from Jan Griesel
Our client DeLife has developed just the right strategy to establish itself on the market and has made its name in the online furniture world. In this interview Mr Kirchner, one of the two CEOs of www.delife.eu, explains the path the company has chosen and the role plentymarkets has played in the process.
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Could you describe your online store in a few words? What is it that makes it special? Do you have a special customer base?
Mr Kirchner: Thanks to the client (store) function in plentymarkets, we are able to operate three online stores: Customers looking for the latest trends in furniture make a find on www.delife.eu. We appeal to a broad customer segment by offering a varied and constantly changing product range. Furthermore, our store features a wide range of products in stock (more than 2,000), which is not so common for a furniture store, the possibility to purchase on account or hire purchase, a price guarantee and delivery free of charge. With the domain www.moebel-massive.com we appeal to customers who take a special interest in solid wood furniture. www.moebel-modern.de focuses on upholstered brand-name products.
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Please tell us in a few sentences about the launch of the company! How long have you been working with plentymarkets now? How did the start of your store proceed?
Mr Kirchner: Our company was founded in the beginning of 2008. The online-start followed in August that same year but with a different shop software provider. Almost exactly a year later, we switched to plentymarkets. Back then, we got support from a plenty-certified consultant, Julia Süß (Concept4Business), who also set up our system.
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There is usually a well-thought-out concept behind a successful online business. What is your philosophy? Why do customers order your products?
Mr Kirchner: It is important to us that customers feel as if they were on a "real" shopping spree while they are visiting our online stores. Thanks to our in-house photographers and content staff, we feature creative texts, suitable filters in the style of virtual sales consultants and high-resolution images that draw attention to trendy decorating ideas. It is also important to us that most of our products reach customers within 5 working days. There is also the fact that we offer many additional services such as 2-man service, taking back packaging, disposal of old furniture and assembly. Multichannel sales (multiple stores, portals, markets, affiliates, referrers, AdWords, Coupons, local outlet). The basic prerequisite is to always offer the latest trends and a changing range of complete home interiors.
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You work successfully with plentymarkets and you offer an attractive online store. Do you have any useful tips for other online sellers who are just starting out with the system?
Mr Kirchner: We advice all plenty newcomers to contact a certified plenty-partner regarding the system's setup. plenty offers various and extensive functions which simplify and automate many processes considerably. Of course, plenty is an out-of-the-box-system and you can use it and its various interfaces straight away. However, every new system requires work that you want to get done as soon as possible. A certified partner does not only help you minimize this work but also to synchronize plenty with your processes right form the start. But the best part is that all relevant markets are already connected to the system. You hardly get this luxury anywhere else. Especially plenty newcomers will be pleasantly surprised at how quickly you can link the system to all these external markets. Compared to other systems, it only takes is a few mouse clicks. Once you get started you will notice that plentymarkets is easy to operate. I would certainly encourage anybody to get to know the system as well as possible to benefit from the enormous number of interfaces.
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Do you work with partner agencies (from the plentymarkets network) in certain areas? If so, how do they help you to use plentymarkets even more effectively?
Mr Kirchner: We already have some experience with plentymarkets partner agencies. We recommend Concept4Business for the start, Siteranger for SEO, 123Börse for multichannel sales and createyourtemplate for new websites. Working with all these partners has been highly positive. plenty has a very well developed network of partners.
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In your opinion, how will the e-commerce market in general develop and what is in store for your company in the near future?
Mr Kirchner: There is definitely still a period of growth in e-commerce in store for us. However, all sellers have to do their homework, as there is a disproportionate number of new online stores in every sector. Once the e-commerce hype reaches saturation point, the wheat will separate from the chaff. But there is nothing to worry about for newcomers. All they need to do to secure their own target group is to have the right idea, implement it creatively, adhere to certain usability guidelines and of course use a powerful, all-in-one, multichannel system like plentymarkets!
We would like to thank Mr Kirchner for the interesting insights into strategic considerations and processes in a furniture store. To those who want to find out more about the development of DeLife, we recommend the successes story about DeLife published in the plentymarkets magazine.