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

Creating an engaging shopping experience with versatile 3D assets

How the Scandinavian DTC brand created a unified omnichannel buyer journey with the Cylindo platform.

Summary

Sofacompany, an online-first retailer on a mission to challenge the furniture industry by making high-quality Danish design available to all, was looking for ways to introduce 3D product visualization to save costs, time, and resources invested in product photography. With Cylindo, Sofacompany was able to replace traditional product photography with photorealistic 3D renderings and offer engaging online shopping experiences with a 3D product configurator to produce high-quality content at scale. The best part: Sofacompany maximizes the ROI of 3D product visualization by using high-quality visuals across different touchpoints online and in their showrooms.

The challenge

Footprints, different angles, and flying sofas across the world.

The story of Sofacompany started back in 2012 with two designers’ dream of challenging the conservative furniture industry by creating beautiful Danish furniture design. Even though their B2B furniture business, was very successful, they were eager to test the DTC (direct-to-consumer) approach. They designed a few sofas and bought a single container to test their concept. It turned out that there was a great demand and customers loved their sofas. Soon after that, their success continued rolling from country to country, and now, Sofacompany is present in 11 countries across the world.

The huge success was a result of their simple, self-reliant concept, where Sofacompany handled every step of the process – design, production, sales, and delivery. They even owned a photo studio at their factory in Vietnam. Owning the entire value chain from manufacturing to the consumer made them agile, so while some competitors were launching two new designs a year, Sofacompany was launching over ten new designs a year.

That put a lot of pressure on their photo studio. Due to the distance and cultural differences, it was hard to agree on the quality of product pack shots and the attention to detail. While some things could be fixed by investing an extra effort and time in Photoshop, such as footprints on the floor, they also faced more complicated challenges, such as moving angles and lighting inconsistency. Sofacompany did a lot of their lifestyle photography in Denmark, however, this required planning, organizing, and shipping products from Vietnam to Denmark. This approach can be feasible for watches or purses, but when it comes to furniture, product photography brings big challenges.

Better than your own photo studio.

The collaboration between Sofacompany and Cylindo started back in 2016. Sofacompany offered its customers the opportunity to desigh their own sofa using the Cylindo 360 HD Viewer, thus encouraging them to get creative.

Today, Sofacompany is slowly moving to full 3D product visualization. Having photorealistic 3D imagery also allows them to use Cylindo’s files and make full lifestyle images in 3D. As technology continues to evolve, we are seeing tech-savvy furniture giants, like Wayfair and IKEA, ultimately shifting to 3D visualization with almost 100% of their product images being CGI.

4.8

Avg. rating on G2.com

Working with Cylindo brought us huge benefits in terms of saving costs, saving time, and in terms of flexibility. It gives us a more consistent line of images because you don’t have the challenge with different angles and lighting. We are excited to explore all the capabilities that 3D product visualization has to offer.

Simon Peschcke-Køedt, CMO, Sofacompany

The results Sofacompany has been able to achieve with the Cylindo platform:

Increased engagement on their
design-your-own-product section

Increased conversions on their
website and in the showrooms

Reduction of product visualization
costs vs. photography

The solution

Engaging online shopping experiences with versatile 3D assets.

1. Replacing traditional product photography

Replacing traditional product photography with photorealistic 3D renderings, thus saving costs, time, and resources.

2. Engaging online shopping experiences

Offering engaging online shopping experiences for clients with a 3D product configurator to produce high-quality content at scale. This enables clients to design their own sofa, spin, and zoom in on the product to get a better sense of what they are buying.

The results

A complete omnichannel buyer journey supported by Cylindo

Even though showrooms are still the main source for generating revenue, having an engaging online experience is crucial for attracting higher foot traffic as more often than not, online is the first touchpoint consumers have with a furniture company.

Besides their website, Sofacompany also uses Cylindo 360 HD Viewer in-store for their Design Your Own Universe to close the sale while the customer is in the showroom. Knowing there are 5-10 touchpoints before purchase, having high-quality visuals at every step of the journey can help build trust and reassure customers they are making the right decision.

We can see that when consumers enter the design-your-own universe, there are significantly higher conversion rates, regardless if they buy design-your-own products or not. Once they step in that universe and start playing around, there’s a significantly higher likelihood that they will end up buying either design-your-own product or standard products

Simon Peschcke-Køedt, CMO, Sofacompany

Today, Sofacompany is using the Cylindo platform for different use cases, covering many aspects of the furniture buying journey. They have recently started using Cylindo AR solution, and the first results are fascinating. The great adoption rate of augmented reality with 19% user activation is one more proof that Cylino AR solution is the right approach, which can lead to mass adoption of AR in the furniture shopping process. Even though these are the first results from the AR roll-out, based on a limited number of users, it is a great starting point and a clear indication that customers are ready to accept AR as an integral part of the furniture shopping experience.

“I think that the web-native AR solution that Cylindo has introduced is the way forward. Being able to have something in-browser (no app needed), is a huge step forward toward the mass adoption of AR. I firmly believe that, unless you are IKEA, the majority of furniture selling businesses have a very slim chance of consumers downloading an app. For them to leave the website, go to the app store, find the app, download and install the app, set up an account…there are way too many barriers. Web-native AR is the way to go.”
– Simon Peschcke-Køedt, CMO at Sofacompany

Sofacompany also uses Cylindo’s Content API to create a pleasant checkout experience by showing a thumbnail image of the product their visitor is buying with a checkout call to action. This avoids confusion and reminds customers what they’ve added to their cart. Consistent product image thumbnails in the add-to-cart section can close the gap between browsing and checkout processes, thus increasing conversion rates.

These are some of the use cases that the Cylindo Platform can power to fuel your omnichannel buyer journey, creating value every step of the way.

About Sofacompany

Sofacompany is a Danish DTC furniture brand. They started out in 2012 by designing, manufacturing, and selling beautiful Danish sofas and furniture. Thanks to the combination of quality, design, and competitive prices, they’ve had a huge success in a very short time. Learn more at sofacompany.com

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