Innovation – the elusive golden egg of business
Read any business books lately? If you have I bet they included something about the necessity of innovation. How we live in “innovate or die” times. It is incredibly easy to say, but not very easy to do. Especially if you work in furniture retail where people have bought and sold stuff in pretty much the same way for decades. Read More
Furniture retail has previously been a very offline affair, but more and more retailers are taking advantage of the many digital tools available to them. This evolution makes perfect sense considering upwards 80% of consumers research furniture online prior to purchasing. Attracting and retaining consumers’ attention via websites has a significant impact on in-store sales, it is therefore more important than ever to deliver engaging online experiences.
As a global retailer of configurable office furniture Steelcase has long since learned that there’s a direct correlation between the richness of your product visualization and completed sales: if customers can personalize products, and view any possible combination from any angle, it has a direct positive impact on conversion rates.
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Customers are becoming more open to buying furniture online. The furniture and household industry is the ninth fastest growing online industry in the US, with an annual growth rate of 14.8% from 2012-2017.
One reason is because the internet gives retailers opportunities that are otherwise difficult to provide to customers. In this blog post I will introduce one important and growing trend in the furniture industry which is customized furniture.
Furniture shopping is, for most people, an important decision-making process.
With seemingly endless variety in design options at every conceivable price point and a virtual ocean of information, furniture shopping has never been more complex – and neither has furniture selling.
To understand modern furniture shopping, we will look at the 3 different phases shoppers move through on their path to purchase to and examine some of the challenges that today’s furniture retailers have to content with.
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A recent article by the Internet Retailer describes how 85% of staff working in retail feel they would be better able to serve customers and therefore sell more, if they were equipped with Ipads. Read More
Carts that triple in size and customers that keep coming back for more – no wonder the Cylindo Room Planner has the furniture industry talking.
Smart furniture retailers have long stopped viewing the web as a competitor, and have instead realized the immense potential the web offers in terms of delivering superb shopping experiences. Incorporating engaging tools that speak to the 21st century consumer, ensures customers are engaged, entertained and fully informed. Read More
Support in-store sales with online technologies
Online furniture retail is increasing, some predicts with as much as 45% within the next couple of years, still the vast majority of furniture sales today takes place in a physical store. This leads some furniture retailers to pay little attention to their online strategy, but it is not only the actual sales that increasingly takes place online, a whopping 80% of consumers research and browse online prior to visiting a store, and what they find online has a direct impact on the purchasing decisions they make. That means that what you deliver online in terms of your website’s design, usability and visualization techniques can and will affect your bottom line whether or not you actually sell products online. Ouch – ya better get that website fixed!
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Now customers can design and furnish their homes from the comfort of their living room – click image below to view video
A look into how customization can be an effective tool in a furniture retailer’s online strategy.
Businesses have long recognized the value of allowing customers a say in the design of a product. Mass-customization has been around for decades and many studies have shown that it often leads to an increase in perceived value. We take pride and feel a sense of ownership when we, with some justification, can claim that we’ve made something.