As consumers become more tech-savvy, they are opting to shop for furniture online. Sometimes, this is done to decide if they want to visit the physical store. However, selling furniture online comes with unique challenges. To succeed in this competitive market, furniture retailers must leverage best practices that enhance customer experience, maximize online analytics, and boost sales. Here are five essential tips and best practices for furniture eCommerce businesses.
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Invest in High-Quality eCommerce Analytics
eCommerce is a battle won on many retail fronts – your website, other retailers that carry your products, specialized apps, etc. In addition, winning online is like winning any sales cycle; you must win in all phases – discoverability, consideration, and conversion. To master these, you must start with a solution that covers your needs:
- Category-encompassing analysis of all retailers you work with. This ideally includes Market Share, Share of voice on Shelf and Search, and digital shelf monitoring
- Information should be updated daily as this is a dynamic business
- Alerts, automated reports, and notifications help you get more done
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Benchmark, benchmark, benchmark
Once you are set up with an analytics solution, the key to success is to benchmark against the category and key competitors:
- Discoverability – Check the ranking of your products in the category and Search results and make sure your trend is in line with others
- Consideration – Compare your content and listings to top sellers in the same category and price range and learn from them what makes them successful
- Conversion – Optimize product attributes and pricing regularly to make sure your offering is competitive and consumers see what they are buying
- Even if you are currently selling just on your website, understanding the dynamics of your categories on leading retailers can help you optimize your offerings
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Provide Detailed Product Descriptions
Since customers cannot always physically see or feel the furniture before purchasing, high-quality visuals are crucial, as well as a detailed product description that will help customers make informed decisions. Include:
- 360-degree product views to give customers a complete look at the furniture
- Detailed product description, including key attributes such as
- Dimensions (height, width, depth) to ensure the furniture fits in their space.
- Material and fabric details to highlight durability and quality.
- Weight capacity for items like chairs and beds.
- Consider including videos demonstrating product features
- Include documents for assembly instructions
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Leverage Customer Reviews and Testimonials
Social proof is a powerful tool in eCommerce, and research shows that peer reviews increase engagement and conversion. Establish a process to encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews and testimonials by:
- Sending post-purchase emails requesting feedback
- Offering incentives like discounts or coupons for leaving a review
- Showcasing positive reviews prominently on product pages
- Consider providing further discounts for clients that are willing to leave a short video testimonial
- Leverage all of the above on all retail outlets you sell your products on, as well as on social media, to encourage new potential clients to visit your online stores
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Explore Educated Retail Media Advertising
When selling on popular retailers such as Target, Wayfair, or Overstock, you can leverage ads and sponsorships to promote organically weak ranking products important to your market share and profitability. Consider:
- Research to identify top products you want to invest advertising for – products that can drive meaningful sales, need non-organic rank and search boost
- Experience with advertising at different times of the day, with different budgets
- Analyze results to see how to improve further
- Remember that each retail platform is different and leverages different factors for rank and search results
Final Thoughts
Running a successful furniture eCommerce business requires extensive detail and typically significant investment across multiple retail channels, each of which behaves differently, has different target audiences, and has different competitive settings.
Leveraging analytics, repeatedly benchmarking to the category and competitor performance, and investing in things that boost your portfolio success, like social proof or high-quality content, are the key things that can boost your success across retailers.
In addition, implementing these furniture eCommerce best practices can enhance customer satisfaction, drive a smoother consideration process, and increase sales. As the online furniture market continues to grow, staying ahead of trends and leveraging technology is key to long-term success.
