There is a significant difference between buying and shopping and experience is the keyword that tells them apart. New customer behaviors that emerged from the digital shift and the closure of brick and mortar stores during the COVID-19 pandemic made it even more clear that the customer is no longer just passively participating in the buying process, but is becoming increasingly more engaged with it.
With that, the challenge of offering personalized services in both online and offline channels arises, revolutionizing the customers’ shopping experience. For the home furniture and decoration industry that wasn’t different: buying for your own home, office space or any other personal environment can be a tough job regarding placement, sizing and color coordination, for instance. That is where Tok&Stok’s ecommerce operation shines and stands out.
By leveraging VTEX’s headless and API-first capabilities, the Brazilian home furniture and decoration company improved its ecommerce website by adding new functionalities and built a mobile application with the goal of evolving its digital authority and increasing revenue.
Tok&Stok’s ecommerce progress
Tok&Stok is a Brazilian company that offers exclusive design items and decoration solutions for accessible prices and it is a very dear brand for Brazilian customers. It has been in the online market for eight years and through that time has faced plenty of changes and improvements to its digital commerce environment.
As of 2021, Tok&Stok has brick and mortar stores spread across Brazil, a website and a mobile application. .They migrated to VTEX in 2018 and established a technological support relationship with ACCT, a software architecture consulting company, move that has considerably increased sales through the website.
Today, Tok&Stok has 14000 SKUs ranging from furniture and decoration pieces to cutlery and kitchen accessories, for example.
“Tok&Stok needed to greatly evolve the online shopping experience. Our stores are already well consolidated and we are a reference in experience for furniture and decoration. Our challenge was to make exactly this same movement in digital, in a very accelerated manner.”
Adriano Di Bella Tavollassi, Ecommerce and Digital Director at Tok&Stok
Enhancing the online shopping journey
Through VTEX’s API-first technology, Tok&Stok and ACCT teams were capable of building different applications and features with the ultimate goal of improving the customer’s digital experience and offering quality products and services at all points of sales.
We will take a deeper look at all the features that the company has implemented and how they all contributed to the company’s online operation success.
1. Wedding List
The Wedding List feature was built on VTEX IO, a low-code development platform that simplifies the delivery of headless commerce experiences. All lists are managed by session and customers are able to add whatever products they want to the list for guests, friends and family to give. Beyond the product option, guests are also able to buy gift-cards, defining the price they wish to give away.
By offering a gift list, Tok&Stok can guarantee that all shopping for that specific party will happen inside its website, increasing revenue and bringing more customers to it. This also increases the number of shoppers on its ecommerce database, making retargeting marketing strategies possible.
2. Shop by environment
Making it similar to the offline shopping journey, the shop by environment feature mimics the walkthrough of different environments depending on what they need at that moment.
The store experience is divided into different environments, mimicking a house (living room, office spaces, children’s room, main bedroom, etc). It’s a path that the customer has to follow, not an open store where they can choose where to start. Bringing this experience to the online world not only replicated the famous Tok&Stock brick and mortar stores’ layout but also enhanced brand presence and establishes an omnichannel mindset.
3. Shop the Look
Also developed with VTEX IO, this API is similar to what the retail industry offers of shopping a whole ensemble or look. By choosing the environment they want to shop for, customers are just one click away from redecorating an entire room through one single button. Here, the shopping by environment experience meets shopping by pictures and in one page, customers can experience what the product looks like when coupled with other decor items.
The process goes like this: interior designers create the scene, the room is photographed and the images are uploaded through the API. From then on, the software designer can create and update the products for every type of picture and environment necessary, connecting each item to its respective SKU.
4. Image intelligent search
Customers can upload a picture from their gallery in the search bar and get product recommendations for similar items. This is made possible by Artificial Intelligence tools that scan images and identify similar structures inside Tok&Stok’s website. Have a reference and don’t know how to search for that? Just upload the image and you’ll have options to choose from.
5. 360 degree product view
Shopping for furniture and decoration with only pictures to guide you through can be a hardship for customers and directly affects the decision to buy or not a product. Anticipating that challenge, Tok&Stok, ACCT and VTEX teams collaborated to build detailed 3D renders and make them available on the store’s ecommerce and app. With an interactive mouse rotation, the customer can look at the product as if they were on-site in the store, looking from different angles and even having a clearer view of its measurements.
Omnichannel solution in the spotlight
All in all, it comes down to omnichannel. The integration between online and offline channels is fundamental for the customer experience: whether on its website or the mobile app, having a good user experience is fundamental for a boost in customer loyalty.
A good example of how Tok&Stok used omnichannel as a way to improve their customer service was through the development of a return and exchange policy. Along with ACCT, Tok&Stok developed a policy that is beneficial for both businesses and clients.
When accessing the profile page, the customer can take a look at previous orders, order status and, if necessary, how to return a product. The client then can select the order or the product they want to return and easily generate a code, initiating the reverse logistics process. They can also choose to return or exchange in-store, expanding the omnichannel personalized experience.
“This process translates into great deliveries, a differentiated buying experience for our customers, and results that prove this indisputably. We still have much to do, but we continue with the certainty that we are on the right path to becoming the best digital shopping experience for furniture and accessories.”
–– Adriano Di Bella Tavollassi, Ecommerce and Digital Director at Tok&Stok
All of these initiatives show the world of possibilities that is available through VTEX’s ecommerce SaaS platform. The features mentioned above were translations of the strategy that was collaboratively built with three different teams: VTEX, ACCT and, of course, Tok&Stok. By expanding ecommerce reach and offering more customized experiences for customers, Tok&Stok witnessed digital growth and development of a more engaged audience.
