Home furnishings marketplace Chairish rides the tariff wave as shoppers seek duty-free options
Online vintage furniture marketplace Chairish is seeing a boost in customer engagement and sales thanks to a marketing campaign that leans into a growing consumer concern: tariffs.
In early April, Chairish launched a campaign with slogans like “U.S. Vintage is Tariff Free” and “0% Tariffs. 100% Chic,” spotlighting the fact that the majority of its inventory — primarily U.S.-sourced vintage furniture — is exempt from import duties. Since then, the company has seen click-through rates on its tariff-free ads outperform other campaigns by 71%, and sales tied to the messaging are up 5% compared to non-tariff-themed ads. When the campaign was featured on Chairish’s homepage, sales rose 14% above the monthly average, according to the company.
“We’re really excited because we just broke the tape on selling over a million items on our platform,” said Chairish co-founder and president Anna Brockway. “And what we’re seeing is that vintage, especially U.S. vintage, is becoming a practical and stylish solution as tariffs make newly made furniture more expensive.”
The message appears to be resonating with new customers. In May, first-time buyer counts rose nearly 11% year over year, signaling growing interest from shoppers who may once have turned to traditional retail but are now seeking more affordable or accessible alternatives.
Brockway declined to disclose the company’s revenue but said Chairish surpassed $100 million in annual gross merchandise value several years ago. Chairish’s global sales were flat last year, but the company is projecting single-digit revenue growth this year.
Chairish operates as a peer-to-peer marketplace for pre-owned furniture and home decor. Unlike full-service platforms that pick up, store, list and deliver items, Chairish doesn’t hold inventory or operate its own warehouses or delivery trucks. Brockway said this lean operating model has enabled Chairish to scale efficiently despite broader challenges in the home furnishings industry. The company generates revenue by taking a commission on each sale.
Tariffs meet housing slump
Founded in 2013, Chairish’s tariff-free push is coming at a time when furniture companies in general have been weathering a tough housing market. Last month was the slowest May for existing home sales since 2009, according to the National Association of Realtors. Indeed, affordability remains a key challenge. The median home sale price in the U.S. hit a record $396,500 for the four weeks ending June 15, per real estate company Redfin.
Brockway attributed part of Chairish’s recent success to its focus on U.S. inventory, which currently makes up the lion’s share of what the company sells. Unlike newly manufactured furniture — much of which is manufactured and imported from overseas via China or Southeast Asia and subject to tariffs — vintage goods sold domestically avoid extra fees and long lead times. “Not only is [U.S. vintage] not having the tariffs, but it’s also not having the lead time problems, and it’s drama-free,” Brockway said. “We know it’s already here.”
Still, Chairish isn’t completely immune from tariffs. Roughly 30% of Chairish’s inventory comes from European sellers via its 2021 acquisition of Berlin-based secondhand furniture marketplace Pamono. Items imported from Europe currently carry a 10% tariff, and that figure could jump to 50% by early July if a trade deal isn’t reached.
Chairish isn’t pulling back on its European dealer relationships, but it is ramping up U.S. seller recruitment. “A year ago, most of our acquisition efforts were focused on Europe,” Brockway said. “Now, we’re turning up the volume on the U.S. side, too.”
Chairish’s messaging around tariff-free inventory now appears across paid and unpaid social media, search advertising, email marketing and on-site curations. A dedicated “Tariff Free” collection on Chairish’s homepage directs shoppers to a selection of American vintage furniture pieces, many of which are eligible for offer-based pricing. “We test messaging, and if it doesn’t work, we pull it,” Brockway said. “The fact that this campaign is still running tells you it’s working.”
Trade professionals are also buying into the message. Chairish’s “trade” business, which serves interior designers, has grown 14% year over year since the campaign’s launch. These B2B buyers tend to work with affluent clients who are willing to invest in design but still notice when prices rise. “What we’re seeing is the customer is not insensitive to price,” Brockway said. “And the notion of buying American vintage and avoiding the tariffs is really meaningful.”
Vintage gains new ground
To Brockway, the tariff-induced bump is reminiscent of the company’s pandemic-era boom, driven this time by consumer concerns over tariffs. Chairish, like other home furnishings companies, enjoyed a spike in demand during the pandemic as consumers spent more time at home, with Chairish’s sales doubling year over year during that time. Just as supply chain disruptions during the pandemic pushed consumers toward vintage alternatives, the current tariff landscape is driving shoppers to seek out Chairish’s U.S.-based inventory, Brockway said.
Over the past couple of years, though, many furniture players have seen sales fall as shoppers have pulled back on large purchases and home sales have fallen amid sky-high mortgage rates. Secondhand furniture company Kaiyo, for instance, started winding down operations last year. More recently, discount furniture company At Home filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, with steep tariffs on Chinese imports threatening the beleaguered furniture company’s business model.
With a soft housing market and slowing consumer demand impacting the broader home furnishings sector, Chairish’s emphasis on affluent buyers and digitally curated resale may give it a leg up.
“Our customer is very affluent. … Their homes are worth well north of $2 million,” Brockway said. “In that world, of course, our customer is a little more resilient.”
Julian Buckner, co-founder and CEO of the luxury furniture company Vesta, said Chairish’s marketing approach has been especially effective in setting the retailer apart.
“The non-tariff marketing campaign that Chairish has done has been very smart; it’s a good way to differentiate,” Buckner said. He also pointed to a broader design trend that Chairish appears well-positioned to ride. “We’re starting to see a lot more demand for found goods, more eclectic taste, more interspersing antiques into modern and even more traditionally built homes,” he said. That shift away from “a more purist contemporary look” is well aligned with Chairish’s vintage aesthetic. “I think there’s probably a confluence of things that are helping that business out.”
As for whether Chairish expects the current momentum to last, Brockway is cautiously optimistic.
“If tariffs increase, we’re going to see the desire for U.S. vintage just go up,” she said. “And if they go away, it’ll be interesting to see what happens. But what we know from Covid is that people who come to vintage tend to stick around.”