January 29, 2025 | Warren Shoulberg
Following the success of its Material Bank service for the trade, parent company Sandow has set up one for shoppers.
Material Bank changed the way designers could get building and design samples for future projects and the new DesignShop service is aiming to do the same thing for homeowners and others who are shopping for materials for their own decorating and remodeling jobs.
Both services work in a similar fashion. Participating suppliers, including those that sell kitchen and bath products, flooring, textiles, architectural elements and other materials used in building and remodeling, locate samples at the company’s distribution center. For a fee, designers and now consumers can receive these materials to decide if they are right for their projects.
According to Business of Home, an online newsletter for the design field, Material Bank connects the supplier directly with the firm that has ordered the samples and then they close the sale. DesignShop connects consumers with sources to purchase products. Samples on both platforms are generally shipped overnight with vendors paying based on several variables.
Developing a platform for consumers, Material Bank founder Adam Sandow told BOH, was always part of the plan from the early days. “As soon as I saw how engaged brands [as well as] architects and designers were, I thought, ‘Boy, how amazing would it be if I could take the same technology and logistics and provide consumers with the seamless experience we give to the design industry?’“
Speed and convenience are keys to the service he said. “I’m fixated on what I like to call the convenience economy. Everyone is part of it—when you press a button on Uber, Doordash or Instacart. The consumer is being trained—and is candidly demanding—the conveniences of speed and variety. In some cases you can walk into a store and they’ll give you samples for free, but some consumers don’t have two hours on a Saturday to go to three tile stores.”
While Material Bank currently has around 1,000 participating suppliers, DesignShop is launching with only about 50. Sandow, however, said he sees the opportunity for the consumer business to be significantly larger than the original platform for the trade, given the scale of both demographics. “When you think about home renovation and residential construction, it is one of the biggest markets in the world,” Sandow told BOH. “If we can help [renovation and design] decisions to be made expeditiously, I think we win.”
Image: DesignShop
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