Furniture retail in the UK is changing rapidly. The customer expectation is that retailers deliver a consistent and seamless experience across online and in-store channels, offer real time stock visibility, a personalised service, flexible fulfillment and simple, stress-free payments.
The reality, however, is often different. Retailers who’ve been in the game for more than a decade, are often operating with disconnected systems – an EPOS platform here, an ecommerce service there, and customer database kept somewhere else entirely.
There’s no criticism here. The evolution of technology over the past 20 years has meant that platforms have moved on from solving a single problem to solving multiple. And the multiple platforms will often do their individual jobs reasonably well. Staff are familiar with them, and the prospect of decoupling from them is daunting.
However, the reality is that this patchwork of technology is holding independent furniture retailers back. By their very nature, they create operational inefficiencies, inconsistent customer experiences and provide limited customer visibility – at a time when competition has rarely been more fierce.
For retailers, implementing new technology is no longer a matter of undergoing a ‘digital transformation’; it’s about rebuilding the foundations of the business to enable it to compete in a multi-channel market, and paving the way for business success, rather than struggle, over the coming decade.
Modern furniture retail has changed
Gone are the days of people popping into their local furniture store, browsing the stock and deciding what to order the same afternoon.
Today, your customers will have done a vast amount of research online. They’ll browse products across devices, compare prices, and come in-store when they want to do the ‘physical’ check – the reassurance that their online choice is the right one.
Research has found that 71% of consumers want the same product, service and interaction across every touchpoint without losing their information or preferences – but only 29% believe retailers currently deliver this experience.
At the same time, multi-channel shopping behaviour is becoming the norm, with £52bn of UK online non-food sales influenced by physical touchpoint retail, highlighting just how important connected online and in-store experiences have become.
Customers don’t see retail in one dimension. Retailers shouldn’t, either.
The problems caused by fragmented systems
If the following sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
A platform for EPOS, and another from ecommerce. Separate ordering tools, a standalone payment system, manual spreadsheets, multiple customer databases, and different reporting tools.
While they presumably work just fine in isolation, they rarely communicate effectively with each other – resulting in information silos, and plenty of unconnected dots.
Typically, businesses still operating with a patchwork of fragmented systems experience:
A lack of real time visibility
Disconnected systems make it difficult to get a complete view of stock availability, customer behaviour, sales performance, supplier updates, delivery timelines and profit margin.
As a consequence, decision making slows, opportunities are missed and errors increase.
Inconsistent customer experiences
Today’s customers expect the experience they have online to be consistent with what they experience in person, and for businesses to remember any information they’ve previously shared, any preferences they’ve given and any choices they’ve made. If systems are disconnected, staff in-store have no access to this information, and that’s going to disappoint.
Research shows that 51% of organisations believe customer experience is now more important than product quality or price differentiation alone – and for furniture retailers, exceptional customer service has become a major competitive advantage, particularly against online retailers.
Manual processes erode time
Fragmented systems create more than missed opportunities. They create work. From rekeying orders to updating spreadsheets; cross checking stock to chasing customer payments, manual tasks take time. In fact, research shows that employees spend approximately 26% of their day on avoidable admin tasks.
How could that time be used more effectively in your business? Your team could be on the shop floor supporting customers, increasing sales, improving showroom experiences and building loyalty.
Pricing and stock errors damage trust
Furniture purchases are seriously considered. Customers think long and hard, and want confidence and certainty. If there’s discrepancies or errors among the information they’re given about pricing, stock or delivery times, that can seriously damage trust.
And, when information is stored in multiple locations, you naturally increase the risk of incorrect pricing, overselling unavailable stock, outdated promotional information or inconsistent delivery messaging.
Research has found that fragmented internal systems are increasingly damaging consumer confidence, particularly when pricing and inventory data become misaligned.
Customers expect accuracy and transparency – and retailers operating with disconnected systems struggle to deliver either consistently.
Why unified platforms are becoming an essential for furniture retailers
Despite rapid digitisation, the furniture industry remains highly relationship driven – and because of that independent retailers have a huge advantage.
Customers still value knowledgeable staff and personalised in-store experiences – and research shows that retailers need to increasingly combine human understanding with technology investment to create trust and competitive advantage.
The right technology should enhance the level of service you provide – and in a sector in which that service is a key competitive advantage, it makes sense to do what you can to support and enhance it.
