20x Increase
in conversions
Confer WithConfer With
“Inspiring customer loyalty through quality customer service” is Hughes’ motto and it’s those very same values that have driven success across the country. From winning “internet retailer of the year” in 2016 to being the Best Voted Electrical Website, they have grown exponentially since their humble beginnings in 1921.
We sat down with Systems and Project Director, Henrico Doward, Shop Live Manager, Peter Harvey, and Hughes Smart Associate, Nick Cooper to talk about the journey using live video shopping.
“Inspiring customer loyalty through quality customer service” is Hughes’ motto and it’s those very same values that have driven success across the country. From winning “internet retailer of the year” in 2016 to being the Best Voted Electrical Website, they have grown exponentially since their humble beginnings in 1921.
We sat down with Systems and Project Director, Henrico Doward, Shop Live Manager, Peter Harvey, and Hughes Smart Associate, Nick Cooper to talk about the journey using live video shopping.
Hughes were already using a video service to match the increased web traffic during the height of the pandemic. However, quick-to-deployment solutions presented challenges along the way.
Confer With were able to offer a more immersive product that reflected Hughes’ values. It’s empowered a team to deliver a two-way video call with tools to suggest alternatives and add ons in a buy flow.
20x Increase
in conversions
We asked Peter: “What challenges were you facing before using Confer With?”
Peter: We were already running a virtual shopping platform prior to being on board with you. That did have some restrictions. The feature set wasn’t too heavy, it was essentially a one-way video call.
Henrico emphasised the importance of delivering omnichannel experiences.
Henrico: We are an omni-company. We sell to businesses, we sell to commercials, we sell to customers, and we offer rental services. We needed to find a way to get our customers to have the same sort of service and environment online that we can create in-store.
We are a family run business and in our 100th year. Our USP always has been service, it’s a personal service, it’s delivery, and looking after customers.
When you are online, you are just an online business. So how can you set yourself aside from those businesses and give them a different service?
“Two-way video is giving customers confidence. It allows us to look at products that the customer already has in their home and wants to replace, or even when products are installed”.
Henrico Doward
Systems and Project Director
double the conversion of one way video provider
Confer With’s unique functionality has allowed Hughes’ staff to continue selling at a premium standard against its competitors. This is the different service Hughes were able to deliver as an online business.
Experts can present any item in the eCommerce inventory, even if it is not in the same room as them. From there, either the expert or customer can add items to a virtual shared basket, which is then pushed on to Hughes’ checkout page.
We sat down with Hughes Smart Associate, Nick, to talk about why customers enjoy live video shopping.
Nick: One customer connected to a video call and enquired about a freezer. The products I suggested did not match his preferences.
However, by using the Alternatives Feature, I could then show the customer a product that is similar in nature. The customer’s reply was “yeah, that’s bang on!”.
Peter expresses the unique opportunities live video shopping touch points brings to the business.
Peter: Customers enquire about a particular product found on our website which we do not have on shop floor. It’s great to suggest images of a similar product inside that call and demonstrate alternatives. Even if we don’t have it physically available to us.
It has also allowed us to streamline at quieter times in the day and have people working from home a little bit easier. We can use the images and product descriptions from the website, meaning we can offer a better service working from home than we previously could.
“It’s great to suggest images of a similar product into that call and demonstrate alternatives. Even if we don’t have it available to us on our shop floor”.
Peter Harvey
Head of HQ Division
To finish up, we asked Henrico, what Hughes goals were with virtual shopping:
Henrico: Our goal is to grow online sales and video services will hugely help with that. We started with one location where we had five or six people offering the service and has now gone on to four different branches.
There is a future, where most of our branches will offer a video chat service and can offer that to any customer in this country. We are excited by it and it’s a must for us to keep growing our online business.
Live video shopping is available for furniture and homeware brands to support customers remotely.
Live video shopping is available for consumer electronics to support customers remotely.
Book a time in our calendar to see how live video shopping can help serve your customers.
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The acceleration of eCommerce and live video shopping continues to gain momentum. In 2021, some of the biggest eCommerce investments were in video shopping. Collectively, a staggering $380 million has been invested with tech players including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube and Amazon all experimenting with video commerce. And we are confident it shows no signs of slowing down. Perhaps you are already using […]
