[New report] Top 100 U.S. furniture retailers: E-commerce merchandising

Setting new standards for online and in-store furniture visualization

How one of the top US e-tailers created a frictionless online shopping experience using the Cylindo Platform.

Summary

Interior Define, a digitally native furniture brand known for its highly customized products, was struggling to visualize all the customization options available. Photographing all the different products in various fabrics was not an option because of the logistics and costs involved. By partnering with Cylindo, Interior Define was able to create an engaging online shopping experience. On top of that, Interior Define used Cylindo’s API to embed high-quality 3D visuals across digital touchpoints, from the product feed, product category menu, and recommendations to the “add to cart” thumbnails.

The challenge

Interior Define, one of the fastest-growing DTC brands in the US, became famous for putting the customer in the designer seat. With its ability to customize furniture pieces and an ongoing focus on providing the best customer experience, the company quickly became a favorite among many.

Shortly after launching this offer, it became clear to Rob Royer, Founder of Interior Define, that customers love designing their own furniture. Since furniture customization is the biggest USP for Interior Define, the team knew they had to find a sustainable way to visualize all available options.

Building frames and upholstering them with different fabric types (that would later be photographed) required significant investment. Staging photoshoots at the manufacturing site was easier said than done. And photographs showcasing only four to six different fabric options were simply not enough to persuade customers to click the ‘add to cart’ button.

Realizing traditional photography does not fit its product visualization strategy, Interior Define started to look for a solution that would allow buyers to interact with the customized product and would be easily scalable for their teams at the same time.

That’s how the Cylindo partnership has begun - and the rest is history.

What Interior Define experienced with the use of Cylindo platform:

More sales online
and in-store

Effortless product
customization

High-quality visuals
across the buyer’s journey

8x higher likelihood for
conversion with AR

The solution

Interior Define partnered with Cylindo to provide buyers with an engaging shopping experience, online and in-store.

1. Visualizing configurable products with Cylindo Viewer

Today, nearly all products on the Interior Define website are visualized using Cylindo. Buyers use the Cylindo Viewer to configure their furniture and get a photorealistic preview of what a piece would look like. With the spin and zoom features, shoppers can closely inspect fabrics and materials to ensure they get exactly what they want.

2. Creating an engaging experience with Cylindo’s augmented reality (AR)

Cylindo AR has become another integral part of Interior Define’s omnichannel strategy. With Cylindo AR, buyers can place custom furniture models in their own space - without the need to download an app.

The team noticed that buyers use Cylindo AR towards the end of the buyer journey, which proves augmented reality can nudge customers down the funnel and boost buyer confidence.

“Marrying our focus of delivering the best customer experience in the furniture category with Cylindo’s innovative technology is helping us achieve our mission. Cylindo AR is helping us drive higher product engagement and contributing to Interior Define’s highly differentiated shopping experience,” says Rob Royer, Founder of Interior Define.

We send free fabric swatches to potential customers, but this capability is more transparent when they can see an extremely close up view of the fabric. When they then order fabric samples, it confirms that they look like the renderings, and that helps give people the confidence to place an order.

Rob Royer, Founder, Interior Define

3. Leveraging 3D visuals across multiple touchpoints

Driven by the idea of creating a consistent shopping experience, Interior Define used Cylindo’s Content API to embed high-quality visuals across different touchpoints.

Cylindo visuals can be seen on multiple pages on the website, and photorealistic thumbnails are consistently present on the recommendations and add-to-cart imagery. Additionally, Cylindo models are used to create marketing collateral for different channels.

This helps the team close the online-offline gap and create a consistent brand experience regardless of the channel.

4. Adopting Cylindo in-store

Interior Define has also adopted Cylindo in-store. Sales representatives are equipped with laptops and tablets and can easily show every configuration to customers walking in the store, thus creating an endless aisle.

“We are definitely utilizing the Cylindo Viewer in the showroom to visualize what products look like. We have all of our custom fabric options throughout the store, but one of the steps is to always show the customer the sofa in their specific fabric option using Cylindo, ” explains Rob Royer, Founder of Interior Define.

Talk to a product visualization expert.

Get an introduction to the main platform and discover how you can create a remarkable shopping experience and increase your conversion rates.

The results

Introducing Cylindo on the website has proved to be the right decision for Interior Define. Shoppers are able to get a photorealistic preview of furniture they’ve designed, and teams can scale product visualization without exhausting resources.

Cylindo also makes a direct impact on conversion rates. According to Interior Define, Cylindo AR adoption rates are 33 times higher than a traditional AR mobile app. On top of that, customers who engage with Cylindo AR are eight times more likely to convert than those who don’t.

“Our customers truly appreciate the innovative approach we bring to furniture shopping. One of the biggest benefits of working with a complete 3D visualization partner like Cylindo is having all 3D visualization needs covered by a single platform. Together we’re setting new industry standards,” adds Rob Royer, Founder of Interior Define.

Both Cylindo and Interior Define are excited about working together in the future, as both companies are set to explore new ways to transform the shopping experience with 3D product visualization.

About Interior Define

A frontrunner in supplying high-quality furniture at favorable prices, Interior Define is known for its design-your-own offering, as well as its ongoing focus on providing the best customer experience, online and in-store. In 2023, Interior Define was acquired by Havenly.