Independent furniture and kitchen retailer DOMetVIE is disrupting the kitchen market with a turnkey ergonomic solution and customer experience to match. Read their incredible story...
Nicolas Saumont and Mickael Cohen have been friends since childhood. Even during high school, their ambition was to go into business together, but they wanted to create a company that adopted a social purpose, too. It was in 2011 when Nicolas, an engineer, and Mickael, whose background is in the medical social field, decided how they could put their complementary skillsets to best use.
Mickael’s grandfather was living with Parkinson’s disease, which was affecting his mobility and, therefore, his autonomy when at home. But it didn’t need to be that way. “I was forced to discover that a comprehensive solution or service simply did not exist to help people with impaired mobility adapt and redevelop their homes,” explains Mickael. “I asked Nicolas for help, and I will never forget he came back to me not with a solution but with a complete market study.”
One year later, Mickael and Nicolas created DOMetVIE, a company specializing in home adaptation solutions and equipment for older people and people with reduced mobility, to help ensure they can stay in their homes safely for as long as possible.
After three years of development, and a pilot agency that achieved 600,000 euros in turnover, DOMetVIE started its franchise network. “Our solutions and expertise in adapted fittings need to be available locally to provide the best support for people with impaired mobility,” says Mickael. “We need proximity so that our experts can visit customers in their homes, but we must also deliver a service built on trust and quality.”
Today, the DOMetVIE network has more than 70 agencies in branches across France, including four concept stores. This allows agency experts to support customers closely through the entire process – from design to completion – and consider solutions within the context and layout of their homes.
DOMetVIE has always been clear and unwavering in its vision: to provide a single point of contact that customers can rely on to adapt every room in their home. In just a few years, its catalog has grown to include a range of solutions, such as accessible bathroom designs, stairlifts, handrails, automated lighting, and access ramps.
This year, DOMetVIE took another leap toward its objective by entering the kitchen market. Now, customers can benefit from a range of additional solutions and services for their homes, including a complete ergonomic kitchen remodel.
Of course, redesigning a kitchen can be a complex process requiring multiple consultations. That’s why DOMetVIE wanted to digitalize the entire customer journey. They needed to equip franchise partners with the cloud-based tools to update and manage customers’ projects while visiting them in their homes, speaking with them over the phone, or showing them models in the new concept stores.
DOMetVIE's new range of kitchen solutions is manufactured by PINO, a leading European manufacturer and partner of HomeByMe. By working with HomeByMe, PINO can connect with kitchen retailers – whether multinationals or independents – quickly and cost-effectively, providing the solutions to ensure a streamlined customer journey.
HomeByMe Kitchen Experience, including the 3D kitchen planner and retail operations management app, is the only online solution that can support kitchen retailers at every stage of the consumer buying journey with a complete workflow – from inspiration to delivery. Our solution is suited to companies of all sizes, from the largest worldwide retailers to start-ups looking to enter a new market.
“Without HomeByMe Enterprise and its end-to-end solutions, we would not have been able to enter the kitchen market. The Kitchen Experience provided by HomeByMe was by far the most suitable solution for a business of our size to attack a new market segment because it is robust and backed up by more than 150 kitchen business rules. What we particularly liked about this solution is the agility of its 3D experts combined with the long-term vision and stability of a large group like Dassault Systèmes,” says Mickael.
For DOMetVIE, it was exactly what the business needed to help launch its kitchen range and digitalize its complex value chain. HomeByMe’s sophisticated 3D kitchen planner is the only one on the market capable of delivering multiple kitchen layout proposals, in a matter of seconds, which is particularly interesting for DOMetVIE. This means DOMetVIE can now provide its franchise agencies with the technology to recreate customers’ homes in 3D, using exact measurements, and populate them with DOMetVIE products.
Sales experts can create designs quickly, working together with customers and allowing them to visualize how their new kitchen will look via realistic 3D renderings. The kitchen can then be purchased and sent directly to PINO (Nobilia group) for manufacture, delivery, and installation – all managed via the end-to-end HomeByMe Kitchen Experience.
Deployment only started recently, but the entire network and franchisee teams are now fully trained in using the software. Thanks to the relationship with PINO, HomeByMe’s solutions can be rolled out in just a matter of weeks – DOMetVIE experts have already used the solution to process their first kitchen sales.
To explore how HomeByMe Enterprise can support your business growth strategy, contact us.