DFS

Furniture retailer DFS increased add-to-cart events by 3.7X after adding product tags to its video ads with Instagram Shops.

THE STORY
Sitting pretty

DFS is Britain’s biggest sofa retailer, and has been making and selling sofas for more than 50 years. It has more than 120 stores across the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain, and employs over 4,000 people.

1.7X

increase in purchase intent for ads with product tags, compared to business-as-usual video ads

3.7X

increase in incremental add-to-cart events with product tags, compared to business-as-usual video ads

73%

lower cost per incremental add-to-cart events with product tags, compared to business-as-usual video ads

4.5X

additional product exploration events with product tags, compared to business-as-usual video ads

As the leading sofa retailer in a digital age, it's important for us to ensure that our customers can easily find and buy our products in whatever environment they choose. Using product tagging has allowed us to do this while driving brand consideration, giving us really positive results. We look forward to making more use of this product in future.
JAMES BREWER, BRAND AND DIGITAL DIRECTOR, DFS
THE GOAL
Increasing consideration

DFS wanted to explore new ways for people to discover its products—especially its beds—and to make purchasing easier and more direct through its ads on Instagram.

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THE SOLUTION

A new way for people to shop

DFS wanted to provide a smoother purchase experience, and help people easily move from inspiration to action, so it decided to try using Instagram Shops. With Instagram Shops, people can browse a product catalog without leaving Instagram, which can make the shopping experience more enjoyable and less of a chore.

To get the most out of Instagram Shops and make items easier to purchase, DFS worked with the Facebook team to add product tags to its existing video ads. When people tapped on the ad, they were taken to the DFS Instagram Shop, where they could browse the products in the video and view the item name and price without leaving the Instagram app. A further tap then took people to the product page on the DFS website, where they could add the item—or multiple items from a room—to their cart.

To test the impact of this new approach, DFS used both a conversion lift study and a brand lift study, setting up two campaigns for broad audiences, one control campaign with business-as-usual video ads, and one test campaign with video ads and product tags. The campaign with product tags comfortably outperformed the campaign without tags for all brand consideration metrics. The test period ran from September 17–30, 2021, and achieved:

  • 1.7X increase in purchase intent for ads with product tags, compared to business-as-usual video ads
  • 3.7X increase in incremental add-to-cart events with product tags, compared to business-as-usual video ads
  • 73% lower cost per incremental add-to-cart events with product tags, compared to business-as-usual video ads
  • 4.5X additional product exploration events with product tags, compared to business-as-usual video ads
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