Renowned for its budget-friendly Scandinavian aesthetic, IKEA is celebrated not only for its characteristics design but also for offering a distinctive shopping experience. Patrons flock to the Swedish retailer not just to shop, but to indulge in a day of exploration. They enjoy being immersed in the interior displays, make use of the kids' play area, and savor a meal at the popular cafeteria-style restaurant. In a market where competition is fierce, furniture stores of this caliber must continuously innovate with reliable technology and cutting-edge services to stay ahead.
LS Retail provides unified software solutions for managing staff, tracking sales, monitoring stock, boosting profitability and delivering a unified consumer experience with invaluable benefits.
Here’s how LS Retail technology is making a difference across IKEA’s global business and the wider home and furniture retail sector:
Supporting multiple stores
One of Croatia’s largest furniture manufacturers, Prima, operates from eight production facilities and employs over 2,000 members of staff. The company uses LS Retail software solutions to oversee its business and optimize its manufacturing processes. With plans to amalgamate its manufacturing, retail network, logistics and sales into one system, Prima can rely on LS Central for all the functionality it needs and scale as its business evolves.
Secure payments
Miklatorg, which owns the IKEA franchise in Iceland, relies on LS Central as its retail management solution. Following a long-term partnership with LS Retail, it upgraded its payments processes to LS Pay, allowing it to seamlessly integrate its terminals and make sure that all transactions are EMV and PCI compliant. All updates for LS Central and LS Pay are automatic, keeping its software up to date and running smoothly at all times.
By incorporating LS Pay at IKEA Iceland, the payment systems have been strengthened, leading to enhanced operational efficiency and ensuring secure and seamless transactions that drive business growth. Furthermore, with the support of LS Central, IKEA Iceland has streamlined its operations, enabling the company to keep on prioritizing delivering exceptional customer service.
End-to-end visibility
Modern furniture stores with a complex inventory and a high turnover require a holistic retail management system that takes care of stock management, data reporting and sales information all in one place.
Contemporary wood furniture store Artemano, based in Canada, faces the added challenge that most of its sales are special orders. It needs easy access to all data and order information for its in-house team to oversee and fulfill the complexities of customer needs. With LS Retail software, Artemano is able to track KPI metrics, commission payouts and customer activity, giving it end-to-end visibility of every purchase.
“The single biggest impact has been on inventory management and visibility,” said Jonathan St-Jean, Director of Operational Efficiency at Artemano.
Improved warehouse management
LS Central integrates seamlessly with external online shopping sites like Shopify, making it easy for retailers to quickly set up online stores, tap into the benefits of popular payment systems and streamline warehouse management – keeping track of stock and overseeing deliveries on every online purchase.
American specialty bedding retailer Qbedding upgraded to LS Central to handle its POS, logistics, customer loyalty, reporting, and e-commerce in one single platform.
“Thanks to LS Central with Shopify and shipping integrations, we are more efficient and we need less staff to do the same job,” said Chanceline Hyman, Director of Operations at Qbedding.
The company has also improved its customer experience with omni-channel functionality and expects to grow online sales by around 30%.
Omnichannel view
LS Central’s comprehensive capabilities across channels help retailers keep track of all stock online and in store, allowing for no error when it comes to fulfilling orders and meeting all customer service requirements.
Gagnon Frères, one of Canada’s largest regional furniture retailers, has enhanced its customer experience by implementing an omnichannel strategy. All of its employees are able to access reliable information about all orders, stock and customer preferences. They can check whether items are in stock and order in products from other stores to fulfill purchases, providing fast and improved customer service.
“Customers get the information they need throughout the entire buying process, from pre-shopping to after-sales support,” said Virginie Théberge, Executive Director at Gagnon Frères.
Want to find out more about how LS Retail solutions can help your furniture business?
Contact us to find out more.
