Furniture retailers are gearing up for 2024, seeking ways to refine their strategies and meet the evolving expectations of customers. One of the top expectations by shoppers in 2024 is for furniture retailers to deliver a seamless, ecommerce omnichannel experience. In fact, companies with strong omnichannel strategies retain an impressive 89% of customers, highlighting the importance of connecting in-store and online shopping for shoppers across all generations.
What omnichannel trends and features do you need to meet customer expectations in 2024? We’ll explore what you need for your furniture ecommerce to help drive more traffic, deliver great customer experiences, and boost your bottom line in 2024 and beyond.
Over the past decade, we’ve seen generational shifts and technology advancements impact trends in the furniture retail industry. Here are the top trends that are vital for connecting with customers in 2024:
Evolving payment preferences. Furniture retailers must be able to accommodate different generations with several payment options, including financing, buy now, pay later (BNPL) and lease to own.
The expectation of a tailored shopping experience. There is not one shopping experience that suits every customer’s needs, making it important to deliver a personalized experience that retains current customers and attracts new ones.
A consistent shopping experience. As more furniture shoppers continue to blend in-store and online shopping, your brand must be able to offer a unified experience at every touchpoint.
Here are the top omnichannel features that can help you meet the latest trends and customer preferences.
Today’s furniture shopper predominately looks for a hybrid shopping experience, with 75% of consumers expecting a smooth transition between online and in-store shopping.
While hybrid shopping integrates both online and offline touchpoints, omnichannel takes it one step further with a seamless integration of inventory systems and customer data that eases accessibility to the customer's preferences, shopping history, and cart across channels.
One specific omnichannel feature that furniture retailers should leverage in 2024 to drive in-store sales is localization technology for a unified experience. Geolocation technology identifies the geographical location of a shopper and utilizes that information to provide personalized and location-specific experience, including:
In addition to geolocation, your website should be equipped with tools designed for your sales team. With the right tools, your salespeople can access shoppers' carts, assist them in finding desired items, and efficiently complete orders with just one click. Moreover, your sales team can enhance engagement by sending automated emails to shoppers. These emails may include links to viewed items that shoppers can conveniently add to their online shopping cart for later purchase.
In 2024 and beyond, we can expect to see consumers becoming more thoughtful about financing options as part of their furniture purchase decisions.
According to Furniture Today, Gen Z and millennials account for a significant portion of furniture purchases, with 7 out of 10 purchases made by these generations. This demographic dominance underscores the necessity of tailoring payment options to align with their preferences.
Financing, installment payments, and lease to own are popular payment methods utilized by this demographic, as 45% of Gen Zers say they generally prefer using the BNPL financing method over a credit card. In fact, experts estimate that providing these options increases the likelihood of a sale by 20% to 30% and boosts the average ticket size by up to 50%.
Simply put: there is not a “one size fits all” solution for attracting customers across different generations, and as a new wave of age groups begin to shop for furniture, it’s become increasingly important to have flexible payment options in place.
Today, 52% of customers expect a personalized experience from brands. For furniture retailers, personalization extends beyond simply addressing customers by their names in emails. In 2024, leveraging the latest omnichannel features and technology becomes a powerful means to enhance personalization.
Suggesting relevant products not only increases conversions and average order value but also contributes to an increase in customer loyalty. However, poorly executed product recommendations can cause friction and worsen the customer experience. Given that consumers are accustomed to tailored suggestions, presenting generic or irrelevant items may lead to frustration and a high bounce rate.
Machine learning (ML) is one of the leading omnichannel features that can help you provide unique product recommendations for each shopper that go beyond their initial search. This includes suggesting additional products based on items they have interacted with to date, and additional items complimentary to the items they’ve purchased or added to their cart.
As a result, machine learning can provide the personalization you need to drive higher conversions on any page of your website.
These omnichannel features address the top trends that will extend through 2024 and for years beyond, but they are only scratching the surface of what furniture retailers need to enhance sales across every touchpoint.
Discover more ways to boost your omnichannel ecommerce strategy and drive more sales across all generations and trends.