Claire Burton-Kingston - Group Buyer - Far East for DFS and Sofology

As Group Buyer with our Far East suppliers, tech innovation expert Claire is responsible for spotting the latest and greatest trends in sofa technology - from wraparound bluetooth speaker headrests and 4D vibrating seats, to wireless charging and built-in sofa fridges!

Joining DFS way back in 2010, Claire brings a wealth of expertise and experience to her role. After completing a marketing degree at university, she soon joined our websales admin team, and quickly understood common customer frustrations - knowledge she’s taken with her to inform her decisions over the years as a buyer in the commercial team. Moving across into our buying team, she initially came to work on bedroom and dining products, and helped to set up a new specialist delivery process for these ranges.

In her current role, Claire is our resident expert in innovative, tech-packed sofas. She works with suppliers and manufacturers to discover the most exciting, cutting edge features you’d never have imagined your sofa could include, and develops products for our flagship in-house brands like Cinesound and Shaquille O’Neal Home.

As well as discovering trending technology that changes the game for our customers, Claire looks after our quick delivery sofa ranges. Unlike our made to order ranges - which have always taken the lion’s share of our sofa sales - our quick delivery models include a selection of sofas we keep in stock in our UK warehouses, which can be delivered in just 1-2 weeks. Due to the limited storage space, a key element to our stocked sofa models is choosing shapes, colours and features our customers will love, and Claire truly has a knack for picking out sofas that become instant sell-out hits!

Claire was also responsible for selecting and launching our La-Z-Boy ranges, which are exclusive designs within the UK market. She’s proud to have worked with such a prestigious global brand, helping to develop exclusive designs that appeal to the unique taste within the UK sofa market.

Having only been in her new role since January 2026, Claire has lots to look forward to. She’s set her sights on travelling the globe for upcoming trade shows, and is excited to discover the newest trends across sofa fabrics, colours and tech innovation - and then bring the best of them back to our trendsetting customers!

If all that wasn’t enough to keep her occupied, Claire is also mum to two young children, and spends a lot of time ferrying them between football and dancing classes - so she’s used to juggling a lot of plates and keeping people happy! In her spare moments, she also enjoys catching up with friends over a glass of something delicious.

Keep up to date with Claire’s latest work by visiting her LinkedIn.