How A.I. Can Help Furniture Retailers Provide The Best Customer Experiences

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One of the biggest challenges of selling furniture online vis-a-vis a brick and mortar store, is being unaware of customer intent from the moment they enter. In the shop floor, it might only take a few minutes to ask a customer what she/he is looking for, but online shoppers are more challenging to understand because their intents, invariably, tend to be quite varied. 

This isn’t to say that they are hard to be wooed – furniture customers are almost always well-informed. After all, 59% of furniture buyers rely on digital tools for inspiration before they begin their shopping journeys. As a result, consumers shopping for furniture generally have clear ideas when it comes to what they’re looking for. This clarity is a double edged sword for retailers. If they know what their customers are looking for, they can:

• Help their customers navigate through the site in an efficient manner
• Show relevant recommendations that are in context to their purchase
• Provide customer service that goes above and beyond their customer’s expectations

By harnessing the power of AI, furniture retail can achieve all of the above. Here’s how:

Personalized User Journeys Based on Lifestyle Profiles

Retailers can take advantage of the power of Lifestyle Profiles – ie, unique customer profiles based on their likes, brand and price affinities, transaction history and visual preferences – to enhance the shopper journey across different touchpoints on your website, apps, as well as email. Personalize journeys across different channels to create a singular experience for your customer that has been customized to their Lifestyle Profiles.

AI-Powered Dynamic Personalization

Is your shopper looking at a yellow tufted sofa because they want a sofa, a yellow sofa or sofas with tufting details?   By deploying AI-Powered Dynamic Personalization, furniture retailers can understand shopper intent with each click, and serve personalized product recommendations with the highest likelihood of engagement, based on the user’s preferences and Lifestyle Profiles. Did you know that Vue.ai’s dynamic personalization offers convergence WITHIN 2 CLICKS?

Crack Intent with Customer Intelligence

With AI, retailers  can truly understand not only their customer’s preferences but also their personalities and intent. Is your shopper looking at sofas because she’s moving houses or looking for a change in her existing setup? Is she looking at dark coloured chairs because she likes navy or is it because she lives with children? Is she shopping for printed cushions (despite having bought only plain home decor before) because she wants a change, or is it a gift? Humans, and therefore, human behaviour is complex and cannot be simplified into something as basic as ‘people who bought this also bought’ type recommendations. AI allows retailers to delve deeper into customer behaviour and crack intent by providing actionable insights that combine transaction data, browsing data and membership data. The result? Customer service that shines, targeted campaigns that convert better and a loyal customer base that keeps coming back for more. 

E-Commerce is the new normal for home and furniture retail. By investing in AI, furniture retailers can stand out in a sea of competitors by offering meaningful personalized experiences for every single one of their customers, at scale.

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