Stock on demand means less risk, more value
Online furniture players boast a number of cost-cutting benefits. Retailers don’t need to house stock in expensive warehouses, but can take pre-orders from customers, allowing items to be supplied and manufactured according to demand. This allows cost savings to be passed on to consumers.
While for Swoon Editions, ecommerce is about those fundamentals, technology allows online retailers to augment their offerings and disrupt the market to add value to the customer.
“This means we can be braver and more innovative on design and also that we can offer lower prices to customers because we take less risk around stock,” says Noel Eves, CMO at Swoon Editions.
Seamless experiences among the ‘fundamental tangibles’ of marketing
Swoon Editions focuses on fundamental tangibles that will make people interested enough to come back.
“Probably the best example we have on that is that we launch new products almost every day, as a result of which we see really good engagement with our email sign-up and with open rates,” Eves says.
Meanwhile, social media plays a major role in promoting the brand, with activity appearing on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter, while a blog on the site carries articles on various subjects.
Eves stresses that creating a seamless experience across social is key.
“Many customers on social media, particularly on Pinterest, might be quite high in the funnel and they need to be brought through to part of the site that’s more about the business and the proposition and the history before you push them towards product, price, and a purchase journey.”
Changing channels, adapting to behavior
Swoon Editions is also innovating in its approach to marketing channels.
“So since the business was founded in 2012 we’ve launched new channels every year,” Eves says. “The best example we’ve got in the last 12 months is that we’ve launched a referral programme that now accounts for hundreds of new orders in every month.”
But in spite of growing consumer demand, Eves admits that the biggest challenge in the online furniture space is that there is still a reticence among many customers to buy their furniture online. “It’s a £20BN market and only 6 percent is through online,” he says.
Pure-play online firms like Swoon Editions are, conversely, more nimble. Accordingly, Eves is clearly excited about technology and some of the emerging tools across areas including virtual reality, visualization, and AI.
“Fundamentally for us, the focus is adding tools and technologies to our website that give customers the confidence to buy online without the need for stores,” he says.
This post is part of a Criteo-sponsored video thought leadership series with Hot Topics.ht. Featured content highlights retail marketing, digital, and ecommerce executives as they explore the emerging tools and techniques used by both luxury and high street brands to drive growth in the form of retention and acquisition of customers.
