Improve your furniture eCommerce website!
Furniture can often be the most expensive item in a person’s home. It can also be the most well-loved, hold the most memories and has the power to change an otherwise dull room to a stylish abode. Buying furniture isn’t something that a consumer takes lightly. Often, the consumer will do hours of research and planning before making the decision to purchase a piece for their home. Therefore, it is vital that both the retail and wholesale eCommerce experience is seamless.
To improve your furniture eCommerce, it is essential that your site is up to date with the latest in technology and operates successfully as a cog in your well-oiled machine. On the front (customer facing) end, the client must have an experience personalised to their shopping habits, with inspiration at every corner and the ability to see exactly how every piece of furniture will fit into their shop floor or living space. To make the business owner’s life easier, as well as provide a seamless experience which keeps errors at a minimum, the back (admin) end must be integrated with your inventory, accounting and shipping so that human error is at a minimum and speed and professionalism is of the essence.
Read on to find out more about how to improve your furniture business’ eCommerce!
Provide interior inspiration!
Whether your website caters to Wholesale or Retail customers, it is important that the furniture you sell is shown to be a great addition to a space. When retailers are designing their showrooms for furniture, it is key that they provide an experience that gives the customer an idea of how the pieces can contribute to an interior’s design. As a wholesaler your customers may be shop-owners or interior designers, and therefore providing visual aids for them can be an invaluable tool. Ensure your website has a dynamic feature where customers can view your furniture in a real-life setting and be inspired by what could be created with your pieces. Not only will they be able to see how the furniture will fit into a space, but they will also be inspired by the aesthetic and even be persuaded to buy multiple pieces. Make this accessible and easy by adding an ‘Add All to Basket’ button. Furniture wholesale giants Coach House have used this feature to showcase their items and have seen fantastic feedback from customers.
Create a personalised experience!
2020 has seen the rise in customisation, with many sectors thriving after introducing a feature of their websites where customers can personalise at item to their individual tastes. Companies such as Ray Ban, Mac Cosmetics and Tesla have adopted this feature and subsequently have seen it grow to become one of their unique selling points. Take advantage of this feature and with customizable components of the furniture you sell, a customer can feel like they are getting a unique product that speaks to them on a personal level, whilst avoiding the price of a custom-designed item.
From chaise-lounges to curtains to cabinets to coffee tables, whatever you decide to provide as a customizable option is possible. With integration with your warehouse, let your website show that a personalised and unique item can be easily achievable.
Make buying seamless!
As a business owner, it should come to no surprise to you that the key to ensuring you turn new customers into returning ones is to make their experience as seamless as possible. If your goal is to improve your furniture business, you must ask yourself – does my eCommerce connect with the other systems in the business? Does it use multiple different payment gateways? If the answer to this is no, then you must consider connecting your website to more systems and payment gateways so that your customer has their preference when they reach the checkout. Implementing this change will make sure that no customer is put off making a payment, and that the trust worthiness of your website grows substantially.
Connect with ERP systems such as Microsoft Dynamics, Caliq, Ibcos Gold, SAP and Merlin. Optimise your accounting with programs such as Sage and Xero. Ensure that social media such as Instagram and Facebook are working with your business. The systems you use should help your business, and with business-wide integration the amount of time needed to complete tasks can be dramatically reduced.
Connect the virtual with the physical!
Whilst your eCommerce is vital to success as a Furniture wholesaler or retailer, it is also important that your physical domain is equally looked after and synchronises with your business online. An optimum way of making sure that your physical sales align with your virtual one is to introduce an App that can be implemented whilst on the road at trade shows to use as an interactive catalogue for your customers, and to take orders from. As well as this, many stores are now introducing tablets into their showrooms for customers to pick up and, using QR codes, scan items and make orders themselves with no salespeople required.
With an app that connects to your website and back-office, orders can be placed from any locations and move through the supply-chain without any extra administration being required. With this fluidic approach to your business, time and money can be saved and at the benefit of your customers. By removing human administrative tasks around customer orders, you remove the element of human error and enhance the professionalism of your customer service, making the process an automatic success.
Provide specifics!
A lot of what goes into the decision-making process when buying a piece of furniture is to do with its specifications. How big/ long/ short/ wide is often a deal-breaker when it comes to fitting a furniture to a room. As well as dimensions, the material is also often extremely important to the buyer. If the furniture is outside, is it rust-proof? Is it made of sustainable materials? The list goes on.
Generally, the product specifications of an item are the most vital element of the exhibiting of items especially when operating online. Therefore, to include product specification sheets with each item is a fantastic idea in terms of growing your furniture eCommerce. To really take advantage of this fantastic asset to your site, integrate the product specification sheets with your back-office system, so that the information can be generated automatically without having to spend hours on data-entry. This can be a quick and easy process once set up and will be extremely rewarding for your furniture eCommerce.
Advise your customers!
With new furniture eCommerce website being established everyday, it is essential that your business has a strong insight into your customer’s buying habits and learn what is working well, and what isn’t. A great way to provide this unique ‘going the extra-mile’ eCommerce platform for your business is to introduce an Account Overview area. An Account Overview area can make re-orders, recommended and trending products just a click away!
With the implementation of important AI (Artificial Intelligence) data, your furniture business can provide a more specified and intimate shopping experience for your customer. If you are a wholesaler, a place to easily see how their products are performing as well as where they’re being sold and by what customer segment is invaluable information and will form an intrinsically important function for your business. With data recommending products to your customers that are performing well for others, they will feel more comfortable making purchases and only have you to thank for their success! To improve your furniture eCommerce, an overview for yourself and your customers
Summary.
Ecommerce is an everchanging landscape, and if utilised can be the key to ensuring that your business succeeds. For you to be able to sell more furniture online it is essential that you provide interior inspiration through dynamic and easy to navigate features, add customizable items so that your customers feel they are getting a unique product that suits them completely, connect the virtual with the physical by using an app that integrates with your warehouse to use as a selling tool, and introduce downloadable product specification sheets. Finally, to grow your eCommerce implement an Account Overview area so that the decision makers in your business can easily see where orders are coming from, what is popular and much more.
It is important for any business to stay ahead of the innovation curve so no matter what you’re selling online, take a look at our B2B Ecommerce trends article to get ideas about the essential features your Ecommerce platform must have. If you haven’t decided on a platform yet, then our best B2B Ecommerce platform should help you getting started.
As we move into the new decade, a simple website with basic tools and features isn’t enough to encourage growth. Websites need to be innovative, easy to use and provide customers with the information they need. In turn, their data needs to be utilised and used as an essential element of your business. When these suggestions are introduced into your business, you will see growth.
