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The closing of big-box retailer Bed, Bath & Beyond — once a destination for dorm products — coupled with record-setting sales predictions for the back-to-college season has one student home décor brand eager for the upcoming fall season.
Dormify is banking on record spending in the back-to-school space where college students are expected to spend $20 billion more than last year, reaching around $94 billion, according to an annual back-to-class survey by the National Retail Federation. Back-to-college spending has near doubled since 2019, per the report, and consumers are projected to spend an average of $1,366.95 per person, up from $1,199.43 last year.
“This concept of aspirational lifestyle and making it actually attainable is something that Dormify embodies and helps them create.”
Amanda Zuckerman
Co-founder and President of Dormify
By virtue of an expanded partnership this summer with The Container Store, Dormify and its college-centric products are poised to draw young consumers who in the past might have shopped at other retailers, like Bed Bath & Beyond, for their back-to-school needs. In addition to its The Container Store’s website, Dormify products are available in in-store pop-up shops at the retailer’s Houston; New York City; Austin, Texas; Costa Mesa, California; and Nashville, Tennessee, locations through Sept 4.
Dormify is also leveraging its network of customers to remain relevant this back-to-college season. The brand reaches out to its target consumers through Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok, where #dormify has been viewed 45.9 million times, according to Dormify president and co-founder Amanda Zuckerman. Social media allows incoming freshmen to explore ideas for their dorm rooms.
“The bar just keeps getting raised every year. You have graduating high school seniors who see social media that [college] freshmen and sophomores are sharing on a yearly basis,” Zuckerman told Retail Dive. “These things are just starting on social media and exploding and raising the bar every single year. So, you just want to either match or beat what you’ve seen in the past. It just ups the expectation these students have of their spaces. … This concept of aspirational lifestyle and making it actually attainable is something that Dormify embodies and helps them create.”
The idea for Dormify came about when Zuckerman was about to start college and had trouble finding what she wanted for her dorm room. It led to the creation of a blog.
“We wrote about home décor, college and college life,” she said. “We put together a brand ambassador program consisting of my friends since I was the target audience and built that into a program of students across the country. We then used that blog as a proof of concept to see if students really cared what their rooms looked like.”
Zuckerman found that students did care about their personal spaces at school, and by 2011 the company was getting products designed and produced overseas. Since 2016 the brand has experienced a period of exceptional growth, Zuckerman said, strengthened by a $3.45 million Series A investment from American Eagle Outfitters in 2018. Zuckerman added that 2020 in particular saw a 40% year-over-year increase as students were still shopping and living on campus.
“They were just living a different experience — spending more time in their rooms, decorating it and making it multi-functional and expressive of their personality,” Zuckerman said.
Zuckerman said that Dormify works to continually develop its community of ambassadors, which totals about 1,800, and welcomes feedback on the latest trends to stay current with their core Gen Z customers. The brand leverages the Geneva platform to connect with hundreds of college students, who offer feedback to the brand.
And, to further improve and build out its business, Dormify recently acquired the content business of Carter & Clyde, a college dorm curator and content platform. Dormify said the acquisition would help it expand its digital footprint, broaden its reach with college students and drive growth in organic site traffic.
“We are living behind the mission of creating product that is inspired by college students,” Zuckerman said. “We have to live it. That’s the biggest difference between us and a big-box retailer. We’re able to have these two-way conversations on a 365-day basis with our customers.”
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