Case study

Making your online furniture store feel like an in-person showroom

Web Design

e-Commerce

Buying high-end furniture online is a big commitment for anyone when you can’t see what you’re buying in-person first. Your website is your virtual showroom and if potential customers aren’t able to get a strong feel for the pieces they’re ordering, they’re likely not going to commit to making the purchase.

Classic Imports & Design sells a wide array of beautiful furniture online. They had an existing website but it was cluttered and didn’t present their products in a visually pleasing way. On top of that, finding specific products was difficult and their system they had in place for receiving quote requests from customers was clunky and inefficient.

The company turned to Web Interactive Technologies to build an entirely new e-commerce site for their thousands of products, along with a new quote system.

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A bright, airy design with large imagery featuring various ways to browse products

The new Classic Imports & Design web design is clean and uncluttered, with a great deal of white space. The homepage features a full-width image slider for the company to prominently display photos of furniture as they would in a showroom. Below, visitors can browse products by category, shop the latest products, or view by specific furniture brand.

Madden Industries website build

Using a mega menu to display a large number of product categories

A mega menu is a type of expandable menu where navigation choices are displayed in a wide dropdown layout with numerous columns. It’s particularly fitting when a company has a large number of product categories and subcategories. A lot of the time potential customers are looking for something very specific so you wouldn’t want to miss out on their business because they simply can’t find the product in your online store. The Classic Imports & Design site uses a mega menu for their categories and brands. On mobile devices, the mega menus become expandable and collapsible so they are easy to work with on a small screen.

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Well-organized, intuitive product pages

Individual product pages on Classic’s new site feature everything you’d get in an in-person showroom– the product shown at very angle with a robust image gallery; product dimensions, weight and other details; an overview of the brand; and information about shipping, returns, and claims. These details are displayed using collapsible accordion sections so it’s not all displayed at once. Additionally, the page includes related products so shoppers can view other options if the current product isn’t exactly what they’re looking for. 

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Product filters make it easy for customers to find exactly what they need

Another must-have for online stores with thousands of products is a product filter that’s displayed while the shopper is browsing. The Classic site offers the option to filter by category, price, and brand, and allows the shopper to sort the products how they desire. These options really narrow down search results, making the shopping experience much less overwhelming.

Madden Industries website build

A simple new way to manage customer quote requests

Classic’s new quote system put in place creates a much smoother process for both the shopper and the seller. Visitors can add products to their quote list from individual product pages, or visit the quote request page directly. Afterward, all they have to do is fill out their contact info and the quote will be automatically entered into Classic’s system. A designated person at Classic will then get an email alert that they have a new quote request submitted and they can log into the back-end of their site and view, modify, and respond to the potential customer. All actions are tracked, and Classic can also alert the customer when their items have shipped.

Madden Industries website build

The result: Less hesitance from customers considering buying furniture online

The new website, paired with a super easy quote system, has made the online furniture shopping process way less daunting for the shopper. Potential customers get all the details and photos they need of pieces they are interested in. The new site and system has also freed up a lot of time for Classic’s team, as they no longer have to deal with manually managing quote requests. A true win-win for client and customer!

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