The right user experience can increase the chances that your prospects will complete their purchases. Discover how 3D planning does that and more.

Given the challenges of 2020, the holiday season is an important one to restore the performance of home retailers worldwide. It offers an unprecedented opportunity for retailers as shopping habits have transformed and moved online: ecommerce sales are predicted to grow by 25% to 35% YoY this holiday season.

 

Success will go to those home retailers who are agile, adapt and prepare for the shift to e-commerce. This article will explore how a 3D planning solution can help add value to your e-commerce strategy.

 

Predict consumer behavior to boost sales

 

New consumer trends hit the market every day. For companies that want to continue to reach new and existing customers in the holiday season, keeping up with usage patterns, and more specifically, predicting customer behavior, is a key success factor.

 

With a 3D planning solution, retailers can move from reactive to predictive mode. With access to a rich mine of customer data which can be used to reveal customer intentions and lift the veil over customer motivations, retailers can finally access the information required to maximize ROI. As an example, here at HomeByMe we used the solution to analyze user design activity to understand what trends are hot (and those that are not) to identify the top kitchen trends for 2020 – and you can do the same with your customers. Find out which items users are populating their rooms with most and the styles they are leaning towards – this way you can get ahead of the curve and plan top stock selection which will entice your visitors.

 

In the festive period, standing out from the competition is extremely important – and with this data, you can do just this; make accurate predictions that result in higher sales numbers and greater customer satisfaction.

 

Improve the customer experience

 

The run-up to the holiday season is one of the most important opportunities you get to strengthen customer relationships – and the impression you make is one that will last. You don’t need a complete website redesign to do this, but considering that over two-thirds of companies compete on the basis of customer experience, you do need to offer a great user experience.

 

A 3D planning solution provides an exceptional real-time online experience with tools that will make your home retail brand stand out from the holiday crowd. Customize the solution to fir your brand, and integrate it with your catalog to show off all your furnishings to their full potential with 360-degree views. But it doesn’t stop there; allow your users to add these items to their own custom-built, made-to-measure, and life-like rooms, for the ultimate immersive experience.

 

Let’s not forget that the right message, at the right time, is also an important part of the customer experience. Personalization will take it that step further and turn your interactions from one-to-many, to one-to-one. Armed with insights into your customers’ behavior, you can further personalize and customize customer experiences with tailored offers and recommendations; ensuring that your customers are able to find the right products, offers and services when they want them most.

 

Cut shopping cart abandonment

 

Holiday shoppers are pressed for time and also spoilt for choice, so home retailers must ensure they are providing them with the most compelling proposition to close a sale. In 2019, the average cart abandonment rate on Black Friday was 77.7%, and yearly, these abandoned purchases are the cause of a staggering $18 billion loss in sales revenue. The right user experience can increase the chances that your prospects will complete their purchases.

 

A 3D planning solution with a good user experience encourages consumers to build their dream rooms and homes, and populate them their ideal furnishings –with this level of time and thought invested into the design process, users are more likely complete their purchases. What’s more, when integrated with your payment systems and catalog, your customers will be able to track their project cost and stock availability status in real-time – avoiding bill shock – one of the top reasons for cart abandonment.

 

Reduce the pressure to deliver

 

No one wants purchases that don’t arrive on time, and especially during the holiday season. But despite consumers starting their holiday shopping earlier and earlier every year to avoid delays, shipping, inventory and logistical challenges still prove to be a problem for retailers – this year in particular. In the US for example, predicted sales are set to rise by 14.1% compared to last year, but up to 700 million packages are predicted to face delays. So, how can retailers reduce the pressure to fulfil the rise in orders without delivery disappointment?

 

By integrating a cloud-based omnichannel 3D planning solution with your back-end systems, you can work out in real-time every aspect of logistics from sourcing to installation – ultimately unifying and optimizing your entire supply chain. With this intelligence, consumers have full visibility of whether their chosen products are in stock. Retailers, in turn, can get orders out to customers accurately, quickly, and efficiently – and if needed, mitigate any likely disruptions in order to keep user satisfaction levels on the up. Providing customers with this same visibility of the entire fulfilment journey will help to minimize festive stress and ultimately cut down on returns.

 

Conclusion

 

Whether or not home retailers are ready, the holiday season is here. Nobody could predict what was to come this year, and this has shown the importance of retailers being ready to sense change and respond to demand moving forward. And without the ability to ‘see’ what is happening, it’s impossible to react. This means saying goodbye to out-of-date information from disparate systems.

 

The successful retailers will be the ones who invest in technology to optimize their supply chains, improve the customer experience and harness the power of a digitalized business to give them the intelligence they need to step forward now, and beyond. This way, home retailers will be able to breathe a little easier in the holiday season.

 

Find out how our 3D planning solution for Home Retailers can set you on the path to sales success: Simon Booker, VP of Sales and Marketing, at simon.booker@3ds.com.