Herval Group doubles ecommerce sales with Oracle Advertising and CX

With early origins as a logging company and later an upholstery factory, the Herval Group today is a large furniture manufacturer with successful living room, dining room, bedroom, and mattress lines. In addition to the furniture retail industry, the company also has businesses in the insurance, construction, and financial services markets.

Following the rapid shift to online retail during the pandemic, the Herval Group needed to modify its business operations and organizational culture to align with digital trends and processes, and also improve customer experiences to keep up with the changes in shopping behavior. In addition, the company wanted to integrate conventional distribution channels with digital channels, convincing sellers in its brick-and-mortar stores to see ecommerce as an ally.

The Herval Group planned to implement a new digital strategy to include the company as a whole, with synergy between businesses and teams working together on a single vision for all business segments.

Using Oracle Marketing solutions, online sales of several of the group's ecommerce businesses grew to represent 20% of total revenue.

The Herval Group considered several products from Oracle Marketing, part of the Oracle Advertising and Customer Experience (CX) suite of applications. A key factor in the decision to go with Oracle was the system’s architecture, which would allow for interconnectivity between various applications and processes. Specifically, the company chose Oracle Responsys Campaign Management, Oracle Infinity Behavioral Intelligence, and Oracle Maxymiser Testing and Optimization.

Another important factor in the company’s decision was the participation of Oracle leaders throughout the selection process. This helped the Herval Group to study the best paths available and to feel confident in following through with its plan.

After implementing Oracle Responsys Campaign Management, Oracle Infinity Behavioral Intelligence, and Oracle Maxymiser Testing and Optimization, online sales in key retail divisions grew to represent 20% of the total operation, a twofold increase. At the height of the pandemic, digital channels accounted for 40% of the company’s revenue.

The digital transformation generated by Oracle Marketing solutions streamlined information flows, removed friction and bottlenecks, boosted productivity, optimized digital marketing campaigns, and drove smarter insights. These improvements also enhanced the customer shopping experience in the group's online channels, which ultimately led to increased sales.

In addition, the API-first strategy adopted by the Herval Group revamped connectivity with the company's suppliers. Prior to Oracle, it was not possible to implement third-party APIs to facilitate communication between Herval and service and product providers. Today, with the ease of installing and using APIs, the group communicates and executes processes with its external suppliers, which translates to more agility in product and service orders.

The implementation was carried out by the Oracle Consulting team for Oracle Responsys Campaign Management and Oracle Infinity Behavioral Intelligence. Pmweb was in charge of implementing Oracle Maxymiser Testing and Optimization, as well as monitoring all steps of the process and training the internal team assigned to manage the solution.

The Herval Group, founded in 1959 in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, is comprised of a variety of segments. It currently has 20 brands in the manufacturing, retail, insurance, construction, and financial industries.