Britain’s largest independent furniture retailer, Furniture Village, has unveiled Virtual Village, its new 3D virtual store. Offering a fully immersive shopping experience, customers are invited to browse the virtual showroom accompanied by expert advice, live from the shop floor, via phone, LiveChat or video call.
As close to real life shopping as it gets, customers ‘walk’ around the store, browsing products and zooming in for a closer look. Every product is shoppable with all details, options, lead times and prices available at the click of a mouse, plus a handy shortlist option too.
Peter Harrison, founder and CEO, comments: “Our 54 stores may be closed but our Virtual Village is well and truly open for business. We’re the first independent furniture retailer to embrace experiential retail at scale and I’m delighted by how seamless it is.
“Virtual Village brings the discovery and excitement of in-store shopping to the digital environment. It’s great to be on the front foot with new technologies that genuinely engage customers and help with the decision-making process.”
Charlie Harrison, commercial director, comments: “It’s with real agility that we’ve brought Virtual Village to life. It’s wonderful to see our business thinking and behaving in such a multi-channel way. I’m particularly proud of how quickly our retail teams have pivoted to online – jumping on to LiveChats, hosting video appointments and really embracing an online-first mindset.
“We’re a family business with family values. Pitching in to make the best of a challenging situation is what families do. Ultimately, it’s a testament to being awarded Retail Family Business of the year just a few months ago.”
Virtual Village can be accessed 24/7 here
