Page 45 - Lighting Magazine March 2020

State of the Showroom
Showrooms that are still in the game today have some kind of digital presence, yet few employ a digital strategy, never mind an omnichannel one. It is a given to have – at the minimum – an email campaign of some sort. It is likely that many show- rooms are sharing their vendors’ or even other companies’ posts and product imagery. A typical action usually takes the form of a “share” on your chosen social media platforms. In 2007, “sharing” was a great strategy and had a position in a mar- keting plan, but used alone, at its best, it is still a strategy that is well over a decade old.
To get the most from your digital efforts, you must have a strategy that goes beyond ag- gressive outbound marketing and haphazardly posting images hoping for viral impact. When sharing someone else’s digital assets, you are do- ing absolutely nothing to build your showroom brand.
There must also be a change adopted in both sales and marketing, a new attitude and process. Some may read this as a “management” change, yet the change impacts the front line sales and marketing teams. The impact of making a change touches every part of the way we market and sell to clients in 2020.
With about 50 percent of showrooms using an online and in-store wishlist to help potential cli- ents select products, the majority have stopped there. As a result, they have a comfortable feeling that they have slain the digital dragon.
One thing we know for sure is that the com- petition for business in the showroom channel is intensifying from non-traditional competitors. At the same time, enhancements and cost reduc- tions in digital tools used in sales and marketing continue to emulate Moore’s Law of rapid change or expansion.
Through the showroom’s front door, foot traffic is down, proving that the window of opportunity to develop an omnichannel strategy is closing. In the last 20 years, the benefits of being one of the first to adopt a new approach have never been so necessary to the survival of the players in the showroom channel.
multichannel iS not omnichannel
My best explanation of the differences be- tween “Multichannel”and “Omnichannel” is how
showrooms use their traditional and digital chan- nels. If you operate your showroom business based on defined silos, they must be torn down. If your silos separate your showroom and digital sales efforts, your marketing, and sales teams, you have a multichannel strategy. History has shown these towers are incongruent, and this disconnect has been exasperated as many try to maintain an analog process in a digital world.
Omnichannel tactics smash the old analog silo concept and redirect the entire focus of the enterprise on the client. Think of your digital us- age. Do you use only one platform or medium for your news, weather, and social interactions? More likely, you bounce between digital and analog out- lets. The back and forth activity between outlets and platforms of distribution are why we must be marketing and selling wherever and whenever the client is ready.
Showroom owners and staff often lament over the concerns that “showrooming” may pose to them. Clients are reading product reviews and checking the reputation of the showroom while in the showroom. The blending of pipelines is what omnichannel is all about: the convergence of the digital and physical shopping experience.
Showrooms are empowered when using om- nichannel tactics that take into consideration all the available client touchpoints. Clients benefit from a seamless local experience, no matter where they are in their journey or how they choose to interact with you.
The rigid silo walls that have been erected put online buying on one side and in-store buying on the other. The truth is that omnichannel is the best of both worlds. Each of these channels must work together for the benefit of every showroom’s growth and continued success.
A study of 46,000 shoppers conducted by Harvard Business Review states: “Of the study participants, only 7 percent were online-only shoppers, and 20 percent were store-only shop- pers. The remaining majority, or 73 percent, used multiple channels during their shopping journey.” When it comes to product categories such as lighting, furniture, and plumbing, these numbers are essential.
GettinG off the SidelineS
The time to take action is now. To delay any
“You can’t just open a website and expect people to flood in. If you want to succeed, you have to create traffic.”
—Joel Anderson, CEO, Walmart
March 2020 | enLIGHTenment Magazine 41
on the mark