Navigating Furniture Rental in the Age of Contactless Delivery

“We’re finding our work from home items have been extra popular lately,” Barow says. “We’re actually seeing customers who specifically want an office setup that’s separate from their table, or in some cases their bed, because it helps them with comfort and posture.”

The company has also been forced to make quick changes to its delivery services in order to ensure the safety of its associates and customers, including a default delivery option of a no-contact curbside drop-off. Associates will still assemble most furniture that fits through a doorway, and will then place them outside the customer’s door.

For those who choose traditional delivery, Fernish associates apply hand sanitizer, wear gloves and a mask, and maintain a distance of at least 6 feet away, says Barlow. (It also asks customers to do the same.)

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“While we’ve always used an industrial cleaning process for all of our furniture — and always go through a thorough inspection, cleaning, and refurbishing process by our expert in-house team — we are also now taking extra care in sterilizing our delivery vehicles each and every day,” he adds.

Beyond flexible fulfillment, Fernish is also prioritizing its customer engagement efforts at this time. In addition to customer service via phone and e-mail, the company has also embedded a chat function on its website. Delivery updates are shared via text messaging, and all customers are offered the chance to provide feedback in a satisfaction surveys.

“Internally, we keep a close eye on our most popular SKUs in order to make sure we have enough inventory to satisfy customer demand,” Barow says. “We want to ensure items coming back from customers are being cleaned, refurbished and put back into circulation. So refurb rates are another key part of running a smooth operation.”

Fernish, which currently operates in the Los Angeles and Seattle areas, intends to expand to additional markets this year.