In the past few years, a number of geopolitical, economic and technology impacts have greatly reshaped the world and the consumer goods industry especially has seen major changes. Even before COVID-19, consumer shopping habits were trending towards being more online, but the pandemic accelerated this; global ecommerce sales are expected to total $5.7 trillion worldwide in 2022 and this number is expected to continue growing over the next few years. The pandemic not only accelerated online retail, but it also lead to higher expectations from consumers when it comes to digital shopping experiences. But online retailers still struggle with how to give consumers an experience on par with shopping in-person.
Another impact of COVID: a marked rise in home improvement projects. With people needing new spaces for work or school, and having unexpected free time, spending in this area has grown to nearly $430 billion.
Looking at these factors together reveals a clear need for high-quality visualization tools that let consumers dream, test and plan in the virtual world how changes will look in their home. While there are a number of tools out there, many are relatively low in quality and can’t integrate with retailers’ existing product lines. That’s where HomeByMe comes in.
HomeByMe offers 3D visualization and other digital technologies that lets individuals design their kitchens and other spaces from the comfort of their own homes, with the option to enhance and finalize their ideas with personalized virtual appointments with professionals from retailers. Over 28 million users around the world already use this free tool.
The marriage of digital experience & interior design
HomeByMe empowers consumers to easily create, plan and manage home-related projects. Users can digitally input their unique interior, or start with preconfigured templates. If they do want to use their specific space, they provide the exact dimensions of the room they want to work on and redesign it entirely in 3D.
Using either approach, the consumer then experiments with how to furnish and decorate. They can imagine, configure, visualize and review specific home products and furniture layouts taking the guesswork out of wondering exactly how, for example, a couch will look before making a purchasing decision. Through the HomeByMe community, they can also discover thousands of creations from other consumers to draw inspiration.
Once a person is happy with their a design, they can use the tool’s ultra-realistic imaging to clearly visualize the final rendering of their project before embarking on the work. HomeByMe provides a 360-degree perspective to see their design in a photo-like rendering from every conceivable angle.
A service for Kitchen, Furniture and DIY companies
HomeByMe is not only a platform for the general public, but also for professionals such as interior designers and retailers. Currently, more than 300 brands are using the service to help consumers discover ideas and products, and create their project easily and quickly.
As mentioned, post-COVID consumers are not only shopping online more than ever but are looking for a great experience when doing so. HomeByMe helps brands and retailers – especially kitchen, bathroom, storage and furnishing companies – offer consumers a strong omni-channel experience and retailers the ability to engage early with qualified customers looking to embark on home projects.
Because it’s easy to use, versatile and highly visual, consumers feel empowered and more confident in their home-buying product decisions. A customer who is already browsing a vendor’s products can take it a step further by seeing a high-quality rendering of their products in a virtual version of their unique space.
Let’s look at a few examples.
From furniture manufacturer to interior designer: the story of Gautier
A French furniture company turned to HomeByMe for Retailers 3D planning solution to provide a delightful experience to help customers figure out then visualize their dream home.
Gautier combined a photorealistic 3D catalog of its complete product range into this intuitive planning platform to help its in-store experts create an accurate view of a customer’s home within minutes.
“The HomeByMe for Home Retailers 3D planning solution has enabled our store assistants to play a much bigger role in the interior design projects of our customers. Now, we can support our customers end to end, showing them exactly how their rooms will look and providing visually led advice on the best furniture to suit.”
Mikael Bouchet, IT Project Manager, Gautier
A pure player in the kitchen market: the story of Cabinets.com
Cabinets.com, the largest online retailer of U.S.-manufactured and assembled cabinets, selected HomeByMe for Kitchen Retailers to disrupt the kitchen market with a fully online business model to transform how consumers shop for all their kitchen cabinet needs.
“As a purely online company, providing an easy-to-use, web-based user experience was essential. We were impressed with the ease of use and intuitive flow of the HomeByMe solution. We will be able to offer our customers an effective and easy-to-use tool to digitally design their kitchen with the latest styles and trends.”
Jeff Robertson, President, Cabinets.com
Want to try HomeByMe?
If you’re a consumer, simply create an account at home.by.me and try out three projects for free! Are you a professional such as an interior designer, real estate agent, craftsman who want to give this a try to enhance your business offerings? Look at monthly subscription options on home.by.me. Larger brand retailers and manufacturers in the kitchen, storage, bathroom and home furnishings sectors can discover an entire end-to-end solution for inspiration, planning and operations management at enterprise-home.by.me.
Key HomeByMe Figures:
- 22 million users worldwide
- 25 million projects created
- Available in 110 countries
- Top countries in Europe: France, Spain, Germany, UK, Belgium, Italy
- Top countries in the rest of the world: US, Argentina, Canada, China, India
Alyssa is a Communications Director on the Dassault Systèmes Corporate Publishing team. She’s been part of DS for over 20 years, in roles ranging from public relations to marketing programs. Twitter: @DS_Alyssa