Case Studies
Casual Designs Furniture
Magnetic boards are discarded and a small retailer discovers how to take advantage of online space planning even without a website.
Casual Designs Furniture is a small retailer with two stores located in Delaware and Maryland. They signed-on as an Icovia customer in 2005 and have focused on helping customers and design consultants collaborate in their showrooms.
Casual Design Furniture initially thought their lack of web presence precluded them from having a web-based planner. They soon realized that because Icovia true Application Service Provider (ASP), they could point design consultants and customers to a simple URL to access their branded Icovia Space Planner.
Once they made the decision, their planner was live in a just a few weeks. Ludlam notes, "The launch process was seamless. The only time required on our part was the time it took to read the e-mail notifying us we were online and then type our URL into the browser. The Icovia team was incredibly easy to work with."
Prior to their adoption of Icovia technology, the design consultants at Casual Designs Furniture relied on a magnetic board solution to help customers plan their spaces. Richard Ludlam, President of Casual Designs Furniture explains, "The sales associates would plan the room and then attempt to photocopy their creation. The furniture pieces would often fall off or move from their designated locations. Now, they can create and click a button and have a complete print out of their design in a much more professional looking format."
Casual Design Furniture's dissatisfaction with magnetic boards lead to research that helped them realize the greater reach, customer experience and lead generation capabilities of online space planning. Ludlam recalls, "We researched the room planner concept before attending the October Furniture Market and concluded that Icovia was offering the best product. We also believe that by offering this service via the Internet, we can reach more people and therefore generate more business."
According to Ludlam, Icovia received accolades immediately. "The sales associates love it!" They have all been trained to use it and several have reported that they feel they have made the sale as a direct result of using the room planner."
Icovia is priced so its affordable and provides a compelling return on investment even for small single-store retailers. Ludlam is confident in his decision to add Icovia as a key sales support tool. "We are very happy with our decision to use Icovia. The room planner has been an invaluable tool for our sales associates."
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