La-Z-Boy weaves Web links
By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, October 15, 2001
MONROE, Mich. — La-Z-Boy says it is the first in the industry to enable customers to design furniture and interact with local dealers on the Web, creating live leads for its dealers with a new Internet Catalog.
Using advanced rendering technology from Intellitek, visitors to the www.lazboy.com site can now view any frame with the fabric or leather of their choice.
Once they have created their piece, consumers can send their contact information and custom-designed products to a nearby La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries store, La-Z-Boy in-store gallery or authorized dealer who is equipped with the La-Z-Boy Screen Test video catalog system by Intellitek, thus simplifying the decision-making and purchasing processes, the company said.
"La-Z-Boy is committed to providing dealers with the business tools and support that will make them successful," said Kevin Wixted, the company's director of marketing. "We wanted to find a way to help our dealers leverage the high number of customers that use the Internet to research furniture before making a purchase. These Web site enhancements enable La-Z-Boy dealers to proactively contact interested customers."
The Web site features virtually every frame, fabric and leather choice that La-Z-Boy offers. Included are recliners, motion sofas and loveseats, sofa-sleepers, modular furniture and well as stationary sofas, loveseats and chairs.
Also available for rendering are pillows, welt and wood options.
According to the company, site visitors can try out every possible combination of frames and covers to create the furniture that fits their needs. Selections can be saved to the My Gallery section, which enables customers to create their own gallery in which to save their furniture renderings and share them with friends and family members. Customers also can send their My Gallery to a nearby store to view it on the store kiosk with the salesperson that is assisting them.
Consumers can choose to send their contact information and furniture interests directly from www.lazboy.com to a local La-Z-Boy dealer if they wish to continue the shopping process. Dealers can gather these leads daily using their in-store video catalog kiosk.
"For the first time, customers can choose to contact a dealer and give them extremely detailed information about their product interests.
Dealers will have an ongoing list of potential customers, and will be able to provide customers with their advice and expertise from the beginning of the process," said Wixted.
The program was co-developed by La-Z-Boy and Intellitek, the company's long-time technology partner.
The two companies originally joined forces in 1993 to introduce La-Z-Boy Screen Test, one of the first industry video catalog systems.
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| Using La-Z-Boy's Internet Catalog, shoppers can look at an array of frame and cover options, as illustrated here, before they set foot in the store. |
