It's said that furniture is one of the hardest things to shop for because of all the considerations—size, finish, colorway, durability…the list goes on. That’s why furniture retailers have to provide the best shopping experience possible, or risk losing out. These 4 tips ensure furniture brands will stay on top of their game.
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In 2019, eCommerce is expected to grow almost 21% according to eMarketer. People already know and trust eCommerce for the basics like electronics, apparel, books and music.
But furniture is a bit of a different story. Furniture is more personal, it’s a bigger ticket item. Frankly, it’s more personal -- I can change my shirt but it’s a much bigger hassle to change a couch.
That’s why furniture is less than 10% of overall eCommerce sales according to Shopify. [CLICK TO TWEET] That said, there’s a massive opportunity for furniture companies to gain customer trust.
So, without much further ado, furniture brands: If you’re not doing these 4 things, you’re probably losing money:
1. Visualizing every possibility
If you’re not visualizing every possibility in your furniture line, then you’re most certainly losing opportunities with customers.
Simply put: if I can’t see the exact fabric and color combination I want on the sofa you’re selling, there is no way I’m going to pay $500 or $5,000 for a sofa I need to imagine.
Fabric swatches in a giant book don’t get the job done for bringing most customers over the line. If a large photography team - to take every shot of every angle for every model - isn’t in your budget, I’d suggest trying something like the Virtual Photographer™️. The Threekit Virtual Photographer recently created 25,000 photorealistic furniture images in a single weekend for one of our customers.
2. Clienteling
According to The Economist, the most valuable resource in the world today isn’t oil, it’s now data. By their estimate data is generating $25 billion a quarter in profit. If you’re a furniture company and you aren’t using data to improve the customer experience, then you might be losing money.
Clienteling is the ability to show customers products and features that are 100% relevant to them by including new products in addition to the very specific one they bought.
Here’s how it works. Say a customer of yours buys a Golden yellow, mid-century-modern couch with toffee colored leg finish. The next time you see that customer, whether in an email promotion, a display ad, or in-store via an associate, you should show this customer the best fit products in the scene with the exact couch they bought.
Think of it, you already know they like the couch, when you include other items for them to buy in the same photo, you’re showing them that your brand knows them and is the best to outfit them in the future.
3. Showing your product in 3D or Augmented Reality
Again, we come back to the idea that if you’re selling valuable stuff online, you need to check as many boxes as possible to give your shoppers enough confidence to buy.
That’s where 3D configuration and augmented reality come in.
3D lets users zoom in, rotate, and inspect your furniture from every angle. Augmented Reality lets you do all of the above but also lets your shoppers place your furniture in their room or office. If you want to see more, check out our simple AR demo here.
4. Testing demand with rendered images
You know what fabrics and colors and leg finishes you have at the warehouse, why not also try out new styles that you think your customers would love?
See how many customers click and buy in order to judge if the design deserves production. If none, then you didn’t have to waste resources on actually building the couch. But if it does sell, you just opened another revenue stream.
Whether it’s visualizing every possibility, clienteling, showing your product in 3D or augmented reality, or testing demand with rendered images, if you aren’t doing some of these ideas, then you’re likely losing money and providing a less than ideal customer experience.
Do you have any other ideas on how to improve furniture sales and the customer experience? Drop me a line, I’d like to chat!
Threekit is product visualization software that creates photorealistic images, interactive 3D and augmented reality experiences that help businesses sell more. To learn more, please schedule some time with one of our teammates.
