Since 2012, the Danish SOFACOMPANY has been creating affordable high-end design furniture. It sounds contradictory, but by managing everything from design to sales in-house, they keep their furniture affordable. As they say themselves: Design to love, prices to like. This successful formula works, and now there are 29 (almost 30) showrooms across Europe and South Africa.
We spoke with Klaas Hogeweg, Head of Retail Benelux, in the Arnhem showroom of SOFACOMPANY. Klaas has been working for the Danish company for three years, the first two as Sales Manager Benelux and now for a year in his current role. Klaas has been involved in the mystery shopping research in both roles.
Company: SOFACOMPANY Benelux
Industry: Interior
Locations: 8 in the Benelux, 29 in Europe
Client since: 2018
Interviewed: Klaas Hogeweg, Head of Retail Benelux
Why does SOFACOMPANY choose mystery shopping research from Secret View?
Klaas: We started out selling sofas exclusively online. But you want to feel a sofa, see the different fabrics, and determine what sits comfortably before you buy one. While people do their research online, they make the final decision in the showroom. That experience and the advice in the showroom need to be excellent. Seventy percent of the people who buy from us have been to a showroom.
The mystery shoppers give us great insights into the workings of the showroom and the customer experience there. We learn a lot from it, and it keeps our staff on their toes. Entering our showrooms, for example, is crucial in our concept. People need to be greeted immediately and offered a drink. That creates a homely feeling; you feel welcome right away. The mystery shopping research shows that this doesn't always happen. You wouldn't find this out any other way, but now we can address it and train our staff accordingly.
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The mystery shopping research is really a tool for us to maintain our level of service, and the monthly reports help us a lot with this. It gives me a good sense of what is going on.
How is the mystery shopping research set up?
Klaas: It's set up as an orientation. We can't exactly give each mystery shopper a sofa, so we work with financial compensation. In the customer journey that the shopper goes through, we've set several goals. The most important thing is that someone is well informed about the possibilities of our sofas.
How do you measure that? We have an information envelope with details about the products they’re interested in, fabric samples, delivery times, and a product card. They should leave the showroom with this envelope.
So, we find it important that people leave the showroom well informed, so they can make a decision at home later. The research is also focused on informing and advising. Closing the deal is less important for the mystery shopping research. It's also nice that anyone at Secret View can be a mystery shopper because the community is large and local.
Just like our target audience, which is very broad, ranging from 25 to 70+. Everyone should be taken seriously because anyone can be a customer. This is something you sometimes don't see with competitors, especially if you're younger. Entering a furniture store is often not a pleasant experience. That's why we focus on a warm welcome in our showrooms, making sure you are seen and offered a drink. We want to stand out in that aspect. You can buy a sofa in many places. But good advice and service, along with good design and an attractive price, are what make people buy from us.
The scores are consistently positive across the board. Why is that?
Klaas: We invest heavily in new employees with our onboarding process. If you join us full-time, you spend two weeks on onboarding. Each day, you focus on a different topic, guided by the showroom manager.
After onboarding, you follow a sales training program on three levels. It starts with the basics, like how to have a sales conversation, to eventually how to sell something to someone. We have mastered this well. That's where the good scores come from. Sometimes you have an outlier, both downwards and upwards, like recently in Rotterdam when we won the Secret View Experience of the Month award. That’s a great boost, and it shows the rest of the team how important it is.
My standard question to new employees is always: “How do you want to be approached in a store?” You should feel welcome with us. Our training also includes a game with twenty cards featuring the most diverse people. Man, woman, white, black, young, old, and everything in between. The question is, who is the typical SOFACOMPANY customer? And who isn't? The fun part is that anyone can be our customer.
The collaboration has been ongoing since 2018. How has the research evolved over time?
Klaas: The research was already running when I started working at SOFACOMPANY. But in the three years I've been involved, we've made two major adjustments. In 2021, we were still in the pandemic, and the questionnaire was tailored to that. It has been significantly adjusted since then.
Recently, we also adjusted the list to a new customer journey. Initially, the focus was really on closing a deal, and we removed that. Now, the focus is on advising, informing, and ensuring someone leaves with a good feeling. Whether the mystery shopper ultimately buys something is less important to us.
So, we always look at whether the customer journey aligns well with the questionnaire. It's also good to adjust it sometimes; otherwise, employees recognize the questions. But we have good contact with the Customer Success Manager at Secret View about this.
How do you handle the results internally at different levels?
Klaas: I personally see every report and review them all. With outliers, I follow up to see what happened or to send something nice for a 100% score. It’s really about learning for us, and there's no bonus or anything attached to it. No one sees it as control or punishment. It’s constructive criticism with learning points. It also helps that the research has been running for a long time; it's just something that’s part of the monthly routine.
Our shop managers have a meeting with our staff every month. The report is a standard part of that and is thoroughly reviewed. This way, everyone knows what they need to stay sharp on. In March, it's a bit quieter, so we also repeat our training. The research provides valuable input for this.
What’s your favorite part of the dashboard?
Klaas: For me, the reception and closing are the most important; there’s the most to gain there. They fluctuate the most. Everything in between usually goes well, like product knowledge. That’s why I really like that you can see the key points at a glance in the Customer Journey overview.
What do you want to know from your target audience?
Secret View has a global community of over 57,000 mystery shoppers. They already visit your store, so what would you like to ask them? Want to know how it works? Check out our cases of or request a free pilot.
