OKA

OKA began with three friends coming together to enable people to upgrade their homes by bringing ‘unique designs from the Far East to shoppers in the West’. Their hand-picked range of furniture and homewares are created to ‘prioritise beauty, comfort and style’ by talented artisans from across the world. The name is phonetic for ochre, a colour of Eastern origin, with an innately British feel. With more than 20 years of collections, 13 experiential stores, an online store and magazine, OKA have become a home lovers destination.

OKA have ‘a love affair with living well’. Their mission is to create things that help people to enjoy living life beautifully, making memories with friends and family. They look to have the harmony of culture and aesthetic at the heart of their business and to inspire others to find a passion for design.

The cost-of-living crisis has seen engagement primarily concentrated on higher earners with a laser focus on value. The recovery of consumer confidence, an uptick in property purchases, alongside flexible payment options, could empower consumer purchases. The past year has seen an increase in furniture purchases, mostly from more affluent consumers.

June 2024 saw 41% of consumers focused more on their physical health, 35% on their mental health. Therefore we are likely to see bedroom trending with an increased focus on sleep health, ergonomic chairs and mattresses.

The market size in 2024 was £20.7bn, long-term growth is predicted at 10% between now and 2029. More people are spending over £500 than under for the first time since 2019.

The alignment between first-home purchases by 25-34 year olds is also influencing furniture purchasing trends.

The UK home furnishing market generated a revenue of £41,006.61 million in 2024 and is expected to reach £70109.43 million by 2030. The UK market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.4% from 2025 to 2030 (Grand View Research).

OKA was mentioned in 221st May 2025  House & Garden article ‘36 furniture stores in the UK for stylish house shopping’ which well highlights the competition and OKA’s position in that mix. The piece included the quote:

 ‘A classic for a reason, OKA is well known for its brilliant edit of lamps, rattan accessories and furniture. OKA purchases are sure to be timeless picks; their collections are both stylish and relevant without being overly trend-driven or self conscious. They make items that command questions from visiting guests about where they can get it for themselves.’

As an established luxury furniture and homeware brand in the UK market since 1999, OKA has a strong online presence. That presence experienced some challenges in 2023 when a website migration inadvertently negatively affected their SEO performance.

OKA partnered with StrategiQ to resolve the resulting decline in organic revenue. We then developed an SEO strategy to deliver growth, elevate their presence and drive increased revenue organically (reducing their reliance on paid search). 

Our work encompassed research to identify demand upon which to create granular landing pages. We then developed an automation to produce new categories based on product colour. We’ve also been responsible for the development of long tail product listing pages which are driving traffic conversions to revenue. 

We also undertook a content audit to understand where content would benefit from optimisation and where the biggest opportunities were. The resulting content optimisation and creation program is ensuring that content is well positioned for entry-level and luxury consumer audiences and SEO. New content such as stylist workshops focused on seasonal colours, trending styles, designs and products is adding further momentum. Content efforts are also feeding a digital PR program which feeds back value to the brand and site. StrategiQ’s content and PR team work hand in hand with our SEO team, as our joined-up approach and audience centric strategy is proven to convert more traffic, achieving a better volume of increased average order values. 

In 2024 OKA decided to replatform their ecommerce store from Magento to Shopify and given previous experience, appreciated the importance of SEO migration planning and management starting  as early as possible. StrategiQ’s seasoned team of SEO professionals have a reputation for not only protecting SEO rankings, but improving them through our migration process. Through working closely with the incoming developers we ensure plans are followed and work is synchronised. 

As a critical partner, we’ve helped OKA to build the foundations for growth. This has included supporting new leadership and team members through key decisions and moving budget in response to the immediate needs of the business. We’ve worked with other agency partners to replatform them to a more accessible option, supporting them through the closure of their US site to ensure that any value possible was transitioned. We’re excited to support their latest relaunch with a strategy that will usher in a new era of growth for the business.

Optimised content and created granular landing pages and long tail product listing pages to drive traffic conversions, generating revenue and increasing average order values.

Created content to attract new target audiences and enable digital PR program, feeding back value to the brand and site.