CITY Furniture saves $45K annually by replacing radios with Zello

$45K annual IT savings

6 min faster response time

1,000+ radios replaced

Eliminating the headache of walkie-talkies

CITY Furniture, one of the largest furniture retailers in Florida, wanted to modernize communications for its store associates, over 2,400 people across its network of 36 CITY and Ashley Homestore showrooms. Traditional radios had become a burden – yet another device to carry that could be lost or broken, and reception was spotty. Each radio incurred a monthly service fee and had to be replaced every three years.

CITY Furniture was impressed by Zello’s ability to bring extended walkie-talkie functionality to the company’s existing iPads. With Zello, associates could easily talk to groups and individuals, whether searching for a specific person in the large showrooms or sending an alert to store managers hundreds of miles apart.

Eliminating the cost and upkeep of 1,000 radios and switching to Zello’s simple per-user pricing saves CITY Furniture $45,000 annually. Furthermore, CITY Furniture now provides a better customer experience: Regional Manager David Sinn estimates that the time to find an item went from 8 minutes to 2 minutes with Zello – a 75% improvement.

Zello is easy and convenient. There’s so much more you can do with Zello compared to radios. It’s been a game-changer for us.

Chad Simpson

Chief Information Officer, CITY Furniture

How CITY Furniture uses Zello

Each CITY Furniture associate wears a Bluetooth earpiece and carries an iPad running Zello alongside other apps for inventory and customer management. In addition to channels for individual stores and for regional managers across stores, there are channels for specific needs like to contact security guards or to celebrate team wins. Having these specialized channels cuts down on radio chatter and ensures messages only go to people that need to hear them.

CITY Furniture associates have found Zello invaluable for situations like getting in touch with another associate who would otherwise be difficult to track down inside a giant showroom; quickly flagging a manager without interrupting conversations with a customer; and issuing flash sales contests. The messages, which can be replayed to make sure no information is missed, are delivered over Wi-Fi with perfect clarity – so there’s no need for cellular data plans.

Modern communications

Removing outdated, bulky radios put employee equipment more in line with the company’s technology-forward brand. Zello regularly pushes updates to improve user experience, adding features without the need to replace equipment. Sinn also found that new hires are trained faster because Zello is so easy to use: “Zello is a wonderful tool that integrates with all your other current systems, and will increase the productivity and efficiency of your entire workforce,” he said. “Having a tool like Zello is priceless.”

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