FAVI is the leading European online search engine and aggregator for furniture and home decor. Founded in the Czech Republic, FAVI has made its way to no less than 12 markets and connects over 10 million monthly users with thousands of online furniture stores.
Meet FAVI’s new CEO Marie Hejlová. In this interview she reveals her priorities and values, as well as her plans to strengthen the brand and drive further growth.
How do you perceive FAVI’s position within the European online furniture market?
Nowadays FAVI operates in 12 European countries. Our product is technologically sophisticated and holds a unique position thanks to the scale of its catalogue and its targeted traffic. For a long time the highest revenue had been generated by the Czech market, however, international revenues have already surpassed it and keep a steady growth. We plan to strategically leverage synergies across markets in both marketing campaigns and technology.
What was your main reason for accepting the CEO role?
After leading the marketing department for 10 years, I took it as a great opportunity for both professional and personal growth. But what is more important, I was given a unique chance to implement my long-term visions. I would like people to come back to FAVI not only to purchase individual pieces of furniture, but to look for inspiration and new ideas.
FAVI has a very strong brand today. Where do you see the biggest opportunities to take it even further?
We want to create an engaging user experience and simplify the process of furniture selection. We have a firm foundation – high traffic, a wide range of products, excellent filtering, great market knowledge, and user trust. Now it is time to transform these advantages into a deeper relationship with our customers. Our key focus area is product development. We want to improve recommendation systems and personalization. Furthermore, we are concentrating on user retention and utility. I want FAVI to be more than just another search engine. I would like to turn it into a modern, friendly, practical, inspiring and trustworthy place where you can easily find what you are looking for. We want to be the brand that helps people define their own style of living.
How would you describe the customers’ behavior? What are the key elements?
Users are no longer afraid of online shopping. In fact, they often come online for inspiration. They demand a wide selection of products and verified reviews. They clearly prefer items in stock and personalized recommendations based on their taste and style.
In your opinion, what is the biggest obstacle preventing customers from buying furniture online today?
It could be a concern about product quality, a complicated return process, or insufficient visualization of a specific product in space. Some customers don’t trust brands they don’t know. Others lack reviews or photos from real homes. Buying furniture can be an emotional experience. Many customers like walking through a showroom, comparing pieces, talking to an expert, and imagining their new home. The online environment doesn’t provide this full experience yet.
How do you work with the e-shops and retailers that offer their products on FAVI? What do you do to improve their conversions?
We provide our business partners with a PPC model, reporting, analytics, feed optimization, and review collection. To increase traffic and conversions, we offer special services like FAVI Extra or campaign support. FAVI Premium ads have also been recently introduced, allowing brands to increase visibility and support their performance campaigns with additional reach. We are working on automation and have our own tracking tool, FAVI Pixel, which helps our partners get better measurement and sales targeting while improving product sorting.
AI is getting more and more involved in day-to-day business operations. How does FAVI work with it? We hear about AI in personalization and search. Where and how do you use it or plan to deploy it?
We are already using AI. First of all, we use neural networks for product recommendation. We use AI to automate product categorizing and filtering processes. In the marketing department, it helps us scale advertising and speeds up processes in general. Besides that, we created a new TV spot with the help of AI, whichI is significantly helping us adapt it to individual markets.
How does FAVI fit into the world where AI answers everything directly within the search results?
Interior furnishing is a deeply emotional process. People aren’t buying just a ‘200×150 cm sofa’; they are looking for style and inspiration, for a place to gather with their loved ones.
An AI agent might find a functional solution for you, but it will never give you the joy of discovery or an aesthetic experience. At FAVI, we see the future in a combination of high-quality UX and the ability to evoke an emotion that people then bring into their homes.
In the world of impersonal AI answers, we bet on emotion, visual aesthetics, and trust. We want to be the place where the journey to a new home isn’t a tedious search, but a joyful process.