If you’ve ever been in a Sofology store you’ll have quickly felt the difference. Experiential sofa sales.

A refreshing change from the traditional ‘persuasive’ model with a philosophy rooted firmly in a consultative, pressure-free, friendly, knowledgeable and personable approach. Just a quick look at their Trustpilot reviews shows it’s a hugely popular approach.

As part of that philosophy not only does Sofology want to make buying as pleasurable as possible, they want to make obtaining interest-free credit as quick and as easy as possible.

That’s why they contracted Kaleida.

Says Jon Cleaver, Sofology’s CTO, “We use a number of finance companies and wanted a finance processing engine that would efficiently manage the submission of finance applications – the acceptances, rejection and referrals. Kaleida devised a smart in-store interface between our POS and our finance providers.”

Before Kaleida, each finance company had to be contacted individually – a repetitive, error-prone and long-winded task. And of course, the longer applications took, the more sales slipped away.

Through Kaleida’s new credit comparison system, customers can now submit their information, secure the best credit arrangement and electronically sign the agreement in double quick time.

“Sign up times have halved,” says Jon.

And with acceptance rates “upwards of 90% compared to a typical industry rate of 70% to 80%” it’s clear that the speed and efficiency of the process is yielding quick and significant dividends.

Working closely with Kaleida’s Technical Director, Damien Byrne, “The man who can make a difference and really understands our business,” Jon and his team at Sofology have now extended the development work to include new features such as the ability to dynamically change the finance offered store by store. Targeted finance options that will deliver Sofology greater control in terms of managing subsidies and rates. Says Jon, “Because we sell on interest-free credit someone has to pay for that, and that’s us – if we can manage the mix better we can negotiate better subsidies.”

Starting with Sofology, after the decision to use Kaleida had already been made, clearly Jon had no input on their appointment. Having had the opportunity to work with them since, is he happy to recommend them?

“I certainly am,” says Jon, “Very much so. In fact, I’ve already introduced them to ex-colleagues in other industries.”