Headquartered in Monroe, Michigan, La-Z-Boy Incorporated (La-Z-Boy) is one of North America’s largest manufacturers of upholstered furniture and the world’s leading producer of reclining chairs. The company manufactures a full line of comfortable products for the living room and family room including the company’s world-famous recliners, reclining sofas and love seats, sleep sofas, modular furniture and leather upholstery, as well as stationary sofas and love seats.

CHALLENGE

As more and more manufacturers utilize the internet to reach consumers directly, La-Z-Boy recognized the need for an online presence to increase revenue and drive consumers to their La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries dealers. As this was La-Z-Boy’s first venture into the world of e-commerce and would ultimately make the company the first furniture manufacturer to offer products directly to consumers online, they sought direction and guidance as well as an e-commerce platform that could effectively integrate with their dealers and consumers.

SOLUTION

With our 15 years of experience in e-commerce, Fry provided assistance to La-Z-Boy in narrowing their requirements. Once a direction was established, Fry developed La-Z-Boy’s new revenue channel by utilizing the existing site and launching a storefront on our Open Commerce Platform (OCP), a scalable, flexible framework that incorporates best practices in design, information architecture, usability and functional development and gives retailers and manufacturers control over their platform now and in the future.

Because La-Z-Boy’s fulfillment for upholstery goods is accomplished through their La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries dealers, a customer’s delivery zip code is required online before an order can be completed. To make order fulfillment a smooth and efficient process, Fry built a dealer extranet portal for La-Z-Boy. Once an order is completed online, the dealer extranet portal notifies the La-Z-Boy dealer of the order and begins the process of arranging delivery to the customer. After the delivery has occurred, the dealer enters the date and time of delivery into the portal to close out the order.

To further increase revenue opportunities online, La-Z-Boy added more products such as lamps, tables and accessories to the e-commerce storefront. These items are fulfilled through supplier direct fulfillment and also use the dealer extranet portal to notify vendors that an order is waiting and to complete fulfillment.

In addition to a new e-commerce presence and dealer extranet, Fry implemented an OMS and a call center application. La-Z-Boy’s online customer service representatives are now able to access the products in the same manner as an online user and can edit, modify, and process orders for customers utilizing the web-based call center interface.

RESULTS

La-Z-Boy has become the first furniture manufacturer to offer direct to consumer. With an integrated platform, dealer extranet and order management system, La-Z-Boy now has the tools to increase revenue and provide the exemplary customer service in which they pride themselves.

"Our goal is to offer customers the convenience of online furniture shopping and the service of a local store. With the La-Z-Boy storefront we can continue to deliver the outstanding product selection and shopping experience we’re known for wherever our customers choose to shop." - Doug Collier, Chief Marketing Officer, La-Z-Boy Incorporated