mokebo®: Seamless Furniture – From the Factory Floor to Your Living Room

mokebo^® is one of the fastest-growing furniture direct-to-consumer businesses in Germany. Since 2018, the company has been offering end customers functional & affordable furnishing concepts with timeless designs. What sets it apart is its consistent focus on multichannel strategies right from the start. The core of e-commerce is being present wherever potential customers prefer to shop online. The Cologne-based company relies on exclusive furniture ranges from a diverse array of manufacturers and supports these brands in their digitalisation efforts. What makes mokebo^® unique in the furniture industry is the automation of business processes and the establishment of an efficient supply chain concept. With the help of PlentyONE, the furniture specialists design vertical brand distribution on the largest online platforms in European e-commerce. In this way, mokebo^® merges conventional furniture retail with an agile and automated digital concept for the next generation of furniture e-commerce. 

Steep growth thanks to clear focus on digitalization and multichannel

In 2018, Philip Kehela and Moritz Messinger founded the company with a clear vision and precise focus. They recognised the vertical, platform-oriented distribution of home furniture as a genuine niche in the European market. As digital natives, they gained their first professional experience in various industries after a stay abroad in the USA. Through their work at Amazon and PricewaterhouseCoopers, among others, the idea of digital multichannel furniture sales continued to develop. This culminated in the joint foundation of the company in March 2018. The first product was launched online in May of the same year and remains one of the bestsellers today: a functional wardrobe still sold under the product name “Der Lange”. The ambitious founders aimed to establish a German furniture brand that offers functional and conscious furnishings for every budget and all life situations. Multichannel sales were a central component of this vision, leading to a swift connection with PlentyONE. In the highly competitive “home and living” sector, customers should be able to buy mokebo^® products wherever they prefer to shop online. The founders quickly specialised in the storage, home textiles, seating, and upholstered furniture product segments. Under the motto “timeless, functional, affordable,” the company now sells furniture for a wide range of living spaces and purposes from its base in Cologne. Whether furnishing a cosy children's room, finding the right furniture for a functional office, or sourcing affordable furniture for your first shared flat, mokebo^® is the right partner, regardless of your budget. All signs point to growth for the young furniture innovators: further expansion is planned based on turnover, which grew from 80,000 euros in 2018 to over 3 million euros in 2020.

Hand in hand - as an e-commerce bridge for established brands

mokebo^® builds a bridge between traditional furniture retailers and e-commerce. Where established brands have been too inflexible and hesitant, the agile Cologne-based team has seized an intriguing niche. This business model is immensely popular and, thanks to PlentyONE, can be scaled practically indefinitely. The furniture industry is still in a state of flux. Furniture sales are no longer limited to brick-and-mortar stores but are increasingly occurring online. The team offers European furniture manufacturers an ideal digital platform on the largest sales channels. Together with PlentyONE, vertical sales are realised wherever the most interesting target groups can be found. This makes mokebo® an important link between the established market and e-commerce and assists manufacturers on their journey into the digital age. One of the company’s focuses is on the optimal automation of business processes, achieved through the development of an agile toolset. PlentyONE serves as the central interface for this, establishing connections to OTTO and others. As an e-commerce platform whose range of functions encompasses the full depth and breadth of the value chain, PlentyONE has enabled co-founder mokebo^® to quickly scale to furniture-related e-commerce platforms.

PlentyONE: the engine room of mokebo^®

PlentyONE is the heart of mokebo^®, the “engine room,” so to speak. From here, hundreds of dynamic emails are sent to customers every day, automated workflows are executed, product data is maintained, and product information is updated. All business units work with PlentyONE daily. From the “Brand & Selection” team, which manages product data, to the “Operations” team, which handles workflows, event actions, and imports and exports, to “After Sales” and “Customer Success,” which control PlentyONE directly from the Zendesk ticket system using a specially developed plugin. For over two years, a three-person operations team has been driving the platform's design forward on a daily basis. The internal processes and workflows are constantly being optimised and further developed. Starting with a simple connection to the Amazon interface and the rudimentary creation of product data, the team now uses PlentyONE to manage orders and stock from six different furniture manufacturers in real time. PlentyONE is also employed to create product data in exceptional detail. Furthermore, imports and exports are established for extensive business processes such as reporting, shipping confirmations, and delivery time management.

mokebo^® certified: Because digital sales and sustainability go well together

In the future, mokebo^® aims to offer only products and product groups from furniture manufacturers that are 'mokebo certified'. This means that they adhere to specific defined principles, for example, ensuring the best possible price/performance ratio, consistent sustainability, and prompt, uncomplicated complaints processing. The goal of the young brand is to offer end customers with various products in different price segments while ensuring trust and security when purchasing furniture online. This is achieved through the mokebo^® certification. The ambitious team around the two founders aspires to become a “trusted brand” in furniture e-commerce. To this end, mokebo^® serves furniture manufacturers as an “e-commerce multiplier” and pays close attention to quality and sustainability.