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DESIGN INNOVATION TO EXPAND FOOTPRINT AND SALES
Footprint in merchant showrooms is at a premium, yet customers want to be able to visualise the product choice available as part of any purchasing decision. BMJ looks at one way of differentiating in-person retail from the online competition.
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nnovations in design technology are empowering merchants with the tools to overcome this challenge, and giving customers a reason to make their local merchant the go-to for bathrooms and kitchens. The latest developments in design space – such as Virtual Worlds’ 4D Theatre and Winner’s Showcase 360 – enable the footprint of the showroom to be expanded, albeit virtually. Technology such as immersive digital displays for the showroom floor is removing barriers that have traditionally held back merchants, particularly in the realm of limited footprint, ageing displays and a lack of information. This one shift alone is leading to increasing average transaction value (ATV) and better conversion rates.
With Virtual Worlds, for example, customers can call up any bathroom simulation from a touchpad kiosk which also holds the VR headset ready for use. Merchants need only to make room for an area of 3m x 3m – which is enough to accommodate a kiosk display screen and the headset operator.
Their journey to a new bathroom begins with an introductory storytelling sequence that builds anticipation and generates the ‘big reveal’ effect. The experience is shared on the big display screen for others to see, thereby generating interest and awareness of the USP that the merchant offers.
Rather than being limited by inventory in the 30
physical showroom, display rooms are published to a gallery cloud where merchants can select the experiences they wish to add to the kiosk. The gallery is populated by products from multiple manufacturers who use the software to create the bespoke room sets.
Merchants can also create their own room sets from a library of over 500,000 branded product models, each programmed with actions on moving parts, lighting, water spray patterns and more, to provide a real-time facsimile of the real product. Aspects such as surround sound, voice commands and product interaction enable the user to experience what it would really be like to stand, and use their new bathroom. By merging neurological and virtual sensory streams, such virtual technology delivers a series of powerful stimuli that provide an experience that is personal, contrastable, tangible, memorable, visual and emotional. This is important because kitchens and bathrooms are very emotional spaces and consumers will be led by their emotions when buying them.
Step into design
Giving the user a real sense of spatial awareness, the virtual showroom enables customers to virtually step into the design, walk around the room and get a real feel for the space. That makes it easier to judge how much room there is for items such as furniture or a freestanding bath. Lighting levels can
be adjusted from day to night, and users can even stand in the shower.
Such an immersive showroom experience not only presents merchants with the opportunity to expand their physical floor space, but also their profit margins through the power of upselling. Good, Better and Best designs can be presented as part of the customer journey, as well as countless product options, giving installers and consumers a wealth of choice that is simply not possible in the physical showroom. Technology such as Winner Flex, for example, enables the merchant to update the model, finish, and colour of the entire design in front of their customers in just a few clicks, creating, saving, and changing multiple alternatives of the same design, ready to present at their next meeting. Upselling is also made easy with features such as Product Navigator, making it easier to search, compare and select the right appliances for customers.
While saving floor space and extending profit margins, retailers can also spend less time on the often lengthy ‘trial and error’ process of generating photo-realistic renders of designs. These are banished and replaced with the real-time rendering capabilities of a powerful graphics engine.
In the case of technology such as Virtual Worlds Professional, this is a space where texture, light, reflection, shadow, and sheen show their effect on the design as it is
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net October 2023
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