Case Profiles / Multichannel
Q & A with Sokol Designer Furniture
- 27th October
- Natasha Sholl 100
From lighting to lounge-chairs, husband and wife team Simon and Bianca Sokolski share how they bring quality and style to their online furniture brand
1. Take us through the background of your online retail business.
We are a wholesaler specialising in high quality replica and designer furniture direct to the public. Sokol was established in 2009 by husband and wife team Simon and Bianca Sokolski. Our core objective at Sokol is to create an alternative for consumers to what is already on the Australian market. We differ from our competitors in that we focus on quality and only sell what we believe are products that are both practical and stylish. Further, we are committed and driven to expand our designer furniture range with original, innovative pieces.
2. How would you describe your e-commerce business model?
Our model is based on offering customers designer furniture at affordable prices and discounted freight rates. We also have a showroom based in Melbourne where customers can view all our furniture and also purchase directly. Pickup from our Fairfield showroom is available as on option online and is free of charge.
3. What were the key challenges you faced in setting up your online retail business and how did you overcome these?
The key challenges in establishing our business were building customer trust and awareness as well as setting up systems that would be able to cope as our business expanded. Building customer confidence is something that developed naturally over time. Once we established ourselves in the marketplace and consumers became more comfortable with making relatively large purchases online, that trust evolved. Having transparent returns policies also helps gain customers’ confidence.
4. What are some of the key features of your site that differentiate your offering and improve conversions?
The key features of our site are ease of navigation, clear imagery and detailed information on products including specifications. Buying furniture can be a major purchase so having pictures from different angles and as much information as possible makes our customers much more likely to buy online. Including testimonials on our site from our customers also helps users feel comfortable making a purchase.
5. What marketing and website initiatives do you believe have been the biggest contributors to your success?
The rapid growth of Sokol’s brand has come from a strong identity through a mix of newspaper advertising, SEO and SEM and as well as positive word of mouth including online forums. Our furniture was recently used on Channel 9’s The Block and that helped create a buzz.
6. What options do you use for fulfilment and logistics, and how do you manage your processes?
We have 2 warehouses in Melbourne and use Direct Freight Express to freight our goods Australia wide. Our warehouses are staffed 7 days a week which allows us to offer dispatch of all orders within 2 business days.
7. What are you working on next?
Social media and mobile browsing are our next focus. We would like to develop this through our strong newsletter subscription database as well as our many loyal existing customers.
