Challenge

Poly & Bark is a digital retailer specializing in high-end furniture at a fraction of the cost of brick-and-mortar stores. Each piece is inspired by a smorgasbord of cultures, bringing together detailed craftsmanship and iconic designs.

The brand prides itself on engaging directly with consumers—without wholesalers and showrooms to contend with, it can offer customers high-quality, classic sofas without the extra costs.

Once an anomaly in an industry that literally relies on “butts on seats”, Poly & Bark is now competing with hundreds of other online-only furniture retailers. With the help of AI, it’s able to deliver sales support that rivals the in-store experience.

Furniture is rarely an impulse purchase. Consumers have to make sure it matches their aesthetic, fits in their homes, and serves the right purpose. This is particularly tricky when it comes to buying sofas online. It’s difficult to tell how comfy a sofa will be without physically trying it out—something Poly & Bark struggled to get across to shoppers.

The brand wanted to give its customers confidence when buying high-priced furniture, but the lack of physical touch and the inability to try out a product before they purchase left customers hesitant—especially when dropping over $1k on a single item.

If they wanted to keep up with traditional retailers, Poly & Bark had to promise much more than reduced prices and fast delivery. They had to find a way to help thousands of individual shoppers per day discover the right piece of statement furniture by answering questions and instilling confidence, just like a salesperson would do in a brick-and-mortar store. This is the beauty of Rep: it can be there for an endless amount of customers at any time of the day or night without the need for a huge sales or support team.

Jessica Carter, Customer Service Manager at Poly & Bark, remarked:

“Our experience with Rep has been nothing short of amazing! We have seen growth in the short time that we have been using the chatbot on our site and are pleased with the overall results thus far. We highly recommend them.”

Solution

Purchasing a big piece of furniture is a very involved personal experience. Every customer has a different expectation about what a product will look like in their home and whether it will match up to the marketing images. Add this to the inability to try out products pre-purchase, and it quickly becomes clear why Poly & Bark chose to add Rep to its site.

The AI-powered sales concierge was able to recommend relevant products through an automated Q&A with customers. This helped them find the right sofa for their needs based on their preferences, ideal materials, and desired size. Rep continues to automate customer requests, reducing the workload of Poly & Bark’s human agents and ensuring shoppers get the information they need in real-time. In other words, now.

Results

Shoppers are now able to explore the brand’s furniture catalog through more personalized questions, learn about leather care, and discover Poly & Bark’s shipping and returns policy all through the AI chatbot. It’s able to narrow down a customer’s choices through filters like budget, the type of sofa they’re looking for, their preferred colors and materials, as well as provide educational content, like leather cleaning tips.  

Rep has helped customers gain confidence by offering free fabric samples and a 100-day trial period for bigger items, like sofas. The recommendations and personalized Q&As led to an 8% lift in conversion rates and a 15% increase in AOV. This was a direct result of converting on-the-fence customers who were hesitant about purchasing high-ticket items without trying them out.