Calligaris: a clear view of how each store performs

Optimal efficiency is something every company strives for. Investing in smart software is therefore essential and highly worthwhile. At Calligaris, that conviction has been ingrained for a long time. The Italian producer and distributor of premium furniture started a partnership with Initeam back in 2015 for exactly that reason.

Marco Zavattini: “Since we integrated FurnQube, we can measure and understand our business processes and performance far better.”

Calligaris hardly needs an introduction in the furniture world. The Italian supplier of premium furniture is first and foremost a producer of tables, chairs and bar stools. After several acquisitions, the range now also includes lighting and other interior accessories. The family business was founded in 1923 in Manzano and is now largely owned by the investment company Alpha Private Equity Fund.

A way with languages

In 2019, Calligaris hired Marco Zavattini. The Italian is today coordinator of the IT department, which organises a large part of the digital transformation at Calligaris. Concretely, this concerns all the software surrounding the ERP system, such as CRM and BI (Business Intelligence).

Marco Zavattini: “In consultation with Initeam, we quickly concluded that FurnQube would suit our needs better. We had also scanned the market for other solutions, but no system matched our needs as well as FurnQube. As an added advantage, the system is also available in several languages, including Dutch, English, French and Italian, which is certainly a huge benefit for our organisation.”

A user-friendly interface

Initeam has by now installed FurnQube in the four stores Calligaris owns itself: in London, Munich and twice in Paris. There, staff quickly experienced the benefits of the lean software program.

Marco Zavattini: “The user-friendly and fast interface is a major plus. Technically, linking FurnQube to our ERP system was without doubt the biggest challenge, but it brings important benefits. For every new order, FurnQube automatically creates an order in our ERP package. That avoids unnecessary manual interventions and lowers the potential for errors. From the ERP package, our shop managers then see all the relevant data about those orders.”

FurnQube is also connected to Calligaris's Business Intelligence platform.

Marco Zavattini: “At first we mainly received a lot of sales data, but by now that has expanded considerably. Per day and per store, we also have a perfect overview of the number of visitors and the number of contacts the shop manager has created. That produces a complete dashboard on the performance of each store. So we can see which store scores best, and we can also set up a playful competition between the stores.”

Because of these many advantages, Calligaris is now seriously considering integrating FurnQube in its own store in Los Angeles as well.

Marco Zavattini: “We are fully analysing the possibilities for that. Because the United States is a very distinct market with specific characteristics, we have to examine to what extent we could achieve the same added value there through Initeam.”

Italy

Calligaris, based in the Italian province of Udine, is active worldwide. The products are marketed in all European countries, North and South America, Asia and, through projects, even in Africa and Australia.

Marco Zavattini: “Yet in terms of revenue our home market remains the most important. We owe that partly to the franchise formula we have rolled out across the country, in which our franchisees distribute only products from our range.”

“We would like to map consumer behaviour as well as possible. With that in mind, we want to roll out FurnQube across that entire national network, but the contracts do not mention any specific conditions about software. Through the presentations we have organised so far in around six shops, we notice a lot of interest among retailers to install FurnQube too. If we find a good compromise on this, we look forward to generating, through the Initeam solution, an even better overview of furniture sales across Italy.”