Ecommerce for Furniture

Ecommerce for furniture has been growing by leaps and bounds. From large and established businesses to small and niche ones, retailers are increasingly resorting to ecommerce as a way to drive their sales. In fact, according to a Statista report, the furniture ecommerce market made for as much as 12% of total sales in 2019. At the core of it, the idea behind this is to take the furniture one would sell at a brick-and-mortar store and sell it over the internet. This is typically through an established ecommerce platform (like one of the best ecommerce platforms Amazon), or a standalone website (like Wayfair). 

But it is not as simple as that. Although rewarding to both buyers and sellers, ecommerce for furniture operates on a different set of rules – and simply having good products, a website, and a courier service is not enough. Operating an e-store requires a sound business strategy. Selling online has a lot of moving parts, and as confusing as they can sometimes be, retailers have to learn to understand them if they want to drive up their sales. In such situations, how can furniture manufacturers make sure that they keep on converting leads and making sales against all odds?

Here are 5 ways in which furniture retailers can make sure that their ecommerce venture remains profitable:

#1. Make Sure Your Website Is Up-to-Date

In today’s age of online shopping and digital marketing, any business’ website is practically its business card. This is the first place of contact for any prospective customer. This itself makes it all the more important for businesses working in ecommerce for furniture to make sure that their website remains as flawless and beautiful as their products. Having an updated website has two important aspects – the first of these is its discoverability. Tending to the first aspect requires businesses to ensure that their website gets known to people. The best way to make this happen is through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – having a good SEO strategy will make the website rank higher on search engines organically, which will increase inbound leads.

The second important aspect that retailers should take care of is the user experience. This is meant for the purpose of retaining visitors who end up on the website. For starters, retailers should see to it that the website has a clean and fresh theme, with colors that are easy on the eyes. The website must be intuitive and easy-to-navigate. Critical information such as contact info and links to ecommerce stores and social media pages should be present on the home page itself. Last but not the least, the website should not have any bugs. The best way to ensure this is to get the site checked by a developer from time to time.

#2. Have A Solid Customer Support System

No matter how good the products are, how strong the business is, or how flawless the services are, there will always be times when problems can arise. From a simple query about the clarity of a product description to a major delivery mix-up, mishaps happen to the best and strongest. The world of ecommerce for furniture is no exception to this. The main thing many retailers fail to realize here is that it is not always the mishap itself that causes customer dissatisfaction, it is the poor handling of the issue. Manufacturers must, therefore, make sure that should their customers face any problems, there is a support system that will effectively back them up. 

Setting up customer service for ecommerce businesses is something that happens in layers. Businesses must first begin by including a feedback and query form on their websites to allow customers to state their grievances. They can also have a live chat feature installed on their sites where visitors and customers can directly enquire about any issue. If the ecommerce business has a bigger budget, they can arrange for 24X7 live phone-supported customer service, which can help customers regardless of when they seek help. Besides putting these in place, retailers should also see to it that any queries sent in by customers should be addressed as promptly as possible.

#3. Adapt For Voice Commerce

One of the most disruptive trends to have overtaken online shopping is voice commerce. Introduced through smart devices such as Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa, the novel method of ecommerce for furniture retail allows customers to search for products by simply requesting by voice. Having come into existence in 2014, voice commerce gained immense popularity within a year of its launch and shows no signs of slowing down till date. In fact, according to a 2017 OC&C Strategy Consultants report, over 13% of the US population has already begun to prefer voice-based ecommerce over other options – a figure that is slated to rise to as high as 55% by 2022.

The best part about voice commerce is that despite its popularity, it is far from being realized to its full potential. This makes it a great chance for businesses to include it for their strategy in ecommerce for furniture retail. What’s more, retailers need not reinvent the wheel optimize for it either. Voice commerce works in a way that is similar to SEO – it utilizes keywords to search for products that match a user’s spoken description. Furniture manufacturers should, therefore, see to it that their product descriptions include all the right keywords. That way, their products will get matched faster to verbal requests.

#4. Build Trust With Ratings And Testimonials

When it comes to ecommerce for furniture, establishing trust is the most important factor. As a rule of thumb, if a visitor cannot trust an online store, they will not buy from them – no matter how big the discounts, or how great-looking the products may be. In a physical store, this is not a problem since the products are directly in front of the customer. In ecommerce stores, however, where this is not possible, manufacturers must find new ways to make themselves look credible. One of the best ways to make this happen is through reviews and customer testimonials.

When prospects see reviews from past customers, they imagine themselves in their place. This gives them the mental image of the business being transparent, which in turn creates a sense of reliability. Businesses should see to it that all of their ecommerce store product pages and social media pages are up-to-date with the latest ratings and reviews. Besides these, they can also enlist their recurring customers to give in-depth testimonials on their websites – these highlight the company’s overall service more than individual products. Last but not the least, retailers can integrate some of these reviews in their ecommerce digital marketing materials such as social media ads and email newsletters.

#5. Enhance Product Visualisation with CGI

One of the biggest reasons why ecommerce for furniture has not realized its full potential is the lack of physical availability. Buying furniture is a costly affair – which makes customers wary of wasting their hard-earned money on returns or exchanges. For this reason, many furniture ecommerce website visitors end up resorting to physical stores. The good news, however, is that this problem can easily be solved through CGI-powered visualizations for furniture. A far cry from still photos, CGI-rendered images are interactive and photorealistic. They are three-dimensional and encourage visitors to visualize the product in a way that is more relatable.

The best part about CGI is that for such an advanced technology, the amount of time, energy, and most importantly money it consumes is very little. CGI neither includes the hassles nor the limitations posed by physical photography. All it requires taking some photos on a camera or making simple drawings and submitting them to a CGI studio. 3D artists will then use these references to render high-resolution images as well as 3D animation and 360-degree view. These rendered images are highly customizable into a variety of contexts and formats – silo images, lifestyle, hero shots, and group shots are only some of them.

Download CGIFURNITURE price guide and learn the costs of top-tier 3D visualization projects of different scales!

See our pricing

Selling furniture online is nothing like that selling in brick-and-mortar stores. On one hand, customers have tremendous ease-of-access and can buy almost any product at the click of a button. On the other hand, they also do not get to see the product in person until they have purchased it. Simply having an ecommerce store and the bare-bones structure to operate it is not enough. Furniture retailers must make sure to make the best of these opposing forces and drive sales by building trust among their prospects. By following the above-mentioned steps, you can make sure to scale your ecommerce for furniture retail. 

Looking for top-notch visual materials to boost your ecommerce furniture sales? Contact CGI Furniture today – we offer high-quality product rendering services. Our dedicated team of professional 3D artists will create imagery and 3D animations that your customers simply will not be able to refuse.

Valerie Adams

Content Writer, Editor

Valerie loves writing about CGI in advertising, product design development, and swears by 3D printing technology. In her free time, she enjoys attending music festivals and art events around Europe.