Dufresne Group’s customer-centric digital transformation

At 2021's CXN Live: Omnichannel Norm Alegria, director of guest care at Dufresne Group, explained the mindset shift that was triggered at the 35 year-old home furnishings group when it undertook a major digital channel transformation in response to the pandemic.

Until the pandemic greatly disrupted customer interactions, Canadian home furnishings group Dufresne had long focused on bricks-and-mortar business. Alegria notes that this approach was rooted in the assumed reluctance from customers to purchase expensive items, such as sofas, online. 

During the first lockdowns in Canada, Dufresne evolved its channel availability and website functionality so it could digitally connect with customers. Following this, customer analysis has shown the retailer that not all individuals depend on visiting stores to invest in expensive products. One customer evidenced this by logging on to Dufresne’s website at 11pm to purchase a sofa via online chat, rather than visit a store.

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“I was very surprised that someone wanted to purchase a big ticket item like a sofa at 11pm without touching it,” Alegria says. “However, in conversing and videochatting,
this consumer said she was in the midst of a pandemic living refresh so she wanted it right away.” 

Blending channel interactions

Choice, consistency and personalization have acted as the guiding objectives informing Dufresne’s customer-centric channel strategy.

“Forcing a customer to call a 1800 number is, frankly, not acceptable in today’s environment – having chat, email, SMS and bots alongside the traditional phone is critical – it’s the price of entry in 2021,” Alegria states.

Alegria observes that shoppers crave a blend of channels across the buying journey.

“We are seeing guests utilizing these multiple platforms – maybe the website to start the search, in-store to finalize, and bots to track their orders or initiate service claims,” he explains.

Its online offering has also allowed Dufresne to improve the efficiency of its maintenance team. Due to its 10-year product warranties, the company receives a large volume of service claims, many of which traditionally required service technicians to visit customers’ homes.

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The introduction of video appointments now allows technicians to expand the number of customers assisted past the previous quota of 10 customers per day. Now only 25 percent of technician visits are conducted in person.

As a result of the digital transformation at least 25 per cent of the company’s in-store sales now start with an online chat.

Customers crave a channel rich environment to interact with, so customer-centric analysis should reveal the preferences your brand needs to meet.

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