E-commerce

How embracing digital channels helped The Dufresne Group grow during the pandemic

The Dufresne Group, which operates furniture stores across Canada, has turned to chatbots, telesales, SMS, and appointment technology to connect with customers during the pandemic.

Provided by Acquire.

March 26, 2021 by David Drain

"2020 was difficult," Norm Alegria, director of customer service at The Dufresne Group said recently, noting the challenges and loss of life from the pandemic. "However, out of darkness comes light. The home furnishing industry…did better than most."

The Dufresne Group operates 14 Dufresne Furniture & Appliances locations and 28 Ashley HomeStores across Canada.

"For TDG, this crisis brought about change. This forced us to think of the way we sell differently. This forced us to have an opportunity to expand our horizon and look at technologies, look at our selling techniques and bring forth the change that was so desperately needed within our organization but also within the home furnishings industry," said Alegria.

His insight, along with strategy from Amrit Dhangal, Acquire co-founder and COO, was shared during a webinar, sponsored by Acquire, on March 23 entitled "Exploring the Future of CX: Trends and Predictions for Customer Engagement."

"One thing we did see from the get-go (of the pandemic) was digital transformation as a key for businesses to survive in this environment. In addition to digital transformation accelerating…we definitely saw how the human touch really got a front seat," said Dhangal during the one-hour webinar presentation.

Dhangal's company helps companies to recreate the in-store experience on a digital level, complete with personal interaction. One approach was relying on chatbot technology.

"When we launched chat, we had about 75 chats a day. In less than two weeks, that number grew to over 1,000 chats a day," said Alegria. "And sales followed."

The chatbot follows a customer throughout all their browsing on the site so a connection to a live agent is just a click away.

Telesales, SMS, and appointments are additional channels The Dufresne Group is using to connect with customers.

"We provided them choice in a safe environment during a global pandemic," Alegria continued. "That was really important."

"The ability to keep in touch with the customer through different channels and through different methods has really helped increase the lifetime value of the customer," said Dhangal.

To learn more about The Dufresne Group's strategy and lessons learned as well as some customer experience predictions for the future, check out the webinar, now available on-demand.

About David Drain

David Drain is the former managing director of the ICX Association and leads the events team for Networld Media Group. He has more than 25 years of experience in association management, event planning, writing and speaking. Previously, he served as executive director of the Digital Screenmedia Association.

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