How MillerKnoll designs a unified, personalized retail experience

The primary obstacle to Herman Miller’s vision was a fragmented omni-channel experience where B2C digital and physical environments operated in silos. This lack of unity across marketing, commerce, and service meant that customer data remained trapped in point solutions, preventing a truly personalized journey. On the B2B side, the challenge was equally complex: The brand needed to simplify intricate ordering processes required by architects, designers, and channel partners.

By breaking down these barriers, MillerKnoll moved away from legacy, static systems in favor of a unified experience. This transformation ensures that whether a B2C shopper is browsing a showroom or a B2B partner is managing a high-volume project, every touchpoint is connected, informed, and intentionally designed.

MillerKnoll revitalized the Herman Miller and Design Within Reach digital brands by rebuilding their storefronts on Salesforce B2C Commerce. By blending high-end design with AI-powered personalization and a friction-free checkout, they transformed the online journey into a premium, high-conversion experience. The results were immediate: Online sales surged in the first year alone and this digital-first strategy increased total retail revenue.

To unify the customer journey across digital and physical touchpoints, MillerKnoll deployed Salesforce Point of Sale (POS) across all Design Within Reach and Herman Miller Outlet locations. This integration bridges the gap between the showroom floor and online commerce, connecting thousands of customers and tens of thousands of SKUs into a single, cohesive experience.

Armed with iPads and Salesforce Point of Sale, MillerKnoll associates are no longer tethered to a desk, allowing them to engage customers directly among showroom displays. This mobile-first approach features a Composable UI with real-time inventory access, Tap to Pay functionality (allowing for a seamless, hardware-free checkout experience), and Pay by Link for remote transactions. Even during connectivity lapses, a secure offline mode ensures uninterrupted white-glove service.

Beyond transactions, the system empowers associates with deep clienteling capabilities. A single login provides a 360-degree view of shopper history and AI-powered recommendations, shifting the experience from transactional to highly curated. On the back end, seamless integrations with NetSuite (ERP), Adyen (payments), and Avalara (tax) keep operational complexity invisible to the customer.

The success of this unified approach has set the stage for continued point of sale innovation. MillerKnoll is already expanding its capabilities to include the seamless sale of digital and physical gift cards and a streamlined “appeasement” process that allows associates to issue discounts or arrange direct-to-home shipping right from the showroom floor.

Mobile-friendly POS: Innovation in the palm of your hand

- The Challenge: Traditional POS hardware felt out of place and inefficient in high-end design showrooms.

- The Solution: MillerKnoll deployed Tap to Pay on iPhone, supported by Adyen’s global processing platform.

- The Impact: A 20% increase in associate efficiency and a checkout process that prioritizes human connection and brand experience over the transaction.

Salesforce B2B Commerce streamlines purchasing and the dealer network. 

MillerKnoll is leveraging Salesforce B2B Commerce to pivot from a product-centric model to a solution-centric partner for organizations of all sizes. Central to this strategy is the Herman Miller Professional storefront, a dedicated B2B platform for small-to-midsize businesses that simplifies procurement with curated product sets and exclusive pricing. Features like “project boards” allow buyers to collaborate on designs and secure internal stakeholder approvals instantly, bypassing the need for traditional, complex contracts.

This connected platform unites MillerKnoll’s global dealer network with Agentforce Sales and Agentforce Service, integrating them directly into the ecommerce journey to create a seamless support and sales loop. By harmonizing product and customer information across both direct and dealer channels, MillerKnoll provides service agents and dealers with a single source of truth. This complete visibility into customer history and preferences removes the traditional friction from professional furniture procurement, ensuring a consistent, high-touch experience regardless of how the customer chooses to buy.

While MillerKnoll has already built a powerful digital backbone, the next phase of their transformation focuses on the future rollout of Agentforce. MillerKnoll is approaching this evolution with a thoughtful, phased journey, prioritizing data fundamentals and high-value use cases to ensure long-term success. This visionary strategy ensures that as the technology scales, the human connection remains at the heart of the brand. By empowering its teams with predictive intelligence, MillerKnoll is ensuring its retail experience stays as innovative and human-centric as the designs it creates.