City Furniture Embraces Digital Transformation

Furniture World News Desk on 7/23/2020

City Furniture, a South Florida based Top 100 U.S. Furniture Retailer, announced that it has gone live with the phase 2 of their Akeneo PIM project. Akeneo is a product information management (PIM) solution that City Furniture has been using since 2018 to deliver enriched, consistent, compelling and contextualized product experiences across all distribution channels. The system, architected and deployed by digital services firm StrikeTru, is helping the furniture company improve omni-channel processes, deliver better customer experiences, and accelerate execution of digital initiatives to grow revenue.

One of Akeneo PIM’s powerful new features is Asset Manager, which provides a central hub for enterprise users to organize and enrich all types of product-related information through advanced API connections with DAM (Digital Asset Management) systems. A key goal for City Furniture’s phase 2 project included replacing its legacy DAM system with Widen DAM, automating product asset transfers from Widen DAM to Akeneo PIM, and disseminating product assets from Akeneo PIM to enterprise systems and distribution channels. City Furniture also established advanced integrations between Akeneo PIM and ProductsUp to achieve fast and efficient product feed syndication to distribution channels such as eCommerce websites or marketplaces, physical retail shops or social media like Google and Facebook for example. 

StrikeTru, with its expertise in eCommerce data solutions, played an instrumental role in ensuring Akeneo PIM’s smooth implementation and user-friendly adoption by City Furniture in both the phase 1 (gone live in late 2018) and the current phase 2 project. Bringing best-of-breed features, easily customizable backend, and frictionless integrations within the commerce tech stack, Akeneo PIM provides a central system for all aspects of product information management activities, from digital assets enrichment to approval workflows and content syndication. 

City Furniture doubled its SKU and product attributes counts within 12 months of launching PIM, significantly increased eCommerce’s share of its retail business, and saw a 150% increase in web sync frequency, ensuring that product data is consistently up-to-date and reflective of each online channel’s specific promotional goals so customers can always count on reliable and relevant product experiences. Akeneo’s AI-powered data quality insights tool also helps City Furniture identify issues with its product information and fix those problems rapidly for omnichannel listings.

“StrikeTru helped us derive more value out of our PIM and DAM investments by migrating product asset processes to Widen DAM, setting up a bi-direction integration between DAM and PIM, and automating asset transfers from DAM to PIM and onto other enterprise systems and shopping channels.” said Gurtegh Singh, Program Manager Strategic Projects at City Furniture. “StrikeTru also recommended and helped select a feed management tool (ProductsUp) to better optimize our product feeds to search engines and shopping channels, and also reduce the cost and complexity involved in those processes”. 

“Legacy systems and insufficient automation are major roadblocks to a high-performing eCommerce channel, and to a successful digital transformation”, said Vik Gundoju, Partner at StrikeTru. “Retailers can create a competitive advantage by implementing agile content management practices to centrally collect, store, and disseminate product data and assets. As COVID-19 forced City Furniture to temporarily shut retail stores, it was able to continue operating and scaling its digital channels.” 

“We’re delighted to be deepening our collaboration with City Furniture, a forward-thinking retail innovator who is ahead of the curve in adopting cutting-edge solutions to drive omnichannel success,” Mike Bender, North America VP of Sales at Akeneo. “Product experience is the lifeblood of commerce across all customer touchpoints and throughout the purchase journey. Our phase 1 project delivered game changing results and we can’t wait for the City Furniture team to realize even more benefits from enhanced asset management and syndication capabilities.” 

About StrikeTru: StrikeTru is a digital services firm that specializes in end-to-end product data solutions for eCommerce. Solutions include product data collection, data management (PIM/MDM, DAM), and data syndication. Companies come to StrikeTru to master their data, deliver elevated digital customer experiences, and grow eCommerce sales.

For more information, visit www.striketru.com or contact sales@striketru.com.

About City Furniture: Ranked among Furniture Today magazine’s Top 100 U.S. Furniture Stores, City Furniture leads the industry in its trading area by providing shoppers with an outstanding array of styles and choices at great values. Key product categories include furniture, mattresses, and home accessories.  The company has 20 City Furniture stores in its network, which stretches from Miami through Orlando in southeast and central Florida, as well as to Naples and Fort Myers on the state’s west coast. Also, as a premier Ashley HomeStore licensee in southeast and southwest Florida, City Furniture owns and operates 13 Ashley HomeStore locations. For information visit www.cityfurniture.com.

About Akeneo: Akeneo is a global leader in Product Experience Management (PXM) solutions that help merchants and brands deliver a compelling customer experience across all sales channels, including eCommerce, mobile, print, and retail points of sale. Akeneo’s open-source enterprise PIM, and product data intelligence solutions, dramatically improve product data quality and accuracy while simplifying and accelerating product catalog management.

Leading global brands, including Midland Scientific, Air Liquide, Fossil, Shop.com, and Auchan, trust Akeneo’s solutions to scale and customize their omnichannel and cross-border commerce initiatives. Using Akeneo, brands and retailers can improve customer experience, increase sales, reduce time to market, go global, and boost team productivity. For more information, contact hello@akeneo.com.