At a time when e-commerce sales make up nearly one-fifth of total retail sales, with an annual growth rate of 15%, retailers can’t afford to have a lousy website.
Even traditional industries like furniture are finally waking up to the new reality - online presence matters. Today the furniture purchase journey starts online for more than 70% of consumers, and worldwide online furniture sales are expected to grow at an average annual growth rate of 11.9% between 2018 and 2022, resulting in a market volume of $294 billion in 2022.
If you are a furniture retailer, you are probably well aware of the importance of the aesthetics and functionality of your website. On the other hand, if you are a furniture manufacturer, and you think that B2B furniture sales are happening offline, you might want to reconsider that notion.
B2B e-commerce sales are accelerating, and last year they surpassed $1 trillion for the first time. According to a report from Digital Commerce 360, 75% of manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers that don’t operate an e-commerce site plan to launch them within two years. The way things work in the B2B sphere has changed. B2B customers are becoming increasingly self-reliant, and as reported by Accenture, they are 57% through the buying process before the first meeting with a company representative. This means that online presence and digital merchandising are now crucial for manufacturers as well.
Why? It’s simple. It doesn't matter if you are a furniture brand or retailer, your goal should always be to reach your potential customers during the moments that influence their buying decisions the most. Unlike ten years ago, when customers would come to the store to find what they need and ask for more information, today the first thing they do is grab their phone or their laptop and search for the products or information they need.
These are the I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-do, and I-want-to-buy moments that really matter. It is during these “intent rich” moments that customers make decisions and preferences get shaped. Google defines them as micro-moments, and they are game changers for both customers and companies.
The challenge is to meet today’s empowered customer where they want, with the information and products that they need. Your website is the first touchpoint in the furniture buying journey, and it has a significant impact on the success (or failure) of your business.
Your website should be evolving constantly, adapting to the changes in customer behavior and expectations. If you’re treating your website as a business card, where all customers can find is your location and social media profiles - you’re doing a lousy job.
Make sure that your site is the place where information happens, where marketing happens, and where customers make informed decisions to buy your products.
Research from Soasta shows that customers are impatient when it comes to web performance and digital customer experience:
Even though there are some articles about doing a website redesign every three years or so, there is no such thing as the right formula you should follow blindly. Make sure to follow the analytics and understand the real reasons behind the numbers. Only then will you be able to make the right decision as to whether or not it is the right time for a redesign.
Here are some of the most common reasons brands need a website redesign:
If you are redesigning your website just for the sake of changing something, you can’t expect an impact on your results. In a world where data is the new gold, basing your decisions on assumptions instead of analytics can cost you a lot. That’s why you need a website redesign strategy. Everything you do in the redesign process should be centered around customers’ needs. A beautiful site doesn’t always mean a functional site. Remember, the redesign should be more than just “dressing up” your website. It should be backed by real data, customer feedback, and analytics.
As we are witnessing a shift in the decision-making process, digital merchandising becomes increasingly important. Customers tend to start their journey online, and more often than not, pre-store preferences are crucial in shaping purchases made later on.
People are emotional decision-makers, and they are constantly seeking tailored experiences that go beyond text and numbers. We live in a world where an engaging customer experience is the ultimate competitive battleground for companies. Nuances can make or break your business.
As the number of choices increases, customers rely on their visual senses to narrow down the playing field. According to Ethos3, the human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text, and 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. If we add the fact that website visitors typically read only 20% of the text on a page, it becomes clear that focusing on visual content can make a difference for your company.
The bottom line is that the most powerful form of communication happens through sharing emotions, and visuals have the power to make emotional connections.
The customer journey continues to evolve rapidly. Just think about the furniture buying process 10 years ago. Traditional retailers were relying on large showrooms, Wayfair had just started to expand, and Amazon was still selling books.
Today? A completely different reality. The internet explosion has transformed the buying decision process. Customers go online, do their research, read reviews, compare options, and look for deals.
Back in the days when product photography had no alternative, having high-quality photographs of your products was a game-changer for businesses. Today, 3D is common in everyday life, and it is now the preferred method of product visualization. Some furniture companies use more than 75% CGI (Computer-generated imagery) in their furniture catalogs, and the level of quality is so high that you aren’t able to recognize the difference between a rendering and an actual photograph. Thanks to advanced technology, renderings often show colors more correctly than standard photography can. Product customization, environment control, creating engaging experiences, asset flexibility, cost, and time efficiency are all tipping the balance in favor of 3D product visualization.
Nowadays, stunning visuals are the core of every good furniture website. Imagine just how costly it is to take photos of all of the product variations you want to offer with different colors, textures, patterns, and fabrics. Now, however, with 3D product visualization you can showcase your product portfolio and enable visitors to configure your products to their specific tastes.
Being able to base your strategy on smart, reusable and agile 3D assets that you can leverage across channels, platforms, and different use cases, will give you an edge over your competitors and it will save you time, energy, and resources. With 3D product visualization, you can get engaging experiences with 360-views, unlimited variations, fast SKU turnaround time, room scenes, and the ability to reuse the assets for other 3D experiences.
The fact that you are reading this article means that you are planning a website redesign, or it has at least crossed your mind. If that’s the case, now is the right time to consider furniture visualization as well, and here is why:
The high-quality of the assets created with 3D visualization, and enhanced with the interactive 360-spin, increases time spent on your website, ultimately boosting sales. For consumers to be comfortable transacting online, they need to see what the product really looks like. Anything but photoreal imagery won’t cut it. This is also important in addressing the challenge of product returns, as people have a better idea of what they’re ordering. Using 3D product visualization, furniture brands and retailers witness an average increase in conversions of 27%.
For many years, traditional photography has been the favorite product visualization option for furniture companies. Just imagine how complicated and costly the process for creating product visuals was in the past. Today, with the emergence of 3D, you can reduce visualization costs by 58% while also reducing your efforts in photography, draping, retouching, content creation, content management, hosting, and content distribution. Now you can show any product, in photorealistic HD imagery at any angle, and in infinite configurations.
People would rather engage with the visual elements of a product page than with a detailed product description. You have to show more to sell more. Product pages are where your revenue comes from, so make sure the redesign is both meaningful, and functional, not just eye pleasing.
“Encourage customers to play with the product, trying out different fabrics and finishes, and to visualize the product in their own setting. Let the customer examine the product in as much detail as possible, with high definition close-ups and 360˚capabilities. Answer as many questions as you can through imagery to give them the confidence to click the add to basket button.” - David Kohn, Customer and E-commerce Director, Heal’s
In addition to a better performing website, another great thing about 3D product visualization is that you can also use it in your physical stores. No matter how big your showroom is, you can never showcase all of your product variations due to limited space. Having your sales staff equipped with laptops, tablets, and in-store kiosks makes it easy for them to quickly show customers what a specific piece of furniture would look like. Thanks to 3D product visualization, you can deploy an endless aisle strategy and empower your sales reps to sell more with less effort. This can be a powerful in-store tool in the hands of a smart associate. Their knowledge, combined with the superior visualization of every product variation, can do wonders for your revenue. One of the leading direct-to-consumer disruptors, Interior Define, uses Cylindo’s technology both online and in-store.
“We are utilizing the Viewers in the showroom to visualize what products look like. We have all of our custom fabric options throughout the store, but one of the steps is to always show the customer the sofa in their specific fabric option using the Viewers.” - Rob Royer, Founder and CEO of Interior Define
Retailers recognize that the first impression a customer gets from a website can have a strong impact on conversions. Digital merchandising improvements, therefore, continue to be a key area of investment and focus for retailers. However, creating authentic and compelling visualizations that will drive engagement is now more challenging than ever. Some of the hottest trends in furniture visualization include 3D visuals with 360-spin, interactive room scenes, augmented reality, and video. The visuals that you create should build you a future-proof content library. Make sure to have only the highest quality visuals that you can repurpose later.
“In online furniture retail, a key area of development is likely to be in advanced imaging and visualization tools. 360˚rendering is now a minimum requirement. In 2019, we can expect to see augmented reality (AR) become more widespread, allowing customers to visualize furniture in their own setting. I also expect to see retailers offering more and more sophisticated product configuration options, for example, build-your-own sofa or modular combinations.” - David Kohn, Customer and E-commerce Director, Heal’s
If you are looking for a 3D visualization platform that can help you create versatile content for multiple channels and platforms, then we should talk.