Williams-Sonoma Introduces Design Crew to Enhance the Store Experience

Smart brands are looking for new ways to beat their competition and succeed in this changing retail industry. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSI) is leveraging its best competitive advantage — its network of stores — to give customers an enhanced shopping experience across its portfolio of brands (Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and West Elm).

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. recently introduced Design Crew, a cross-brand design services initiative that allows customers to visit any WSI store or brand website to schedule a free consultation with a design expert, who is specially trained to provide practical and purposeful solutions for all types of design needs.

Total Retail talked with Felix Carbullido, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for WSI, about the Design Crew initiative and how it fits into the company’s omnichannel strategy.

Total Retail: How does Design Crew work?
Felix Carbullido: Customers can now visit any store in the Williams-Sonoma, Inc. portfolio to schedule a free consultation with a Design Crew expert to help with their personalized decorating or shopping needs. The Design Crew experts are specially trained to help customers find the right products and services for decorating, renovating, entertaining, cooking and gift giving across all eight Williams-Sonoma, Inc. brands, including Williams-Sonoma, Williams Sonoma Home, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, PBteen, Mark and Graham, Rejuvenation, and West Elm.

Services include the following:

• Style: Book a complimentary appointment to gather ideas, inspiration, paint and fabric recommendations, and more.
• Design: Design Crew members will measure, create custom floor plans and design a look you love, in one room or across multiple spaces.
• Install: For a fee, our expert installers can assemble furniture, hang drapes, mount your TV and even paint your walls.
• Create: Whether you’re planning a party or organizing a closet, Design Crew members create personal solutions for your most pressing problems.

TR: Why was Design Crew created, and what business benefits do you hope to gain from it?
FC: Innovation that best serves our customers’ needs in-store and online is our priority, and Design Crew allows us to provide customers with outstanding service and a range of aesthetics and products across all of our brands. The Design Crew experience helps us to maximize our competitive advantage of diverse brands, grow our in-store and online businesses, and further our commitment to provide outstanding service to our customers.

TR: How are you tracking the success of Design Crew? Have you seen any results yet that you can share?
FC: We’re still in the early stage of this program, but we’re already seeing traction and hearing positive feedback from our customers.

TR: How does Design Crew play into WSI's omnichannel strategy?
FC: Our commitment is to offer the best customer service. Design Crew helps us accomplish this by providing a resource that allows customers to better understand how they can use the products they see both in-store and online. By helping customers visualize these products in their own homes, we create a more seamless user experience across all our channels.