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Published in NHFA's Home Furnishings Retailer, December 2005
Use a Room Planner to Sell More!
This technological innovation differentiates you from your competition, provides prospects with the tools they need to make wise furniture selections and delivers qualified leads that result in more sales.
Home furnishings retailers and manufacturers feature room planners on their websites and in their showrooms for one simple, very good reason. Room planners sell more furniture.
A room planner helps differentiate you from your competitors and shows that you are in sync with your customers because you provide them with the tools they need to select and buy furniture. But, if these tools didn't contribute to an increase in sales, companies would stop buying them - but they are buying them, now more than ever.
There are many reasons why a room planner sells more furniture. First and foremost, it's because consumers, when contemplating a furniture purchase, all ask the same question: "Will it fit into my home?" The faster you can answer that question, the more confident consumers become. They tend to move through the decision-making process faster and make the purchase more quickly. And, if your company provides them the answers they need, they are more likely to purchase from you than from your competitors.
Why would they be more likely to buy from you if you have a room planner? Let's assume that this is an average consumer who has no allegiance or preference for buying from you or your competitors. Let's assume that you and your competitors offer a similarly priced, quality product and aggressively market your merchandise and services. For the consumers, it's a toss-up. They don't care who gets their business because, generally, they are being offered the same products and services.
However, if you offer an online design service and capture their rooms in your planner, consumers are much more likely to return to your store or website, rather than your competitors, whenever they have a space planning or design question or concern. And, every time they return to you, your company has another opportunity to know exactly what they want and to sell them furniture to meet their needs.
Online shoppers are savvy spenders
Recent research shows that 64 percent of consumers go online before they visit a store to buy. These consumers are usually multi-channel shoppers. Multi-channel means they shop your website, your print catalog and visit your store before deciding to buy. According to Forrester Research, multi-channel consumers are younger, wealthier and spend more. Having a room planner ready for them when they visit your site is an excellent way to retain their attention and turn them into customers.
Savvy retailers provide powerful sales and marketing tools at each multi-channel destination to maximize the chance of capturing the sale. A room planner on your website may do more to close the sale than having your product catalog online. In fact, only one out of two retailers that report getting almost 6,000 new registered users (leads) per month has an online product catalog.
How a room planner works
So how does a room planner work? You only need to add one link to your website to have a room planner; your provider does the rest. Our company, for example, can do it this easily with subscription-based software. You pay us a monthly fee and we keep the application up and running with your brand and make sure the room planner is always working. An online reporting tool gives contact information for every consumer who has saved, printed or emailed a plan from your website. You can see their plans and know what products they have been working with.
Customers who use a room planner have an average order size that is much greater than those who do not use a room planner because they buy entire rooms of furniture instead of pieces. A room planner makes it easy for customers and salespeople to identify the furnishings that are needed to complete a room.
Imagine this scenario: A husband and wife decide over breakfast to go shopping for furniture that night after work. They have been contemplating a furniture purchase for months, so this is an exciting day. They have gone online several times to research which home furnishings stores to visit.
They narrow it down to two stores, yours and your biggest competitor. In your customers' opinion there is no real difference between the stores. You both offer quality products at a competitive price, have a good reputation and your websites are very similar except for one key difference -- your website has a room planner and your competitor's site does not.
When the consumer visits your site it is very easy for them to launch the room planner -- no software required -- drag and drop a sofa icon into place and answer the one important question every furniture buyer asks: "Will it fit in my room?" The consumer becomes excited about the prospects and begins to create the entire room. If the room planner user decides to share the plan with someone else, such as the husband at work, registration is required. We have found that 85% of all room planner users register with valid and accurate information.
Once the consumer is registered they email the plan to their spouse and the couple begins collaborating on your website before they visit your store. They interact to decide which sofa they like best and which one is the best fit for the room. They print out the plan, which has your store's logo on it, and head out that night to start shopping. When they enter your store your sales person sees the printout and knows immediately about the room configurations and the furniture style they prefer. In fact, the salesperson sees from the plan that there is plenty of room to accommodate a loveseat to go with the sofa they picked out. An upsale!
Should the consumer decide not to buy that day, you at least have created an opportunity to continue the conversation outside the store through the room planner. And, because they used your room planner they will likely consult with you regarding any design or space requirement decisions they need to make.
Finally, another major benefit of having the a room planner on your website is a decrease in returns because your customers are buying furniture that fits. How much revenue does it cost your store for every sofa that is returned because the consumer thought it looked good in the showroom and found it didn't really fit in their living room?
With just one less "no-fit" per month, a room planner will more than pay for itself. If you then factor in its benefits as a lead-generating tool, an in-store design tool, a solution that differentiates you from your competition, and produces an increase in sales, this technological innovation becomes an affordable, low maintenance asset for your business.
Steve Street is the founder of Hookumu Inc. a web design and consulting firm that produces the Icovia Room Planner product for retailers and manufacturers. If you have any questions about room planning, designing your website or using technology in the sales process, you can contact Steve directly 1-603-206-6205 or steve@hookumu.com.
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