Inside Sofa.com’s Next Chapter And The Changing Face Of Furniture Retail

BusinessRetailInside Sofa.com’s Next Chapter And The Changing Face Of Furniture RetailByKate Hardcastle,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. AKA The Customer Whisperer: advisor, broadcaster, Science of ShoppingFollow AuthorJun 10, 2026, 12:22pm EDTSofa.com continues to expand its collection with designs created for the realities of modern living, reflecting growing consumer demand for furniture that balances comfort, durability, flexibility and timeless style.Sofa.comWomen make 94 per cent of home furnishing buying decisions, yet only one in seven furniture businesses is female-led.The interiors industry has lived with that contradiction for decades. It is one I observed throughout my own years in furniture, at a time when female leadership across the sector was considerably rarer than it is today.The customer was rarely difficult to identify. Understanding how she lived, how she bought and what mattered to her should have been straightforward. Yet parts of the industry often seemed more fascinated by the product than the person bringing it home.The furniture industry is at its strongest when it remembers that consumers do not buy furniture; they buy the life they hope to live around it.Which brings us to Sofa.com.Sunayna Azam, Managing Director, and Nicky Emlick, Creative Director, are leading Sofa.com into its third decade, combining expertise in consumer brands, design and customer insight at a time of significant change for the furniture sector.Sunayna Azam MD sofa.com Nicky Emlick, Creative Director.Sofa.comAs the brand marks its twentieth anniversary, Sunayna Azam and Nicky Emlick have taken on leadership roles at a business that helped pioneer the online furniture retail evolvement in Britain. Yet their backgrounds are very different; Azam built her career in consumer brand development, including senior roles at Unilever, while Emlick spent more than two decades creating bespoke interiors through her design consult...