White glove, room of choice, setup: selling delivery as an add-on

In Consumer Insights Now’s February 2026 survey of 825 U.S. shoppers with household incomes of at least $150,000, 81% expected home delivery and 66% wanted furniture set up in their space. The research was sponsored by Bread Financial. Those are expectations from that surveyed group, not every furniture customer. Read the original research coverage.

Delivery deserves a place in the room conversation, before it appears as an unexplained charge beneath an agreed total. Ask what help the customer needs, describe the actual service, and show its price. The furniture is not comfortably at home merely because the truck has reached the curb.

Describe the work behind each delivery label

Your service agreement defines what each level includes. Use these example descriptions as a starting point, then align them with the crew or carrier that will do the job. White glove should not mean whatever the customer hopes it means.

Discuss stairs, elevators, parking, long carries, and any booking restrictions. Old-furniture removal, wall fixing, electrical work, and specialist installation need their own agreement if offered. A crew should not discover an extra job from the customer at the door.

The delivery-level explainer gives staff a shared vocabulary. Use it to clarify an offer, not to imply that a label has a universal scope across carriers.

Raise delivery while the room is being planned

Try: “How would you like the pieces brought in and set up? We can price the service once we’ve checked the route and the work you need.” The question connects the charge to a practical result rather than introducing it as an administrative fee.

Review the customer’s destination and access before finalizing the amount. If the service price is still provisional, identify what is missing and who will settle it. The customer should know the complete purchase price before accepting the order.

When presenting a complete room, explain whether pieces will arrive together or in stages and how that affects the agreed delivery work. A custom sofa and an available side table may have different timing, even though they share a quote.

Price the actual work before offering free delivery

Build your schedule around costs you can explain internally: zone, crew time, vehicle, handling, assembly, and access. Set the base service and the conditions that require a reviewed surcharge. The delivery-fee guide covers the pricing decision in more detail.

Here is an illustrative quote: $200 for the defined delivery service and $100 for agreed assembly, totaling $300 before any tax. If assembly is already included in the white-glove charge, do not add it again. The table and the service description should tell the same story.

Free delivery above an order value is a promotional choice, not a cost disappearing. Review whether the merchandise margin covers the service and explain the geographic and access conditions before offering it. Keep the decision consistent with the store’s average-ticket and margin review.

Show the agreed service in OrderPilot

OrderPilot supports reusable named fees, fixed or percentage-based, that print as separate rows. Use names such as Curbside delivery or White-glove delivery alongside a clear explanation of the scope. Setup or assembly can be a service product, which needs no physical handover and stays out of purchase orders. Choose delivery or pickup for the physical lines, so one purchase can include a lamp collected from the store and a sofa delivered later. OrderPilot records the selections and charges; routing and delivery scheduling stay with your delivery operation. The named-service-lines guide shows how to organize those choices.

Settle tax and finish with a clear promise

Tax on delivery and assembly depends on the jurisdiction and transaction. Ask your accountant how the store’s particular charges should be treated, then configure and review them accordingly. Do not assume that calling a charge a fee changes its tax treatment.

Before signing, read back the destination, service, access assumptions, price, and any outstanding scheduling step. That is a useful part of the showroom selling process. Next, turn those descriptions into named delivery lines that the whole team can use.

Sources

1. Nearly half of high-income earners excited to shop brick-and-mortar furniture stores — Consumer Insights Now / Casual News Now, April 9, 2026; February 2026 survey, sponsored by Bread Financial.