MADE launches tech innovation lab to find new way for millennials to shop interiors

Design start-up? MADE wants your ideas to revolutionise interiors shopping 
MADE's showrooms feature supersized touch screens to help shoppers find the perfect product for them
MADE
Amelia Heathman17 April 2019

MADE is looking for the next up-and-coming start-up to help it envision the future of shopping.

The interior design brand has launched its new tech innovation lab, MADE Labs, that will work with start-ups and emerging technologies to create an engaging shopping experience.

MADE’s offering is embedded in tech – the direct-to-consumer brand launched nine years ago by entrepreneurs Ning Li and lastminute.com’s Brent Hoberman, at a time when furniture shopping didn’t really take place on the internet.

Though the brand does have a flagship showroom in Soho now, as well as stores in Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam, the entire space is enabled by tech.

The supersized touch screens dotted throughout the store offer features such as Find My Style, a tool to help customers find products that match their taste, and Shop Instagram, a shoppable feed of social media posts featuring MADE products, built with Theodo.

It regularly collaborates with other tech companies too, such as London-based start-up Hullabalook, which created a tool named Sofasizer. This allows customers to find the perfect size of sofa for their space.

MADE’s focus on tech is about finding innovation to make buying new furniture and interior accessories so much easier. Earlier this month, it launched its new online interior design service, in collaboration with French start-up, hubstairs. For £89, it offers a full stack design service, allowing customers to visualise their home with MADE furniture, using AI to recommend the right products and 3D technology to create a view of the completed room.

The MADE x hubstairs collaboration democratises access to an interior design
MADE

For the MADE Labs project, the company is inviting start-ups to pitch their products and ideas, using technology that keeps one step ahead of its customers’ needs and expectations.

Speaking about the announcement, MADE’s chief technology officer, Jonathan Howell, said: “We are lucky enough to be based in the centre of one of the world’s best tech start-up communities. There are amazing things happening within those companies, and we want to stay true to our entrepreneurial roots and collaborate with these businesses to get their ideas in front of our customers.”

It's also a way for MADE to keep up with the changing consumer landscape. As more millennials come of age and start shopping for their homes, using tech in this way is a key way to bring those new shoppers on board.

“By 2022, 50 per cent of the consumer landscape will be millennials or younger. This is a seismic shift for an industry that’s already gone through a huge amount of change over the past decade,” said Howell. “At MADE, we pride ourselves on relentless innovation and so a key challenge for us, as it should be for every business, is to continue to listen to what our customers want and action this, so we remain relevant in the changing consumer landscape.”

To participate in the MADE Labs pitch, register your interest at made.com/labs

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in