Intercepting consumers' purchase intent and driving them to the store, Drive to Store according to Calligaris, powered by RetailTune
Calligaris, an Italian company that is a leader in design furniture manufacturing, with over 80 single-brand stores and more than 1,000 retailers in Italy and abroad, has launched an omnichannel project to increase the online visibility of its products and stores, driving traffic to its physical locations. Market data tells us a great deal about consumer preferences when it comes to purchase channels and online research.
The recent Osservatorio Compass research – Special Report on Furniture 2024 – shows that the preferred purchase channel for furniture and design consumers remains the physical store, despite the e-commerce boom of the last three years. Stores account for 76% of preferences, compared to 49% for online channels. This is no surprise when we consider how important the emotional component is when buying a durable good, as well as the need for pre- and post-sale assistance. Before buying, consumers do their research online: 97% of consumers search the web for businesses.
Calligaris has managed to read its customers' needs and, since 2023, has rolled out an omnichannel project across its entire distribution network – single-brand and multi-brand – through the RetailTune platform. The first step of the project was to centralize, within a single platform, the data of all stores (directly operated, franchised and third-party retailers) and of all available products, so they could be published consistently: starting with the store locator. This is in fact one of the most important touchpoints for consumers: entirely controlled by the brand, it's where a dialogue between user and store is established.
For Calligaris, the store locator with its dedicated store pages becomes the digital version of the physical store, where potential customers can find contact information alongside the full catalog of available products. This is where they can ask questions, opening a direct line of communication with the store manager. What's more, the store pages, like the product pages, rank on Google for branded local searches (e.g. Calligaris Milan) and for unbranded searches specific to product categories (e.g. extendable tables Rimini). As a result, searching for Calligaris + City shows a first search results page almost entirely occupied by the brand's touchpoints: stores' Google Business Profile listings, store concierge pages on the store locator, and even product pages within each store's catalog. And this happens not only in the cities where Calligaris has its flagship or single-brand stores, but also in those where the product is sold through a multi-brand retailer.
The benefits for everyone involved are clear: consumers find up-to-date information online and see the product range before ever entering the store; single- and multi-brand stores become more visible and easier to find online, driving more traffic to the store; and the brand increases the visibility of its stores and products while keeping control of its communication.
What results has Calligaris achieved?
In 10 months of activity, online views of stores have doubled, and consumer actions have grown alongside them: over 17,000 requests for directions, 10,000 calls to stores, for a total of more than 35,000 actions taken by consumers on the store locator and Google Business Profile listings. Organic views of the store locator have also increased, with 54% of them coming from the Google ecosystem.
“These figures are extremely interesting,” says Martina Sansone, CMO of RetailTune. “The meticulous work on local SEO, made possible by the technology built into our platform, has a clear impact on stores and products, dramatically boosting their online visibility: more visible stores and products become easier to find, which translates into increased in-store traffic and, in turn, a higher likelihood of sales. I want to sincerely thank Guido Gorlato for believing in the project and becoming an early adopter of our solution in this sector.
“For Calligaris, stores are the primary place where the brand experience comes to life. Adopting advanced digital tools to improve store visibility is crucial to attracting customers and improving their purchase journey, especially during the consideration phase. This omnichannel strategy not only increases drive to store, but also allows us to offer a better service to the end customer, easing the transition from online research to the in-store visit and, finally, to the product experience,” says Guido Gorlato, Brand Manager at Calligaris.