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DFS Speeds Content Delivery Using Amplience Solutions

DFS

While searching for furniture, many customers turn to multiple channels and sources to find products and compare prices. As a result, content is becoming even more central to the omnichannel browsing and buying journey.

Images, pricing information and other vital product data all play a role in the decision-making process, so all relevant content should be available at any time, and using any device. That is why international furniture retailer DFS relies on the AmplienceDynamic Media solution to store merchandising and promotional assets in the cloud. Should the retailer experience a surge of traffic, all images will load from the Amplience server, which helps DFS maintain quality performance at all times.

All media also is optimized across all marketing and commerce channels, with photos and videos being automatically formatted for the device being used. Not only will shoppers have a positive shopping experience on their mobile devices, but in-store sales personnel also will be able to use tablets to showcase additional product information, colors and designs not available on the showroom floor.

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“The purchase of large-ticket items from start to finish, such as furniture, is very much an omnichannel journey,” said Russell Harte, Head of Multichannel Development and Delivery for DFS, in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “We frequently see customers making purchases in a store after initially researching products online — sometimes from a desktop, but often primarily from a tablet or other mobile device. So delivering a seamless, high-quality experience across all devices is of critical importance to DFS.”

A library of 125,000 DFS images currently is stored in the cloud. Images can be used on the web site, as well as in-store digital signage and other marketing touch points.

DFS also leverages the Adaptive Media Platform from Amplience to actively switch out content and promote top-selling products. 

Using consumer insights derived from the call center, DFS can identify trending products and then spotlight them as “best sellers” by promoting them more heavily online.

Prior to implementing the Adaptive Media Platform, DFS needed to wait up to 24 hours to make changes to the web site, leading to lost engagement and sales opportunities. Now, team members can make changes within 30 minutes, which allows the retailer to say up-to-day on the latest consumer trends and spending patterns.

“The speed at which we can optimize and distribute campaign content gives us a decisive competitive edge compared to traditional ways of creating and delivering content,” Harte said. The combination of dynamic media and interactive merchandising available via the Amplience platform also has helped DFS “significantly reduce our omnichannel content media production costs, and helps us deliver rich engaging content in our digital channels.”

Boosting Boxing Day Profits

DFS initially deployed the Amplience Adaptive Media Platform to boost sales over the 2013 holiday season.

Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, is the retailer’s busiest day: Web site visits nearly doubled, content engagement reached 66%.

“Boxing Day is one of the busiest trading days of the year at DFS, and by using the Amplience platform, we can be confident that even in the face of peak traffic the quality and load times of our site imagery will not suffer,” Harte explained. “Using Amplience, not only can we promote products, but we can also create a rich, adaptive user experience for our customers without burdening them with long page load times.”

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