TORONTO – Simpli Home, which began as an e-commerce home furnishings supplier, is expanding into the brick-and-mortar retail space with the creation of a sales and marketing framework designed to support the company’s growing number of physical retailers.
“The key to a successful brick-and-mortar program is ensuring that we have the essential elements – sales teams, supply chain, marketing, technology, processes, procedures and more – that will create a positive retailer and customer experience from the onset,” said Simpli Home Chief Marketing Officer Darcy McGilvery. “Our goal is to fully engage our brick-and-mortar retailers with the necessary tools and support to create an easy and efficient sales experience for both the retailer and the customer.”
Simpli Home has enhanced its existing sales and marketing support with additional material and technology solutions to support its brick-and-mortar retailers. The company has created a 14-member sales team to work exclusively with brick-and-mortar retailers, and McGilvery said those representatives are already actively meeting with many market leaders.
The company also has reinforced its supply chain and materials sourcing to compensate for anticipated additional sales volumes, deepened its online product-data infrastructure and enhanced product imagery and support.
Additionally, the company has moved to an omnichannel business strategy that will replicate a seamless shopping and sales experience across all its channels: online, mobile and brick-and-mortar stores.
To that end, the company is working to enhance functionality of its Simpli Home website and plans to add a store locator, website retail and marketplace pricing, and deeper links to retailers. Plus, it is exploring adjusting its approach to advertising, which has been traditionally for the D2C audience, to offer more opportunities and referrals for brick-and-mortar retailers following the implementation of a store locator later this year.
“The ultimate goal is to have each channel support the others, rather than create unnecessary competition,” said Yoram Weinreich, CEO. “Simpli Home has a strong framework in place to make our brick-and-mortar retailers successful, and early feedback from the retailer community is validation that our new sales and marketing endeavors are already making a direct and positive impact. It is full steam ahead for our brick-and-mortar retail and omnichannel programs, and we are excited about 2024.”