**London**: As furniture brands prepare for 2025, marketing tools and digital platforms like BigCommerce’s Catalyst are revolutionising customer engagement. Uplift Desk showcases enhanced online experiences, while the Wonder App improves in-store training. These innovations address the industry’s evolving challenges and customer expectations.
As the furniture industry moves closer to 2025, the ongoing evolution of marketing tools is significantly influencing how companies engage with customers. With both e-commerce and traditional brick-and-mortar retailers facing challenges, finding ways to enhance efficiencies has become paramount.
In the realm of e-commerce, businesses are increasingly confronted with the realities of an “attention economy,” which mandates that furniture brands not only effectively display their products but also provide a captivating shopping experience to hold potential customers’ interest. This is particularly crucial for companies that offer customizable products.
Uplift Desk, a manufacturer renowned for its variety of customizable standing desks, exemplifies this customer-centric approach. According to Daniel Burrow, vice president of customer success at Uplift Desk, the company is “kind of customer-obsessed.” They are continually refining their online experience, particularly their 3D builders and configurators, to allow customers to design their ideal desks. Uplift Desk utilises BigCommerce’s new Catalyst platform, which enhances speed and configurability of their online storefront. Burrow stated, “We’ve tried to create configurators using anything other than BigCommerce, and we just get stuck.” The platform enables them to showcase 50 different desktop styles and over 100 shapes and sizes in a customer-friendly manner.
With the launch of Catalyst, Uplift Desk has also been able to enhance how they present product information. Burrow remarked, “With the addition of Catalyst coming in, it’s really upped our ability to quickly design and deploy new elements.” He aims for the company to be “really strategic” in how they showcase information, making it more accessible and easier for customers to digest.
BigCommerce’s Catalyst is noted for transforming how brands can optimise their digital presence. Al Williams, vice president and general manager, B2C at BigCommerce, emphasised, “The reality is that brands can’t afford slow-loading, rigid e-commerce sites anymore.” The results of using next-gen tools like Catalyst have been significant, with retailers observing an average increase of 15% to 25% in their average order value. This improvement is particularly vital in the furniture sector, where purchases are often complex and require multiple engagements.
Uplift Desk has reported substantial enhancements post-launch, with customers noting a faster and more refined online experience. Burrow pointed out that sluggish load times had previously raised concerns about their website’s performance. “Customers told us within 24 hours of launching… that the site seemed faster, crisper and cleaner,” he said.
Innovation is not exclusive to the online marketplace; it is also transforming the in-store experience. The Wonder App, developed by Wonder (formerly Wondersign), is a mobile-first platform aimed at enhancing the interaction between retail sales associates (RSAs) and furniture suppliers. Kaspar Fopp, CEO of Wonder, highlighted that suppliers often lack visibility into RSA performance, which is crucial since RSAs directly influence customer decisions and drive in-store sales. The Wonder App provides real-time insights, training, and engagement tools to improve this connection.
With high turnover rates among RSAs, the Wonder App addresses the challenges associated with training a constantly shifting workforce. Fopp noted that instead of training one store at a time, suppliers can now quickly distribute training videos to a vast network of RSAs at once. The app’s features include a growing library of product training videos, quizzes, and gamified rewards, promoting continuous learning among employees.
Ashley Furniture Industries has become the first supplier to implement the Wonder App across its retail network. John Mask, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Ashley, stated, “Incorporating Wonder into our training program allows us to deliver consistent, high-impact training directly to every RSA.” This integration not only boosts efficiency but also standardises product understanding across the team.
As the furniture industry adapts to these advancements in technology and customer engagement strategies, various brands are finding new ways to enhance their offerings and meet the evolving expectations of their clientele.
Source: Noah Wire Services
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