Among the many categories of cross-border e-commerce, large pieces of furniture have always been regarded as “hard to chew bones.” Large size, high logistics costs, and complicated after-sales services, these natural barriers discourage many sellers. However, a young Anji guy born in 1997 chose this “hardest path”. There is no strong capital, no background in the industry, and even zero cross-border experience. However, with Anji's furniture industry's resources and a sense of perseverance, he continued to “roll over” the course time and time again. In the end, it only took 5 years to achieve an amazing breakthrough of 25 million US dollars from zero to annual sales.
Today, let's take a look at the story of Song Yilin, the founder of Linsheng Home Furnishing, and hear how he grew from scratch to becoming one of the top sellers in the Amazon segment.

Song Yilin: Founder of Hangzhou Linsheng Home Technology Co., Ltd.
seller business card
Brand Name: Linsheng Furniture
Main categories: soft bag seat
Main sites: US station, Canada station, Australia station
Outstanding results
● Achieve a leap in annual sales from 0 to 25 million US dollars in 5 years
● Has more than ten popular SKUs
● Major sellers in the Amazon category

In 2020, Song Yilin, who is still a senior, temporarily stayed in her hometown of Anji due to environmental impact. While many of his peers treated this period as a rare vacation, he was unwilling to waste this special “empty window period.”

Backed by Anji, the “hometown of the Chinese chair industry,” high-quality furniture factories can be found everywhere. Looking at the rows of furniture around him, he got his entrepreneurial mindset: simply move these online and try them out. As a result, he stepped headlong into domestic e-commerce.

His idea was simple — the supply chain was ready, the factory was familiar, and it shouldn't be too difficult to get started, but reality soon taught him a lesson.
Upholstered furniture is fiercely competitive, brand concentration is high, and profit margins are being pushed to the limit. In just a few months, not only did he not make any money, but he also lost quite a bit.

“I paid a lot of tuition fees in the first step of starting a business. I'm very distressed, but I still want to try it out. Abbottt, Premiere Creative’s creative director.
Song Yilin - Founder of Hangzhou Linsheng Home Technology Co., Ltd.

By serendipity, he discovered that foreign furniture was in huge demand, competitive pressure was relatively small, and there was just the right product at hand. He is keenly aware that going out to sea across borders may be a more worthwhile direction to invest in.
At the end of 2020, Song Yilin began to gradually focus on the field of cross-border e-commerce.

With the ambition of “having industrial resources and domestic e-commerce experience,” Song Yilin was very anxious at first. He joined forces with the factory to send a few containers directly and “wanted to run the quantity first”. He didn't expect the launch to greet him with a “wave of returns.”

“During that time, I was looking at the return data in the back office every day, and I felt a chill. Abbottt, Premiere Creative’s creative director.
Song Yilin - Founder of Hangzhou Linsheng Home Technology Co., Ltd.

What made him collapse even more was the “logistics chain pit” that followed. In order to save costs, we initially cooperated with several “unreliable” logistics and overseas warehouses. As a result, the goods arrived at the port, but they were slow to be picked up. For goods that were supposed to be delivered within 2-3 days, the drawer time was pushed back and forth, and sometimes even dragged to 1-2 months. After getting into the warehouse, they also encountered performance issues such as delayed delivery, lost items, and faulty items. Buyers continued to complain one after another, the store's performance declined rapidly, and eventually it was even blocked.

“It was a really big deal at the time. From products to logistics, I stepped on every hole I could step on. Abbottt, Premiere Creative’s creative director.
Song Yilin - Founder of Hangzhou Linsheng Home Technology Co., Ltd.

This made him fully realize that cross-border business cannot be successful by relying on “resources” and “experience” alone; it is necessary to “make up the lessons” from the beginning.

That batch of quality “rollover” returns was like a heavy hammer, completely “waking up” Song Yilin. He realized: You can't throw it over to the factory anymore; you have to keep an eye on the quality yourself!After that, for a long time, he almost treated his factory as his second dorm room.

He often learns all kinds of process details with his teachers. From material selection to process details, he personally confirms each item, such as “should the armrest be reinforced”, “what material should the seat cushion be replaced to improve durability”, etc., in an effort to pinpoint the problem at the source.

He wanted Linsheng's products to be more differentiated, so he turned the “exclusive resources” of the Anji furniture industry into Linsheng's “unique label.”

● Functional upgrade+technological innovation to enhance the user experience: He incorporated mature ergonomic technology and intelligent technology from the Anji furniture industry into the sofa structure to create a multi-functional model with adjustable backrests and armrests to solve the pain points of users “being tired of using it for a long time”.

● Using environmentally friendly materials to create a green home: He discovered that foreign users pay great attention to the concept of environmental protection, so he chose green environmentally friendly materials such as bamboo fiber fabrics and recycled fillers unique to the Anji Furniture Industry Belt and applied for FSC certification, which further strengthened the brand image while putting a green environmental label on the product.

● Optimize the process and improve product quality: He discovered that the spring structure in traditional sofas was poor in durability. After “learning” with his master many times, he chose a combination of high-density cold foam and separate pocket springs to improve comfort and durability, and the product won more praise.

Just like that, after having the first batch of stable products, he discovered another problem: not all products work.

“Some models look great, but they don't move as soon as they hit the shelves. That's because the selection was wrong in the first place. Abbottt, Premiere Creative’s creative director.
Song Yilin - Founder of Hangzhou Linsheng Home Technology Co., Ltd.

He began experimenting with a more rational and verifiable product selection logic. Take Linsheng Home's best-selling functional sofa as an example:

● Disassemble the BS list of categories and push back explosive models, more accurate!
In the preparation phase, he first conducted an in-depth analysis of the top ten BS products in the Amazon category, and selected the A and B sofas with outstanding performance from dimensional data such as function, structure, fabric, and profit margin. Afterwards, he combined the advantages of the two products to design a C sofa that was both beautiful and functional.

● Measure the payment at a low cost, run the volume, and save more money!
Before deciding to officially launch production, he observed user click rates and subscription data through “virtual pages+3D renderings”. Trial sales are also carried out in small batches to determine whether to expand the volume based on the keywords in the actual reviews, initial profit performance, and negative feedback.

From turning over the car to becoming popular, he hardened himself from being a “novice who doesn't understand anything” to a “half expert.” From the wave of returns to running out of hot money, he used this set of “stupid kung fu” to make Lin Sheng run out of hot money for the first time.

The logistics of large pieces of furniture was inherently a difficult problem. The “nightmare of chasing lockers” in the early days made him make up his mind to make up for this lesson.

● Lesson 1: Learn to stop loss
He promptly replaced service providers with poor cooperation and unstable service quality, and re-screened professional teams with quick response, clear processes, and smooth communication, which is bound to re-stabilize the implementation chain.

“Some problems cannot be solved by the other party, or are simply unwilling to solve them, then they can only replace them; they will always find a more suitable one. Abbottt, Premiere Creative’s creative director.
Song Yilin - Founder of Hangzhou Linsheng Home Technology Co., Ltd.

● Lesson 2: Understanding “Detailed Accounting”
He thoroughly studied express delivery rules in the US and other places, and changed “one box packaging” to “two separate boxes” and “soft package compression”, significantly reducing volume and improving transportation stability.

● Lesson 3: Plan ahead
In order to improve delivery efficiency, he achieved 100% coverage of overseas warehouses, and set up five warehouses at the US station to make the delivery of large pieces of furniture faster and more stable.

● Lesson 4: Empower with tools
Using Amazon's inventory management tools, he learned to make restocking and turnover “rhythmic”. Instead of just hitting his head, he relied on data forecasting to avoid delays, misshipments, and backlogs.

“Logistics used to be our shortcoming, now it's part of our competitiveness. Abbottt, Premiere Creative’s creative director.
Song Yilin - Founder of Hangzhou Linsheng Home Technology Co., Ltd.

In Linsheng's warehousing and distribution system, logistics has long been more than just delivery, but a stable service capability, providing certainty for the “heavy business” of large pieces of furniture, and also adding a stable insurance to the consumer experience.

Looking back at these 5 years, Song Yilin feels that this path has come from “remedial classes.” From a small team with only a few products at the beginning to a brand that now has more than 100 SKUs, in his opinion, real growth has only just begun.

Next, he plans to launch new experiments at sites outside of North America, expand the new SKU line, and reuse and adjust the style of play that has been proven to be effective in the past to sell Linsheng products globally. At the same time, he also hopes to further advance his service capabilities and consolidate the after-sales and delivery experience. In his view, the brand was not built on slogans, but on every product, every delivery, and every user experience.

For sellers who want to go overseas in the furniture category, Song Yilin's suggestions are:
● First, we need to clearly see the entire outbound link and calculate the explicit & hidden costs of each link.
● Combined with Amazon back-office data, determine whether the product has at least one obvious advantage in terms of quality, price, or design.

It is only possible to win if you understand these things.

From the senior student who started a blind business in 2020 to a mature seller that is now steadily established on multiple sites around the world, he has relied not on luck, but on perseverance to withstand costs and repeated trial and error. In the midst of uncertainty, forging your own path of determination is a common characteristic of more and more new generations of sellers.