How to Sell More Furniture Using Product CGI:

For your furniture business to live, generate high profits and grow steadily in such a competitive environment, you must adapt to completely new customer needs and adopt progressive strategies from market leaders.

We have emanated the best strategies on how to sell more furniture based on new market expectations, such as hyper-personalized marketing based on data, creative technologies such as 3D & AR, and competition for traffic and consumer attention.

Our 3D rendering company has been helping brands, retailers, marketers, and entrepreneurs, who see the furniture industry as a life’s work and multi-billion dollar potential, sell more furniture and home items for years. With this article, we provide you with five strategies for selling more furniture using product CGI, based on the key trends in the furniture industry and the best e-commerce marketing practices.

Creative Technologies

CGI (computer-generated imagery) as part of creative technologies is the engine of the economy and the progenitor of 3D visual e-commerce. Сreative technologies oriented toward product design, content marketing, and advertising are used to create multi-sensory solutions based on computer graphics.

Traditional marketing tells stories, while creative technologies make these stories interactive and full of real experiences. From a consumer of a story, a potential client turns into a living participant in it. And the purpose of marketing as such is not to promote a product or service anymore but to create experiences for individuals and solve their problems.

In the furniture e-commerce industry, creative technologies have played a key role. High-quality augmented reality, furniture modeling, 360-degree views, 3D configuration, and animation provide online shoppers with all the information they need and an outstanding CX (customer experience). CGI-based creative technologies will help you sell more furniture, become a market leader and build a successful furniture brand online and offline. So, how can you bring all of that into your business?

Here are the best strategies on how to sell more furniture step by step. Those will allow you to meet market expectations and deliver a better experience and service for your customers. Let’s get to it!

#1. CGI & E-commerce Website

Going online should be a priority if you want to sell more furniture without limits. Online shopping allows customers to save time and money. That’s why they are more likely to buy the desired product in an online store, where the purchase process is streamlined, efficient, and automated.

A well-developed website will allow you to significantly increase your company’s income, thanks to a large influx of customers from the network. You need to combine SEO, advertising, and content marketing to achieve that. This combo will make your e-commerce website a go-to tool for growing your customer base and the centerpiece of an omnichannel marketing strategy. 

Enhancing the shopping experience on an e-commerce site starts with UI & UX design and optimization with all systems, browsers, devices, convenient search, navigation and filtering, intelligent analytics, and personalization. By simplifying the shopping process and engaging the potential buyer with CGI content, you let the user interact with the site easily, explore the products with interest and customize them.

• Lifestyle 3D visualization with groups of furniture products in context will be much more profitable than photographs, which take more money, effort, and time to produce
  
• Product CGI can be implemented when your furniture is only at the production stage or even a mere concept. This way, you can test the market and target audience and then decide what is worth producing and selling. 
• Product 3D configuration will allow the buyer to create their product themselves. 
• Product 3D animation will show the functionality or furniture assembly. 
• Multi-row 3D views, 360-degree product views, and close-ups give customers a “try before buy” option. 
• AR models allow prospects to see if a piece of furniture is suitable for their homes. 

Using product CGI for 3D merchandising and stunning visual content on your website will allow you to catch clients’ attention and sell more furniture.

#2. CGI & Digital Marketing

Using CGI to create and promote a product and build brand-consumer communication is often called 3D marketing. Such digital content gives valuable information to potential customers in more engaging ways. The main attraction of such CGI for digital marketing lies in its augmented reality features.

By showcasing your products in the best light, you give people simple images and visual storytelling. You can show furnishings in different settings and how they interact with the space. With the help of 3D rendering professionals, you can play around with styles, locations, lighting, and atmosphere to make people fall in love with your products

Multi-channel sales through 3D content marketing and SEO optimization of your product pages for each channel will make your marketing strategies even sharper. This way you can expand your brand’s digital reach across multiple channels online (website, social media, app, email, etc.) and offline (retail store, events, call center) while delivering a positive and seamless experience throughout the entire customer journey. This strategy gives buyers more flexibility in shopping or searching for information, which is directly proportional to the increase in sales of your furniture business.

#3. CGI & Social Media

Social networks are promo channels for finding clients, communication, product presentations, demonstrations of expertise, etc. In other words, social networks provide a steady flow of opportunities for sales. And the more professionally they are used, the better the result will be.

Social media selling is a long-term approach to building relationships with clients. Doing SMM smartly, your brand will have a more significant and permanent impact on your customer relationships and transaction values.

Facebook has 2.32 billion monthly users but Instagram has 58 times the engagement rate of Facebook. The integration of social networks and e-commerce has been going on for a few years. Facebook Shops and Instagram Shopping are proof of this. Both platforms provide incredible options for customizing your store and advertising. 

Product Images

All visual communication of the brand can be compared to the facade of the building. In social networks, this facade will be the first thing the user sees. A rich visual experience forms the first impression of a brand or product, increases the level of user engagement, and consequently helps to sell more.  Since product images are needed quickly and in large quantities, many brands have realized how to sell more furniture using product CGI.

Statistics claim that 60% of furniture brands use Pinterest. Although it is called a social network, it is more like a visual search engine where more than 400 million people monthly search for ideas and products. Pinterest statistics show that 93% of users plan their purchases through Pinterest, and 72% learn about new brands. Decor and home improvement is a trending niche on the platform. Regular posting of high-quality, colorful, and stylish CGI images and 3D lifestyle renders, videos, and animations on your boards will get a well-deserved response on Pinterest as aesthetes and beauty connoisseurs are concentrating on this platform.

Product Videos

According to a Cisco report, by 2022, 82% of all IP traffic will be video content. TikTok’s rise in popularity means that short and vivid videos will remain at their peak demand. In the footsteps of TikTok, whose audience has exceeded 1 billion users and continues to grow, other social networks are the following. Instagram launched an alternative to Reels in the video, and YouTube introduced the Shorts format. By incorporating 3D animations of your products into your content marketing strategy, you will be able to entertain and retain more people which leads to selling more furniture.

#4. CGI & Gamification

Gamification is one of the most effective tactics for increasing brand awareness, sales, and customer loyalty. Yu-kai Chou, gamification guru, calls gamification “human-centered design.” He proposed the Octalysis framework for gamification and behavioral design, which explains the psychology and causality of human motivation. 

People naturally love to compete and are easily motivated by rewards. That’s why store bonuses, special discounts, gifts, and free shipping are great motivators that help keep users’ attention and encourage them to take the right actions.

How to sell more furniture using product CGI while integrating gamification? You can provide a cloud-based 3D product configurator and collect user data simultaneously. Gamification in retail is an opportunity to engage individuals and learn about your customers’ purchasing interests, behavior, and preferences. Furniture that clients “create” themself will leave a stronger impression, increase satisfaction, and encourage first and repeat purchases.

Different tests and quizzes for cross-selling purposes can also be considered gamification. Customers participate in this process and even can see it as entertainment when it’s done right. With real-time analytics and in-game shopping experience automation, it will be easier for you to target and satisfy each consumer group.

#5. CGI & AR Shopping

Augmented Reality, or AR, is a layer of digital information displayed on a tablet or smartphone on top of objects in the physical world to change and expand the environment with the help of digital data. Offering 3D visualizations, virtual fittings, and product demonstrations, AR brings more detailed information and “brigs” products to life. People want to visualize how furniture will fit into their homes and lives. AR technology allows you to do this before making a purchase, which significantly improves the quality of service. On top of that, the shopping process becomes more conscious, which helps reduce return rates.

When shopping, people are looking for a unique experience as 61% of consumers say they prefer retailers with an AR experience. Thus, retailers can use augmented reality to provide shoppers with this experience and outperform the competition. Surprisingly, only 1% of retailers use AR, and 52% of retailers say they are not ready to integrate AR into their business.  AR is still a relatively new technology, so many brands don’t know how to utilize it. In other words, it can be a perfect chance to outshine the competition.

One of the key ways to implement AR in your business is to develop a shopping app. For example, an app from IKEA’s furniture manufacturer contains a library of all furniture items from the brand created using product CGI. Users can see how the product they are interested in will look in their homes. The application uses augmented reality technology to superimpose a 3D furniture model on the room picture broadcast from the smartphone’s camera. Users can rotate and move the furniture to their liking until it fits the space perfectly.

If you do not want to invest resources in a mobile app, embed WebAR, the main advantage of which is the ease of implementation. To access augmented reality in a mobile browser, users need to use their URL or QR code, automatically opening a link to AR content without downloading additional applications.

Examine case-studies of CGI projects to see real examples of using 3D technology for marketing purposes.

See our case studies

Incorporating creative technologies based on CGI, gamification, and augmented reality into your company’s business model and marketing strategy will increase your conversion rates and revenue. The relatively easy integration of innovations will blur the lines between being physically present in a store and shopping online. The ability to rotate objects in a 360-degree view, customize the design yourself, and interact with products in real-time provides people with a new, still rare, and unique immersive experience.

By developing relationships with customers – providing value, helping them buy, solving their problems, entertaining, and inspiring them throughout the customer journey – you will quickly figure out how to sell more furniture using product CGI and become a market leader.

Ready to bring product CGI into your business? Schedule a demo or contact us, and we will help you in finding and implementing the best 3D rendering services for your furniture brand.

Maria Smith

Content Writer, Copywriter

Maria is a content writer. She loves to write about visual art and technology. In her spare time from writing, she sings and creates abstract paintings.