Our Clients Open Up
Sophie Ohayon
Director of Marketing, Ecommerce and Merchandising at Mobilia
“ I like working collaboratively. What I’m looking for is a small agency with a team of senior staff. I seek working relationships that are built on trust and transparency.”
« Because knowing the reality of our clients is the basis of any success, we seek to highlight the different aspects of a digital marketing mandate. Testimonials on the back end of a project enrich our vision of ecommerce. »
The company
« Mobilia is a Canadian furniture retailer founded in Montreal in 1966. The family business—now run by the founder’s son, Johannes Kau—has nine branches in Quebec and Ontario. Since 2015, its transactional site has offered its customers a new way to discover the latest trends in living spaces. The company delivers its products from British Columbia to New Brunswick! »
Your position
« I am the Director of Marketing, Ecommerce and Merchandising. I arrived in 2013 as the head of marketing. At that time, the goal was to develop the brand’s digital strategy. We initiated the digitalization of the company and in 2017, we finally had a completely transactional site. We went from a marketing team of one person… to 14 people! Today, I oversee the teams working on Mobilia’s visuals. »
Industry and positioning
« We are in the furniture sector. We draw inspiration from the best that can be found abroad, as well as in the United States and Canada, to offer products that stand out for their quality-price-style ratio. We also stand out in our desire to simplify the shopping experience by grouping our products into four “worlds of style”. It’s a bit like the idea of a tag, which helps the customer to find their way around. »
Your vision of ecommerce
« What we know is that our customers do not make impulse purchases. Even though people love to buy new furniture, it’s also a source of stress to meet all their considerations. Therefore the website plays different roles, but above all, it helps us to position ourselves as an essential brand that is top of mind for a customer who is thinking about buying furniture. »
The Collaboration
Before TWO DEV
A summary of your work processes before TWO DEV’s arrival
« When we launched our first catalogue site, it was with an agency who said they knew Magento, but who, in fact, outsourced all Magento development. It was a rather painful experience!
Because of that, we turned to a second agency to launch version 2 of the site in 2017-2018. Over time, the agency has grown enormously; it has become one of the Magento giants in Quebec.
At that point, it didn't fit our needs anymore. The notion of trust on the web is not always obvious: we are talking about work that is done behind the scenes, about technical issues that can go beyond us... When I wanted to question certain aspects—the number of hours allocated to a project, for example—I did not sense transparency….
I started talking to people in the ecommerce industry and someone put me on the trail of TWO DEV. We did our homework, spoke with several TWO DEV customers to understand their way of doing things, we met the team.
At the time, TWO DEV was a smaller team, but only made up of senior staff, which appealed to us. We interacted with people who perfectly understood our reality and our needs… »
With TWO DEV
A glimpse of your collaboration with TWO DEV
« The transfer went very well because we received full support from TWO DEV. They managed to relate the concepts well in layperson’s terms, were patient in the explanations and offered us documentation. From the first meeting, we could exchange in complete transparency. Our internal team quickly felt confident.
There is also good staff stability at TWO DEV. And if there is a change, it’s announced, planned and prepared. The relationship we have with the people at the head of TWO DEV makes all the difference.
Today, we can communicate daily by chat, we have weekly meetings, an annual report, but if we need to clarify something, we will meet spontaneously to discuss the issue together and find possible solutions.
So, we have a well-structured approach, but it’s also very agile: we settle things simply and quickly. »
Your favourite value
« It’s empathy. It often happened with other agencies that I felt that someone wanted to sell me something. That kind of thing causes me major discomfort. I have never felt that with TWO DEV. They put themselves in our place, understand our challenges. They are not going to offer us add-ons that are not aligned with our strategy. When we need help, even at the last minute, they respond right away. They are there for us. The main go-tos at TWO DEV have a great, great ability to listen… it is very much appreciated! »
A standout project
« Rather than a project, I’d rather speak of a period. At the start of the pandemic in 2020, when 100% of the business was web-based, the team that needed to be there was TWO DEV. We developed a ton of features that met the needs of our customers, we had an exceptional volume of sales. Being well advised by TWO DEV was a game changer for us! »
A highlight
« A highlight is certainly Loïc’s chips! Loïc is TWO DEV’s Chief Strategy Officer. We always see him playing with poker chips in meetings, it’s his trademark! I think it helps him keep a cool head. Whatever the reason, it works for him. This ability to always keep a cool head no matter what happens, that too is precious. »
