FurnitureDealer.Net Launches Rev, New Website Platform

October 15, 2019  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry   

Rev is designed to meet the high expectations of the modern shopper for a hassle-free user experience, or UX, the overall experience a person has while using a website.

“Shopping has changed--and not just for Millennials,” said Alex Kirsch, VP of Client Solutions, FurnitureDealer.Net. “Everyone shops differently now. An acceptable UX is no longer acceptable. Your online experience needs to be exceptional. Shoppers don’t care that you don’t have the same website budget as Wayfair, or Target, or Amazon. Those are the websites they’re shopping and they expect that same level of experience from any company they choose to do business with.”

For the past two years a team from FurnitureDealer.Net spent hundreds of hours analyzing the behavior of the four million shoppers who use their website platform each month, researching emerging web design and UX trends, and analyzing over 200 of the best retail websites on the internet.

 “We leveraged all of this research to reimagine our website platform, then rebuilt it from the ground up with a mobile-first mindset,” said Kirsch. “Nearly 70 percent of visitors to our network of furniture retailer websites are using mobile devices. So every element of Rev was designed to delight shoppers using a smartphone before it was ever thought about for a desktop. Rev takes functionality specific to mobile and uses it to make the shopping experience more intuitive. For example, horizontal scrolling sections leverage mobile-specific swipe to eliminate the need to stack content vertically on small screens.”

“We designed our modern website platform to create an easy, seamless journey from start to finish through excellent user experience,” said Mackenzie Miller, experience designer, FurnitureDealer.Net. “The goal of Rev is to elevate each retailer’s brand. For example, the new home page is highly customizable, allowing retailers to tailor their website to their brand identity.”

“The biggest reason shoppers visit retailer websites is to learn about products. FurnitureDealer.Net publishes the richest product presentations in the home furnishings industry,” noted Kirsch. “Rev makes it easier and faster to discover merchandise with new navigation and filtering options that open with a swipe and fit entirely on a mobile screen. And retailers can curate merchandise from their inventory to display on customizable sections of their site.”

Rev is being rolled out now to all the company’s premium clients. Response from retailers and shoppers has been positive. According to Erica Hughes, digital media & website administrator at Coconis Furniture in Ohio, “Our new Rev site is so streamlined and sleek. Online shopping is meant to be inspirational, enjoyable, and intuitive to the user experience and the new platform delivers on all of these. The mobile-first design, side-scrolling browse panels, and lifestyle imagery resonate with shoppers. Members of our sales team have gone out of their way to tell me how much they enjoy the new website experience and how easy it is to navigate.”

Susan Childs, director of marketing at Virginia Furniture Market in Virginia, commented, “Since updating our web platform to Rev, we've received positive feedback from both our sales teams and our customers. The ease of use and attractive navigable features are a win-win for both Virginia Furniture Market and our customers.”

According to Jack Steger, president of Steger’s Furniture in Illinois, “Abbey and Bryan [Steger] believe Rev is the next game changer idea to make our website stand out. I’m glad FurnitureDealer.Net is always trying to improve as technology and the customer changes.”