and, or beyond that, what's really important to us is like shopper experience above all.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like we're a B2B2C business.
Speaker B:We're obviously a consumer business, but our, our customers, we get paid by our retail partners.
Speaker B:Um, and so, you know, there's always push and pull between, there's always push and pull there.
Speaker B:And we, I think for me the reality is the retailers we work with will be the most successful when we're the most successful, and we're going to be the most successful when we have the best experience for all shoppers.
Speaker B:And so we can't start biasing.
Speaker B:We have to make sure that we are really trustworthy, that the results are really the most Relevant results and that we are always choosing whatever is best for the shopper.
Speaker A:I think I brilliantly said Alex, I wonder how do those conversations go?
Speaker A:Because I have to imagine as a Rooms to Go right now I'm thinking about what's my own agentic strategy or my own e commerce strategy.
Speaker A:How do you see the partnership with furniture.com?
Speaker A:do you think that's an additive partnership to them?
Speaker A:Is it competitive in a way?
Speaker A:Like how do, how do you, you kind of hedge that conversation with your retail partners?
Speaker A:Because I'm guessing they're asking that question when they, when they first talk to you.
Speaker B:They definitely do.
Speaker B:And for transparency sake.
Speaker B:Rooms to Go is my dad's business.
Speaker A:Oh, wow.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:So that's the family business that I grew up in.
Speaker B:So they definitely support furniture.com 100%.
Speaker B:And you know, I, I would say this.
Speaker B:I actually.
Speaker B:And you asked me earlier about my role.
Speaker B:I do a lot of things, but I'm very, very tapped in to our part and speaking with the retailers.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:You know, and I think, because I think I understand them and it's level.
Speaker B:I understand the furniture industry.
Speaker A:You've been in it your whole life.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:And I think, you know, that question does come up all the time.
Speaker B:Is it additive?
Speaker B:Is it going to compete?
Speaker B:Is it.
Speaker B:You know, and, and I think the answer is the retail world is obviously changing.
Speaker B:It's obviously adapting and are evolving.
Speaker B:And I think, you know, furniture is interesting.
Speaker B:It's a, it's, it's for what a big industry.
Speaker B:It is and successful industry.
Speaker B:It is, it's, it's a little bit, it's a little bit technologically archaic.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Not every business, but as a whole, and I think they, most of them would agree they're not alone.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:They're not alone.
Speaker B:It's a lot of retail.
Speaker A:But yes.
Speaker B:And so, you know, we really want to be sort of the technology or e commerce technology, digital kind of AI solution on behalf of our retail partners.
Speaker B:We want to make sure that the things I mentioned earlier that are important that they show up as.
Speaker B:And the rate of change is so fast now with AI that they're showing up in these new landscapes of discovery.
Speaker B:And we want to make sure that their store experience, the core like best parts of their store experience, which is the curation, the merchandising, all those things, the personalization, like how can we bring that into one integrated platform?
Speaker B:And then we really want to meet the shoppers where they are today, in today's shopper.
Speaker B:They do want to cross shop.
Speaker B:They don't necessarily want.
Speaker B:And Rooms To Go.
Speaker B:I mean, my, my family business, like, Rooms To Go is amazing business and it's built on the premise, like we're going to design all your.
Speaker B:Every room or the whole room.
Speaker B:And it's a great premise and it's very successful.
Speaker B:But I think, you know, there are a lot of shoppers out there who want to design rooms from different brands.
Speaker B:And so how do we help them design their whole room?
Speaker B:Complete the room, you know, in a budget or whatever it may be.
Speaker B:But across retailers.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And in an omnichannel way, whether they want to pick something up or they, you know, they have, they have a lot more.
Speaker A:I don't know, it's really a convenience tool, it seems like, to simplify that process from having to go to 20 furniture stores on a weekend.
Speaker A:Can you, can you start that online and then make some decisions about where to go?
Speaker B:And I would say beyond.
Speaker B:Beyond that.
Speaker B:And many people do, they go between online and store all the time.
Speaker B:And I think it's great.
Speaker B:But for us, what furniture.com is really doing is it's meeting the shopper at that moment of, like, decision fatigue where you kind of know what you want, maybe, or you have an idea, maybe you don't know how to describe it, maybe you're not sure if it's contemporary or modern.
Speaker B:Maybe you have 20 tabs open and you have Google sheets and you have a shared note with your partner.
Speaker B:And like, how do we.
Speaker A:It's like you're reading into my mind, right?
Speaker A:Like you have that visibility and all
Speaker B:of a sudden, I mean, I'm a mind reader, but like, all of a sudden it's like shopping for furniture.
Speaker B:Designing your home used to be and should be a joyful experience.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And I think the overstimulation and the over sort of so many choices, it becomes exhausting.
Speaker B:And we're trying to kind of help you through that.
Speaker B:And we use AI in that way heavily, but help you through that and, and make it joyful again.
Speaker A:Well, and I think that, as you expressed earlier, too, you're also helping some of the retailers on the platform to be present, to show up in some of those Agentix searches or to show up in just a regular search.
Speaker A:Now, if they're on the furniture.com platform in addition to their own.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I think.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:And you know, the biggest challenge we had to solve when we started furniture.com nearly four years ago, and we just relaunched it a few weeks ago, but was we're ingesting data from right now upwards of 75 retailers.
Speaker B:And their product data, their product feeds, all very different.
Speaker B:They come in many different shapes and forms.
Speaker B:So how do you integrate with them, ingest them, but then standardize them into like a common standard product data language and then of course enrich that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so we built AI models to do the standardization, the enrichment.
Speaker B:It's now become much scaled and much faster.
Speaker B:And so what that does really is it has given us, call it like the building blocks or the information to call upon when we're building something like using machine learning models to build something like conversational search, semantic search or Dottie.
Speaker B:Our, our, our in house LLM.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:So she's trained on very, very specific furniture and design knowledge.
Speaker B:But she also, you know, the data had to be ingestible in that way for conversational chat.
Speaker B:Conversational search.
Speaker B:And so then what happens is it's now it lives in a.
Speaker B:In that way, ingestible for conversational searching, conversational chat and prompting.
Speaker B:Beyond furniture.com.
Speaker A:right.
Speaker A: Okay, Alex, what is ahead in: Speaker A:You just relaunched the site.
Speaker A:You've got Dottie working to help people coming to furniture.com who want to search for mid century bohemian ski house, whatever the quest may be.
Speaker A:What are you excited about doing for your customers this year and your retail partners?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Oh my God, so much.
Speaker B:I mean, I think since we just relaunched, I think the biggest thing I'm honestly excited about, of course the product is going to evolve and very quickly now with how we're working, but I think so you'll see things like Dottie, you'll see things like in feed content, all these really cool consumer features become just like almost far more integrated into the core site experience, which is really fun.
Speaker B:And then you'll see some added really cool tools, things like complete the room, things like Room Designer.
Speaker B:And again, those will feel really integrated.
Speaker B:I think they'll feel very different than some of the tools that are out there, of course, because they also live in a shoppable experience.
Speaker B:But I think beyond that, the thing I'm most excited about is marketing furniture.com like now we have this great product and I think it's easy to market a great product, it's hard to market a bad one, it's easy to market a great one.
Speaker B: that forward in a big way in: Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:Well, thank you so much, Alex.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Co founder and svp@furniture.com thanks again to Net Elixir for helping us bring you all of our Etail west coverage.
Speaker A:Stay tuned.
Speaker A:We have so, so much more to.