The challenge of how to increase ecommerce conversion rates is one that the furniture industry has grappled with acutely, delivering benchmarks that lag behind those of other sectors. Research has found average furniture conversion rates to be as low as 0.5%, compared to 2.25% for all industries. Cart abandonment rates are also extremely high. But now some of the market’s biggest players are employing technology to remarkable effect, exceeding benchmarks and expectations at the same time.
Furniture giants like Overstock.com and Wayfair have achieved online conversion rates of 3.1% and 2.9%, respectively. The secret to their success? Understanding how to cater to online buyer demands. For any company looking to increase ecommerce conversion rates, there are four key strategies they can adapt to their own operations.
Innovations like 3D and AR are shown to increase ecommerce conversion rates | Furniture: Angel Cerdá | Enhance XR
1. Provide a personalized shopping experience
For most customers, furniture is a high-value purchase. As such, they buy products when they are confident of their choices, satisfied with the quality, and have sufficient funds.
In a physical store, making these buying decisions is easier. As well as the tangible experience shopping in person brings, customers can talk to a salesperson to explore the range and, ultimately, find the right product for their preferences. Furthermore, they might take advantage of in-store discounts or have custom furniture made based on their own unique tastes. This contributes to a convenient and personalized in-store shopping experience.
Today, customers expect such personalization during their online shopping experience as well. Research by consulting giant McKinsey finds that 71% of consumers want personalization in their interactions with brands, while 72% expect businesses to recognize them as individuals and know what they want.
Fortunately, online furniture brands can offer personalization in many ways. This includes personalized emails and birthday offers, deploying chatbots to answer customer queries, and showing product recommendations based on past searches. What’s more, by using innovative digital sales tools like a 3D configurator to enable interactive product experiences, furniture companies can empower customers to personalize products in real time, choosing from different colors, textures, and materials to find their ideal piece. These approaches make the online shopping experience convenient and enjoyable, two factors that are shown to help increase ecommerce conversion rates.
2. Leverage augmented reality to increase ecommerce conversion rates
Personalization can help create an enjoyable online shopping experience, but it cannot mimic the tactility of an in-store experience. This is where augmented reality (AR) comes into play.
AR enables customers to visualize products in their homes. They can also view the product from different angles and in different locations, which increases customer engagement and helps them make more confident purchasing decisions. According to research for Snapchat, 80% of shoppers feel greater confidence in purchases made with the help of AR – a tool that the study’s authors call “a commerce powerhouse.”
And, increasingly, it’s a feature that customers demand. According to a separate study by National Research Group for Snapchat, 92% of GenZ want to use AR for shopping, with 49% of millennials saying AR is “very important” to them.
It’s safe to say, therefore, that AR should be at the top of the list for brands aiming to increase ecommerce conversion rates. The good news is that it has never been easier or more cost-effective to implement.
Brands can partner with immersive commerce experts like Enhance to create engaging, web-based AR customer experiences. All they need to do is provide 3D models of their products and Enhance will take care of the rest. Brands can then integrate the AR experience into any online platform – or offline properties via QR code – to engage prospective buyers.
3. Integrate user-generated content
As previously mentioned, furniture is a high-value purchase. Naturally, customers want to know if the physical product will match the picture when shopping online.
According to a consumer study, 95% of customers seek out reviews from existing buyers when deciding on a purchase. Some even turn to user-generated content (UGC) before buying a product.
Since these reviews are not written by paid-for brand reps, they can possess a greater persuasive power. One study suggests brands can enjoy an 8.5% increase in ecommerce conversion rates when customers are served UGC as part of the purchase process. Riviera Maison, meanwhile, observed an 11% increase in customer interaction rates, owing to UGC.
4. Optimize mobile versions
According to recent figures, users spend a third of their waking life on mobile apps. Moreover, they spend 7x more time on apps than browsers, while mobile apps deliver 4x higher conversion rates than mobile web.
Even so, many ecommerce furniture retailers offer non-optimized mobile apps. Common problems include images not appearing to scale, slow loading times, or toggle buttons displaying incorrectly.
All of this makes for an inconvenient shopping experience, with a negative impact on conversion rates. Brands looking to improve conversions by optimizing their mobile platforms should focus on three things: a smooth user experience, providing relevant information, and easy navigation.
Top 3 furniture ecommerce sites with the highest conversion rates
ata shows that a selection of brands have taken significant strides to increase ecommerce conversion rates, outpacing the industry average. The reasons for their success are varied, but certain themes are common, providing learnings for other businesses to incorporate.
1. Overstock
Overstock has the highest reported conversion rate in the sector at 3.1%, and converts 11x more desktop visits than IKEA. The two main reasons for this are the brand's focus on personalization and creating immersive experiences.
The American furniture giant partnered with Braze to integrate personalization into buyer journeys. Customers received alert emails whenever there was a price drop for a recently viewed product, and were also contacted when their product was about to go out of stock. Through these efforts, the company increased its ecommerce conversion rates by 21%.
Overstock also saw a significant lift in mobile conversions with its AR feature. Launched in 2017, and 2018 on mobile, customers could use the product in multiple ways, including lifelike visualizations which allowed them to judge how potential purchases would look in their intended spaces.
2. Ikea
IKEA reports a cart conversion rate of 2.2%. This can be attributed to the success of the IKEA Place app, it’s successor IKEA Kreativ, and UGC. The IKEA Place app enables users to visualize furniture in their homes through AR, using just their phones – a simple but effective innovation with proven ability to increase ecommerce conversion rates, while the IKEA Kreativ app takes this a step further by allowing users to customize room templates with their chosen furniture pieces, and even scan their own spaces to create an editable 3D replica that enables them to drop in IKEA products.
An essential part of buying IKEA furniture online is assembling it at home. As such, IKEA encourages its users to share their experiences of building their products. This helps potential customers visualize how they will receive their products after placing an order, and also shows them how easy assembling their own furniture can be. With all this information, prospective buyers can make better-informed buying decisions, leading to more confident purchases and increased customer satisfaction.
3. Vox
Vox integrated UGC into various parts of its buyer journey in a bid to increase ecommerce conversion rates and, as a result, saw an uplift of 18.8%. First, the brand segmented its audience based on lifestyle. Then it created specific content for each segment.
This initiative sparked a customer discussion and soon resulted in buyers sharing pictures of VOX furniture and how it fit their lifestyle. Moreover, the brand displayed these pictures on the website and the brand's photobook, where prospective buyers could access them to help inform their own buying decisions.
Furniture ecommerce conversion rates may have traditionally lagged those of other industries, but many top players have succeeded in boosting their conversions through their consumer-focused approaches. Businesses that want to grow their revenue need to act decisively, employing innovative tactics gain an all-important competitive edge.
Partnering with companies such as Enhance will enable them to seamlessly integrate memorable immersive experiences into their customer journeys, boosting conversion rates and driving sales.
