To truly become omnichannel, you have to bring all of your points of service and advertising together. Then, you can build a strategy around the best way to move prospects through the buyer’s journey and improve the customer experience.
While the channels have changed, the customer experience has always been multichannel. But the definition of omnichannel retail has evolved as customer expectations have changed. Each business may define it a little differently. But an adaptable omnichannel strategy has always been the best way to reach success.
Building an omnichannel furniture retail strategy is how you reach more customers. It’s the way to provide an exceptional customer experience and earn more loyalty and referrals.
The future of commerce in home furnishings is not a one-size-fits-all approach. But it does require a consistent omnichannel strategy. Retailers in the home furnishings industry need more than just leads and conversions. They need an explosion of growth in the business, with fewer staff and inventory control.
For years, omnichannel strategies were more focused on using marketing channels to get conversions. Some more advanced retailers might have added a website presence to capture some leads, but it was mostly for surface-level interactions. Brick-and-mortar was the driver and everything else was secondary.
But the consumer shopping journey has changed dramatically. Now, omnichannel means more than just a marketing strategy and a web presence. It’s about fully integrating your entire digital and traditional commerce experience.
Before you step into the future of retail, make sure that you don’t leave your current customers behind. The right omnichannel strategy will introduce them to digital channels in a familiar way, complementing online interactions with real-world touchpoints.
Retail furniture shoppers want to discover products online, customize them from the comfort of their own homes, visualize the end products in their space, and then visit your showroom to be able to touch and feel the sofa. An omnichannel strategy that supports this progression toward a purchase lets consumers have their cake and eat it, too.
The more limitations you put on the consumer’s ability to find your product, interact with your product, and buy your product, the less likely you are to acquire that consumer.
The aisle in your brick-and-mortar showroom is limited, but an endless aisle on a digital platform can carry all your products at once. It’s one of the most significant benefits of having a robust website filled with product data. The more products you can show, the more customers can shop, and the more sales you’ll see.
The endless aisle is at the heart of every consumer-first omnichannel strategy. It removes the roadblocks that could otherwise keep your products from the consumers who want them. Variety is your primary advantage as an omnichannel business, and the endless aisle helps you capitalize on it.
Thanks to the Amazon effect, retailers and manufacturers are constantly competing with Amazon for product discovery. But now, with so many shoppers relying on local furniture showrooms to supplement product discovery experience online, retailers have found the Amazon effect is easier to overcome with an omnichannel furniture ecommerce strategy.
It wasn’t always clear that consumers were willing to buy these kinds of products online. However, the success of these categories on Amazon makes it more imperative for competing retailers to focus on improving their online personalization. Without a robust web presence, you are essentially throwing profit out the window.
But, you’re never going to beat Amazon at their own game. So, beat them playing your game. Amazon doesn’t have local showrooms like established furniture retail brands. They don’t have informed salespeople who know how to add a personal touch. They just have the endless aisle. And now, so can you.
