iPad screenshot
20-20 Icovia Inc., a leading provider of design solutions for the home furnishings industry, announced the introduction of Icovia® Tablet Edition, a mobile version of its popular interior space planning software at a Webinar on October 12th and at the High Point Market on October 22-27, 2011. Icovia will be in the National Home Furnishings Association's Retailer Resource Center on the first floor of Plaza Suites.
Icovia Tablet Edition software will initially be available for the Apple iPad (downloadable from iTunes) featuring the Icovia 2D space planner solution with support for all other tablet platforms immediately afterwards. Icovia Tablet Edition will integrate with retailers’ web-based Icovia Planner allowing consumers and sales associates to access and share designs across the entire Icovia platform. A Tablet version of Icovia’s 3D Room Planner as used by La-Z-Boy, Thomasville and others is also currently in development.
“Consumers are driving mobile commerce,” said Steve Street, CEO of Icovia. “They’ve become accustomed to being able to find and purchase just about everything from a mobile device instantaneously. Now, we’ve extended that capability to the furniture showroom floor. With the Icovia Tablet edition, sales associates can quickly sketch a customer’s room dimensions, and show them how the prospective new furnishings will fit in their space without leaving the showroom floor or the furniture they are interested in. It’s a win-win for both the consumer and sales associate. The customer’s engagement and satisfaction increase, associates can close more sales, and stores realize savings from decreased returns.”
Icovia surveyed 300 furnishings retailers on buying trends before developing Icovia Tablet Edition. The survey revealed that, although consumers often make purchases with their smart phones, this does not translate to furniture, and a tablet has much greater appeal for room planning. Retailers and manufacturers also reported plans to go mobile.
Street went on to say that they were pleasantly surprised to hear that retailers not only wanted a tablet solution but they wanted it from Icovia, integrated with their website planner, and the industry overwhelmingly wanted room planning on a tablet over other capabilities such as catalog browsing or configuring and visualizing furniture also known as fabric draping. “This has been one of our most comprehensive research and development projects and have been overwhelmed by the support and interest from the industry”.
Beta Customer Comments on Icovia Tablet Edition
“Icovia’s new Tablet Edition room planner is just what furniture retailers need right now to improve the selling process. This iPad companion to their successful web-based product is well thought out and easy to use. It keeps to the core room planning functions retailers need to confirm furniture will fit, speeds up the sales process and helps the customer visualize how their room will be merchandised. This latest introduction from Icovia will help any retailer, from the Nation’s leader like Ashley HomeStores, to the smallest local Mom & Pop.” – John Disa, President, Ashley HomeStores
“Icovia Table Edition not only empowers our Living Spaces sales team with an in-store sales tool, it also mobile enables our room planner for consumers on iPads. Of course it goes without saying that we’re thrilled to work with Icovia to introduce the first company-branded furniture retail room planner for the iPad.” – Larry L. Smith, Chief Technology Officer, Living Spaces (#38 on FurnitureToday’s Top 100 Retailers List)
About Icovia: 20-20 Icovia Inc. was founded in 2000 and has become the industry leading online room planning solution for retailers, manufacturers, interior designers and homeowners. The Icovia Room Planner delivers value to businesses and consumers at once with powerful, easy-to-use interior design tools that combine free usage with registration-based features to identify potential buyers as actionable contacts. Through our acquisition by 20-20 Technologies in January of 2008 Icovia is now bringing the 3D Virtual Planner and the resources of a global company focused on interior design technologies to the home furnishings industry. Icovia is headquartered in Londonderry, NH.