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The Rise of the Digital Showroom

For years, brick-and-mortar (B&M) retailers have grappled with how to remain relevant in the ascendant era of ecommerce. As more consumers opted to make their final purchases online, many B&M stores suddenly found themselves in the business of “showrooming.” 

 

You know the drill. A customer goes into a store to check out a product. Then, after physically interacting with the product, they head home and purchase the same device online from the cheapest vendor. Showrooming presented a real challenge to B&M retailers, but it also gave them an edge. After all, most consumers still prefer to see, feel, touch, wear and try products before making a final purchase. Savvy B&M retailers have embraced showrooming as an opportunity and invested in making their in-store experiences as engaging as possible (often with digital enhancements). 

 

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Now, however, B&M retailers are struggling to find solid footing. Fewer consumers are willing to go to stores unless they really need to, and those who do are much less inclined to physically interact with products. 

 

Retailers everywhere are looking to fill the gap, and stores are scrambling to create engaging in-person experiences. Digital companies are seeking to make online shopping more interactive and meaningful in a way that rises above one-dimensional ecommerce listings. In both instances, the answer lies in strengthening retailers’ digital showrooming capabilities.  

How to Enhance Your Retail Company’s Digital Showrooming Experience

Many consumers are now doing most (or even all) of their shopping online. These customers are looking for the most engaging and informative experiences out there. Whether your retail business is B&M, ecommerce, or some combination of the two, here are some tips to instantly up your digital showrooming game: 

1. Own your audience’s comparison shopping experience

Comparison shopping is a major part of the showrooming experience for most consumers. In a branded B&M environment, the comparison process works to your advantage: you win no matter which item they choose to buy. Online comparison shopping often favors pricing and convenience over brand or retailer loyalty.

You can make online comparison shopping “stickier,” and improve your digital showroom experience, by offering comparisons within your own product suite. Apple and Google both lean heavily on this approach, offering experiences for their smartphone lines that showcase how the various devices appeal to different consumer needs. Doing so makes consumers wonder “which one of your products should I choose?” rather than comparing outside the brand. Making this comparison feature engaging and fun — rather than bland and utilitarian — is key to roping users in.

2. Take WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”) to the next level

Memes abound poking fun at the unfortunate difference between the way products are portrayed online and what actually shows up on consumers’ front doorsteps. That’s one big reason consumers prefer to encounter a product in real life before making a purchase. When it comes to your digital showroom, the more real you can make your product feel, the better. Seek creative solutions such as using high-quality photography, video demos or even 3D assets that show the product in situ. 

3. Try before you buy — virtually 

In-store demos are so powerful because they allow consumers to experience a product, with all their senses engaged, as they literally or figuratively “try it on for size.”  Digital can never fully replicate this, but it can approximate the “trial” phase in ways that are almost as — and sometimes even more — valuable. 

When it comes to trying things on, online retailers have historically made do with detailed sizing charts and generous return policies — a poor stand-in for physically trying on an item. 

Several brands have taken the lead with AR-enhanced digital experiences. Nike has developed a technology that allows users to accurately size themselves by simply scanning their feet. The Warby Parker app, meanwhile, lets customers virtually “try on” frames before making a final selection.  

Sometimes digital trials offer unique benefits that can’t be replicated in person. For example, consumers can now preview furniture in their living room with IKEA, virtually paint a room a new color with Sherwin-Williams and place art on their walls with art.com

4. Harness the power of personalization 

All marketers and retailers are tasked with convincing consumers that they want a product. But demonstrating why a product is suited to a customer’s personal needs is more powerful than simply stating why a product is good.Digital is uniquely capable of personalizing customer experiences. It can connect the dots between individual customers and the features most likely to appeal to them. 

This can be accomplished by utilizing the following data points: 

  • What device are they using? Show Apple-compatible products to iPhone users and Android-compatible products to Android users. 
  • Where are they located? If your user is in Colorado and it’s mid-January, show them snow shovels instead of smart sprinkler systems.
  • What else have they done? Through cookies and other behavioral tracking, you can get a better sense of a user’s prior search and shopping history. Use this information to highlight related products and tailor your bundling and upselling suggestions. 

In-Store Shopping Solutions 

While quarantine guidelines have varied  from state to state, stores in most locations are open for business. However, as you might expect, overall foot traffic is down — and most people are far less willing to be hands-on. 

Assuming you’ve already invested in strengthening your digital showroom experience, take this opportunity to drive consumers there. If your digital showroom experience is engaging enough, you may reduce the number of customers who visit your store but ultimately make their purchase from another online retailer. 

Alternatively, explore the possibility of turning your customers’ personal devices into their in-store demo. For example, you might use QR codes to enable in-store, interactive showroom experiences tailor-made for mobile devices. 

Coming Full Circle: Bringing Today’s Digital Showroom Innovations to Tomorrow’s B&M Locations

Consumers will soon feel comfortable shopping in B&M locations again. But don’t think of your digital showroom innovations as stopgap measures. Long-term, you have an opportunity to bring digital into the showroom for a richer, more interactive and personalized in-person shopping experience. For example, you might: 

  • Bring the web’s detailed views in-store. This could be accomplished with in-store touchscreens. Alternatively, you might leverage a smartphone’s AR capabilities to create an experience where customers can point at a product in the store and be treated to a digital demo.
  • Create the illusion of limitless inventory with digitally augmented shopping. You might install digital screens in a clothing store with storeroom and online inventory information, giving users access to more sizes and colors than could fit on a rack. While consumers touch, research and try on products in-store, they can simultaneously access the full range of options. If their preferred configuration isn’t available in-store, they could select items on the touchscreen, make their purchase in-store and wait for their items to ship directly to their homes. 

We’re at a major inflection point for the already-strained B&M retail industry. However, by shoring up your digital showroom experience you can protect your business in the short run — and make it pay dividends in the long run. 


Brian Walker is Technology Director for Grow. From creating personalized videos for all 30,000 Boston Marathon runners to letting users send each other jokes through football GIFs, Walker has been overseeing the technology behind Grow’s magic for more than eight years. He manages our team of world-class developers and engineers, and his 15+ years of experience have helped define the technical strategies and innovations that are at the heart of Grow’s greatest hits.

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