In today’s digital world, the furniture industry is having its moment online. As more and more people turn to their computer as the first step in the purchasing process, adding an engaging experience that gives the customer full transparency into the product is an essential step in a brand’s online presence. However, more than any other product being sold online, furniture is by far the most difficult to showcase digitally and manufacturing and custom orders can be complex challenges. With the vast variety of color combinations, fabric options, and size dimensions, it’s not surprising that furniture brands spend millions of dollars on marketing and operations to put their best ‘face’ forward for their customers.
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Additionally, furniture — unlike more short-lived consumer products such as clothing or appliances—is a bigger financial, spatial, and emotional investment. Because of these factors, customers take longer to make purchasing decisions and the buying process is lengthy compared to a more simple product, like apparel or kitchen appliances. But not to worry, there are solutions that furniture brands can implement to help better showcase their pieces and streamline back end processes.
Back-end Operations
Understanding the in and outs of the furniture purchasing process is complex. But there is a solution to help brands on the back-end. Acumatica delivers a retail and e-commerce ERP and eCommerce software solution for small and mid-sized companies that improves the in-store experience and automates how online orders are taken and fulfilled. Designed with flexibility to accommodate the needs of a single location or multi-channel sellers, Acumatica Cloud ERP brings everything together in one integrated solution to improve the buying experience and encourage repeat customers by giving them access from anywhere and on any device.
Choosing an E-Commerce Platform
BigCommerce has the powerful features and flexible back-end that helps furniture retailers sell more. Online businesses selling furniture, bedroom fittings, and kitchen accessories choose BigCommerce because they can scale effectively and reduce complexity. BigCommerce also offers a simple integration with Threekit and Acumatica so furniture brands can be enabled with 3D configuration and AR. Merchants can reduce manual processes, utilize demand planning, and access real-time business analytics. In fact, BigCommerce for enterprise e-commerce enables retailers to grow at 28% year over year, nearly twice as fast as the industry average.
So why aren’t more brands implementing 3D and AR?
If you’re shopping for a couch online, would you be more informed from a couple of pictures or a real-time 360 degree view of the couch and augmented reality to see how the couch fits in your living space? It’s a no brainer; the latter wins. And think about how powerful it is when a customer customizes their perfect couch, saves it as a shareable link and then downloads a PDF that they can send straight to a sales representative. Length of sale is shortened and the customer is more empowered about their purchasing decision because they personally invested the time to create it and make it perfect for their home.
So why aren’t furniture brands implementing this left and right? Finding the right 3D and AR partner is no easy feat. Brands want someone they can trust, that has the experience and the rendering quality that’s worth the cost and time to implement. They are also looking for an easy integration into their eCommerce platform, like BigCommerce for example.
