Image 1 - Kitchen image from the Lago catalogue.
Lago is a furniture company situated near Venice which tries to inject creativity into everything that they do. Lago started 30 years ago as a small family wood carpentry workshop and has expanded to a company with 180 employees and 35 million Euros in sales last year. They attribute this success to their efficient product production methods, innovative marketing and sales strategies and fresh ideas which come from young designers.
I found that some of the most interesting aspects of Lago’s business strategy include their communication with customers, including their catalogues, website, show room, and “apartmento” project.
Image 2 - Graphic from Lago's online catalogue.
Image 3 - Picture of a child's room from the Lago catalgoue.
Unlike most furniture design companies, Lago puts real people in their catalogues (sometimes doing silly things - see image 1 and 3) and makes their show room and catalogue appear “lived-in” (see image 4 and 5). They feel that this allows their customer to actually relate to their products, which allows them to visualize it in their own home.
Image 4 - Picture of a shelf in their showroom.
Image 5 - Picture of a shelf in their showroom.
Another interesting aspect of their communication strategy is the “apartmento” project (see image 6), which involves selected customers using their homes for a sort of open house. Lago provides these homeowners with an individual website which allows their customers to book a time to see the house, furnished with Lago pieces. This is a win-win situation since the apartment owner gets discounted furniture, and can use the commissions received as a sort of part-time job with flexible work hours, and the store gets free advertising and promotion and an alternative type of stores that customers may feel more comfortable visiting.
Image 6 - A picture from the opening night of an "apartmento" project.
By Amanda Cox, Laura Van Staveren and Anne Charbonneau
Keywords: Business Strategy, Society
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