ChromeOS empowers Maisons du Monde expansion across Europe

Editor’s note: Today’s post is by Nicolas Delporte, Group CISO and Head of Green Digital Workplace, and Olivier Biron, IT Support Manager, both of Maisons du Monde in France. The home furnishings retailer has 349 stores across Europe, with more than 7 million customers. The retailer uses more than 1,500 ChromeOS devices across stores and at its headquarters to deliver attentive customer service and to support its growth plans.

We like to say that at Maisons du Monde that, “good and beautiful go hand in hand.” Our plan is that 40% of our furniture and projects will be produced sustainably and responsibly by 2025. We also aim to reach 400 stores across Europe in the next couple of years. We needed a tech partner with the capabilities to achieve these ambitious goals. ChromeOS was the best fit since devices are easily deployed, managed, secure, and enhance the in-store experience for both customers and employees alike.

Easy adoption and fast provisioning and deployment

Adoption of ChromeOS has been easy for staff and easy on our IT team. We don’t need to hire additional IT employees to support new Maisons du Monde stores. We currently have about 15 IT support employees, and that number will remain steady even as we open the 50 new stores. The IT team uses the Google Admin console to enroll devices and set policies for all employees, as well as create groups of users for each store. The process makes it fast and easy to open new stores and meet the requirements of local markets.

ChromeOS lets us provision devices and deliver them to employees much faster than before, which matters very much when you’re growing a company. It used to take three weeks to set up devices with the correct productivity and security software and prepare them for employee use. With ChromeOS, it now takes just two days.

Improved user experience

Maisons du Monde’s 5,500 retail workers use ChromeOS tablets for in-store tasks such as creating purchase orders or helping customers with online purchases. The devices are shared among staff, which creates time savings when servicing customers. Employees simply sign in and they instantly have access to preloaded store apps.

Behind the scenes, employees across stores and headquarters in Vertou, France, use Chromebooks with secure app access through Chrome Enterprise Core. Even our 2,400 cashier workstations, not yet compatible with ChromeOS, benefit from Chrome Enterprise Core for a standardized user experience alongside Windows devices. Looking ahead, we're testing digital signage powered by Chromeboxes, allowing shoppers to browse the Maisons du Monde catalog directly in-store.

Faster store openings by saving money and time

The time saved is valuable to everyone. Salespeople in stores can spend more time working with customers instead of dealing with technology problems. And the IT team can focus on more strategic projects instead of troubleshooting laptops.

We also save on the IT budget. We don’t need to buy costly software licenses for the devices, like antivirus solutions, since security is built-in. The devices last longer as well, which saves on device replacement costs.

Secure by design

We worry much less about security, now that ChromeOS handles this burden. ChromeOS devices update automatically, replacing the hours we used to spend on patch management and installing security software.

A partner in sustainability

ChromeOS isn’t just helping us grow Maisons du Monde. It’s helping us meet our sustainability goals under the company’s “Good is beautiful” initiative and the Maisons du Monde Foundation. We modernized 500 aging computers using ChromeOS Flex. That’s 500 devices that don’t become e-waste, and 500 new devices we didn’t need to buy.

Technology used to hold us back from doing better and becoming a bigger company. ChromeOS is a business enabler for us: It allows us to say yes to new opportunities instead of becoming a roadblock to growth. Now, ChromeOS is helping us accelerate plans for expansion while meeting our “good and beautiful” sustainability goals.

To learn more about ChromeOS, you can visit our website or get in touch with a ChromeOS expert today!