We live in the golden era of convenience, so these days it’s uncommon for a sofa shopper to go into an actual showroom to pick out their couch of choice. The showroom has already moved online — at least for the most part — and now thanks to pandemic-induced necessity virtually all shopping has gone virtual, and the practice of ordering a customized sofa from the comfort of one’s current sofa is the new norm.
But the actual delivery of said sofa has been a notoriously slow process, often taking several months before it arrives. In the meantime, tastes and trends change, making the eventually arriving couch feel dated by the time it’s at the door. Benchmade Modern launched with the intention of solving that issue.
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According to company owner and furniture industry veteran Edgar Blazona, the slow-delivery status quo doesn’t make any sense. Says Blazona, “By the time they received their furniture, they often didn’t even like the color or style anymore!”
So in 2015, he provided a solution in the form of Benchmade Modern.
While most custom sofa companies can take as long as half a year to deliver, Benchmade Modern will have your custom sofa made and shipped from the factory in five weeks. They also have a “ready-to-ship, ready-to-sit” service that allows you to purchase premade pieces that are shipped within two days. Suffice it to say that speed is at the core of their business model.
Today’s Consumers Love Customization
In addition to taking their shopping online, contemporary customers have embraced another trend: Customization. Today’s consumers are increasingly seeking personalized shopping experiences and products that are tailored to their tastes and needs. This is perhaps especially true in the case of furniture, as customized pieces lend a highly unique flavor to one’s home — which is practically essential in the share-everything, highly visual, humble-brag age of social media.
Accordingly, Benchmade Modern offers a high level of customizability. Sofas can be sized in five-inch increments of varying depth and orientation. That means they can have cushioning that is thick and soft or thin and firm, armrests that are high and cozy or low and out of the way, or adjust virtually any other element to their needs.
Benchmade’s pieces are available in 14 collections spanning 98 colors and 16 fabric and leather options, making it easy to suit them to your home’s aesthetic. All the fabrics offered are rated “performance” quality, meaning they’re highly durable and resistant to stains, wear, and other mishaps. In other words, kids and pets are no problem.
What’s more, Benchmade has made the ordering and customization process a snap. Their website makes it easy to select your preferences, and they’ll have a free box of fabric swatches at your door within one business day. Before you place your order, you can also have a life-sized printout of your design mailed to your home so you can verify that your sofa will fit your space and décor. Once your couch has arrived, you have a 100-day trial period, and this is followed by a lifetime warranty on the frame. That’s all great news, because there’s nothing worse than being stuck with a piece of furniture that you don’t want or that isn’t functional.
In addition to offering sofas, the company also sells sleeper sofas, tables, accent chairs, home office furniture, rugs, lighting, and more, all of which are often available in coordinated collections.
The company has received positive feedback from customers and expert reviewers as well, garnering high praise for the quality of its products as well as its customer service. The New York Times, for example, was impressed by the fact that Benchmade was able to deliver such a well-constructed sofa with such a rapid turnaround time.
Benchmade Modern and COVID First-Responders
The company’s most recent news involves the pandemic, or to be more specific, the first responders who have been grappling with it.
Early in 2020 as the virus first reared its head, company owner Edgar Blazona was moved after watching a video filmed by a nurse explaining how bad the situation was becoming. He decided to send her a sofa so that she had a comfortable place to rest after a long day’s work. The idea caught on and the company called for nominations on Twitter, then gave three nurses sofas on Thanksgiving.
All told, Benchmade Modern seems to have a company culture that embraces the idea of community, which makes sense. A sofa or seating set is, after all, a communal place that is meant to be shared. It’s the place where people come together to enjoy the fellowship of family and friends, conduct business, or cozy up for a movie with a lover. It’s a central element to a living or work space, and will play a prominent role in almost everything that happens there.
The idea of highly customizable, high quality, rapidly delivered furniture makes sense in the modern marketplace. Accordingly, it seems like Benchmade Modern is on the right track. Customers want personalization, they want reliability, they want style, and they want it fast. Benchmade delivers exactly that.
