Merchandising Concepts

What Merchandising Concepts does

Merchandising Concepts, Inc. (MCI) is a North Carolina-based interior design firm founded in 2005 by Elizabeth Kuhlma that provides design, furnishing, and staging services exclusively to new home builders. The company operates from a warehouse headquarters at 1400 Mechanical Boulevard in Garner, North Carolina, with 22 full-time employees and serves clients across the eastern seaboard and as far west as Arizona. Named customers include national homebuilders Pulte Group, DR Horton, KB Home, DRB Group, and Century Complete, alongside smaller local builders, with the vast majority of new business reportedly originating from word-of-mouth referrals.

MCI's service portfolio spans four core competencies: model home merchandising with custom interior design, staging services backed by an in-house rental furniture library from brands such as Four Hands, Restoration Hardware, Mercana, Uttermost, and Pottery Barn, commercial sales center and office design, and clubhouse and amenity center design. The business is predominantly project-based, though the rental staging line introduces a recurring revenue component. To monetize surplus furnishings from completed projects, MCI operates quarterly online silent auctions through the third-party platform 32auctions.com, holding NC Auction Firm License #10963. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed for design work, while auction items carry a 7.25% Wake County sales tax plus card processing fees and require in-person pickup at the Garner warehouse.

The company operates without any proprietary technology platform. Operational dependencies are limited to Squarespace for the company website, 32auctions.com for online bidding, and SignUpGenius for pickup appointment scheduling. Go-to-market is direct enterprise field sales supported by word-of-mouth referrals, with marketing primarily executed through the company website, an email newsletter, and organic social channels (Instagram and Facebook) used for auction announcements.

Name

Merchandising Concepts

Legal name

Merchandising Concepts, Inc.

Website

https://merchandisingconceptsinc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Merchandising Concepts, Inc. is a North Carolina-based interior design firm founded in 2005 that provides model home merchandising, rental furniture staging, commercial space, and clubhouse design services exclusively to new home builders across the eastern US and Arizona.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Home Staging & Model Home Design

NAICS

Home Furnishings Retailers (44912)

SIC

Retail-Home Furniture, Furnishings & Equipment Stores (5700)

akta.pro primary industry

Merchandising Services (Field Merchandising, Audits, Compliance) (MPAAAJAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Consignment & Estate Sale Home Goods Retail (Curated/Managed Sales) (CRAIANAM)

Keywords

• Model home merchandising
• Home staging services
• Interior design services
• Furniture rental staging
• Commercial space furnishing

Headquarters

HQ city

Raleigh

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Interior Design Services: MCI designs and furnishes model homes for new home builders. This is a project-based service where the design team works closely with builders to create elegant, inviting spaces that captivate potential buyers.
2. Staging Services: MCI provides premium staging services for new home builders using rental furniture. Monthly and long-term rental options are available to customers, creating recurring revenue from the same clients over time.
3. Commercial Space Furnishing: MCI designs and furnishes commercial spaces including sales centers, offices, clubhouses, and amenity centers. This is a project-based design and furnishing service.
4. Auction Sales: MCI executes sales of leftover model home furnishings through online auctions on 32auctions.com. These auctions typically occur every 2-3 months. Items include high-end furnishings from vendors like Four Hands, Restoration Hardware, Mercana, Uttermost, and Pottery Barn.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Merchandising Concepts provides interior design and furniture merchandising services exclusively for new home builders, including turnkey model home merchandising, rental furniture staging for builder inventory homes, commercial sales centers and offices, and clubhouses/amenity centers. The company purchases furniture from a vetted vendor network, customizes pieces on-site, and delivers a fully installed design package. A secondary online auction channel liquidates surplus staged furniture.

Product overview

Merchandising Concepts provides a unified suite of interior design and furnishing services exclusively for new home builders. The core offerings include Model Home Merchandising (custom interior design for model homes), Staging Services (rental furniture for staged homes with monthly/long-term options), Commercial Sales Centers + Offices (furnishing for commercial spaces), Clubhouses + Amenity Centers (luxury designs for community spaces), and Furniture Auctions (quarterly online auctions for surplus model home furnishings via 32auctions.com). The company operates from a Garner, NC warehouse and serves clients across the eastern seaboard and as far west as Arizona.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Model Home Merchandising Turnkey interior design and furniture merchandising for new home builder model homes, including furniture selection, customization, and installation coordinated to the builder's brand and community design program.
• Staging Services (Rental Furniture for Inventory Homes) Furniture rental and staging service for new home builders to decorate unsold inventory homes, with flexible monthly and long-term rental terms and ability to add, remove, or exchange furniture.
• Commercial Sales Centers + Offices Design and furnishing service for home builder sales centers and on-site offices, providing coordinated, move-in-ready commercial spaces that match the surrounding residential brand.
• Clubhouses + Amenity Centers Design and furnishing service for resident clubhouses and amenity centers within master-planned communities, delivering coordinated furniture packages for shared spaces.
• Furniture Auctions Online liquidation auction of surplus staged furniture conducted through 32auctions.com under NC Auction Firm License #10963, with pickup at the Garner, NC warehouse.

Quantifiable outcome

• The vast majority of new business comes from word of mouth via happy clients

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Decorating Den Interiors: Largest interior design franchise in North America, providing residential design services and furnishings to consumers. Comparable to MCI on the design-and-furnish-a-home service orientation, though distributed via franchisees rather than builder-direct channel.
• PropertyRoom.com: Online auction marketplace for surplus and liquidation goods including furniture. Directly comparable to MCI's 32auctions.com-based auction channel for liquidating leftover model home furnishings.

Broad incumbents

• LiveAuctioneers: Large online auction platform hosting curated estate, designer, and home goods auctions. Broad incumbent auctioneer whose model overlaps with MCI's quarterly online auctions of high-end furnishings.
• CORT Furniture Rental: National furniture rental provider serving corporate relocations, events, and consumer trade. Comparable to MCI's rental-staging line as a broad incumbent in furniture rental, though focused on corporate and consumer moves rather than builder model homes.
• Rooms To Go: Large U.S. direct-to-consumer furniture retailer with broad assortment of home furnishings. Broad incumbent in residential furniture retail that competes for the same consumer dollars that MCI's auction channel targets.
• RH (Restoration Hardware): High-end home furnishings retailer whose products flow through MCI's auction channel. Broad incumbent in the premium home furnishings category MCI curates for builder clients and liquidates through its auctions.
• Pottery Barn: Williams-Sonoma-owned home furnishings retailer carried in MCI's auction catalog. Comparable as a broad incumbent in mid-to-high-end home furnishings that defines the design vocabulary MCI uses in model home merchandising.
• West Elm: Williams-Sonoma-owned modern home furnishings retailer. Broad incumbent in the design-forward residential furnishings space that MCI sources from and uses to stage premium model homes.
• Aaron's: National rent-to-own retailer of furniture, electronics, and appliances. Broad incumbent in the consumer furniture rental space adjacent to MCI's rental staging service.

Others

• 32Auctions: Third-party online auction platform MCI uses to host its furniture auctions. Infrastructure provider rather than competitor, but a direct ecosystem dependency for MCI's auction revenue stream.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/merchandisingi
• Facebookfacebook.com/mconceptsinc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/merchandising-concepts-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Merchandising Concepts