What is Westwing

 

Fans of the classic American TV drama The West Wing may be surprised to learn that Westwing has nothing to do with White House politics. However, when shopping on the German marketplace, you can expect similarly exciting negotiations and difficult decisions, albeit on a very different topic: interior design.

 

 

Introducing Westwing

Founded in 2011, Westwing is an omnichannel retailer of home improvement products based in Munich, Germany. The company is currently present in 20 European countries, including France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands.

 

Westwing prides itself on being a "premium one-stop destination for Design Lovers." This means that the platform offers a carefully curated selection of products across the entire spectrum of home and living, including both internationally renowned brands and its in-house design studios. Shoppers on Westwing can find furniture, decor items, textiles, lamps, and much more from brands like Georg Jensen, Molton Brown, Culti, Rosenthal, and Artemide.

 

 

Screenshot of westwing.de displaying Westwing’s homepage

 

 

The marketplace’s mission is to inspire customers to "live beautifully, creating spaces that truly feel like home."

 

 

Business model and statistics

Westwing reported a GMV of 497 million euros in 2024, thus earning its place amongst the top home improvement retailers in Europe. 2.5 million orders were placed in 2024, 80% of those coming from returning customers. Westwing’s own collection had a 55% share of all orders.

 

The company operates both physical and online stores, and offers a highly personalized shopping experience with tailored offers to its customers. Anyone can shop on Westwing, but customers who choose to become members enjoy various perks, like participating in daily deals and exclusive time-limited offers.

 

Westwing’s main source of revenue is its e-Commerce platform, but it also earns money from advertising and membership fees.

 

 

Recent European expansion

2025 saw Westwing expanding to key European markets like Finland, Slovenia, and Croatia, strengthening its position in Northern and Southeastern Europe. The company plans to continue its expansion to another 5-10 markets until the end of 2025.

 

As a part of its omnichannel approach, Westwing blends e-Commerce innovations with operating physical stores. These include flagship initiatives like opening new brick-and-mortar stores in Paris and Munich.

 

 

Characteristics of furniture and home decoration online marketplaces

Depending on their target audience, image, and business model, online marketplaces in the home improvement and furniture sector can be very different.

 

Take IKEA, for example, which only sells its own products to customers on a low-to-medium budget, or Houzz, a marketplace that aggregates home improvement products with lists of suggested professionals to help you carry out your home renovations.

 

High-end marketplaces in this sector, like Westwing, on the other hand, offer expertly curated product catalogues that combine exclusivity with luxury design ideas. These platforms often bring together well-known designer brands and smaller labels with their own collections, marketing a wide array of products to a diverse customer base. This feature makes them attractive to both brands and consumers.

 

 

Screenshot of westwing.de/new-products/ showing both branded products and Westwing's own brand products, called Westwing Collection

 

 

Successful platforms in this segment need competitive features like stellar inventory management, real-time order tracking, customer-friendly interfaces, and a wide variety of payment options. Mobile-optimized websites are also a must, considering that the number of mobile transactions is steadily rising in e-Commerce.

 

 

Related topics

Discover home improvement platform Houzz

 

Learn all about Ochama, the omnichannel marketplace

 

Explore more niche marketplaces

 

 

Risks and opportunities of the omnichannel model

The omnichannel approach provides a unified, cohesive shopping experience by integrating all customer touchpoints, i.e., physical, online, mobile, and social media. This approach guarantees that wherever customers happen to encounter your brand, they can expect the same "treatment." Omnichannel requires perfect coordination using real-time data and personalized marketing.

 

Westwing’s omnichannel strategy combines its strong online platform with an immersive, high-end in-store experience. For example, customers can research products online, check them out in stores, buy them via QR codes, and arrange for home delivery. These separate processes are integrated into a seamless shopping experience that clearly communicates Westwing’s brand image and values.

 

 

 

| Westwing’s omnichannel strategy combines its strong online platform with an immersive, high-end in-store experience

 

 

Brand protection issues in omnichannel

Unfortunately, omnichannel comes with specific threats to your IP rights. Namely, the proliferation of channels may dilute your control over them, thus increasing the risk of infringements and unlicensed distribution.

 

Overlapping online and offline channels create opportunities for fraudsters to upload counterfeit and grey market product listings, and publish misleading ads that exploit your brand presence across multiple channels. Moreover, detecting and stopping infringements can become harder when fraudsters can migrate their unlawful activities across platforms and channels.

 

And let’s not forget compliance with regulations. Integrating and handling customer data across channels may put you at odds with strict GDPR in the EU, not to mention the increased potential of catastrophic data breaches.

 

 

Grey markets and counterfeits in home and living marketplaces

Unfortunately, there are significant global counterfeit and grey markets for designer furniture and home decor products. US Customs agents regularly seize shipments containing replicas of designer furniture, which, when they make it to online marketplaces and even physical stores, are often sold as "homage" to coveted luxury products.

 

These infringing products cause immense harm to designer brands’ image, reputation, and revenue. Due to questionable quality, fake designer furniture presents serious dangers to consumers’ health and, consequently, your reputation (not to mention your bottom line).

 

Grey market products, on the other hand, distort your legitimate distribution network, undermine your price management, dilute your brand equity, and raise significant customer service problems.

 

 

| There are significant global counterfeit and grey markets for designer furniture and home decor products

 

 

In both cases, your brand will have to absorb all eventual customer complaints, lost revenue, and hard-to-repair reputational damage.

 

As designer furniture is highly coveted but also highly priced, the demand for cheaper “alternatives”, i.e., replicas, counterfeits, and grey market products, is ever-present. However, the lack of consumer education about authorized resellers and the dangers of counterfeits also contributes to the problem.

 

Find out how to educate your customers about the issues with fake and grey market products!

 

 

Brand protection on home decor marketplaces like Westwing

Besides essential consumer education, there’s a lot more you can do to protect your brand and your invaluable IP rights on interior design marketplaces, and globaleyez is here to assist you every step of the way.

 

First of all, make sure to register all your rights, designs, and product names in major markets to build the perfect basis for their optimal protection.

 

Then, regular online monitoring is needed to detect content (like product listings, pictures, ads, fake websites, etc) that infringes on your trademarks and copyrights.

 

Removing such content from the internet is essential to stop the abuse and limit the damage inflicted on your brand. In case of repeat and large-scale offenders, you may even want to consider launching legal proceedings to get back what’s rightfully yours. Our services can provide you with court-admissible evidence, contributing to a strong case against fraudsters.

 

Regularly updating your protection strategies is very important to stay on top of evolving threats on both online marketplaces and in physical stores. You also need to ensure that your messaging is aligned across all your communication channels on how to handle the threat of infringements.

 

 

Conclusion

Westwing is a fast-growing marketplace for designer furniture, providing brands with excellent opportunities in the home and decor sector. But opportunities often come with risks, including those of fake and grey market products.

 

Contact us to learn more about the ways you can protect your invaluable IP rights on Westwing and other home improvement marketplaces!