Reclaim Sales from Online Competitors
“As many brick-and-mortar retailers failed to keep pace with changing customer shopping habits, legacy retail brands struggled to innovate or simply became stale. This created an opening in the market for fresh new brands to capitalize on unmet customer needs, reduce retail friction and take advantage of current industry economics.”
As we’ve noted before, the death of retail has been greatly exaggerated. Brick-and-mortar stores are in no danger of disappearing completely - the stores that haven’t already gone out of business, that is.
What may have initially seemed ridiculous - shopping for furniture online - now has proven staying power. Many of the technological hurdles that stymied online furniture shopping have been resolved. Customer service workflows have been perfected or hugely advanced. Standardized inexpensive shipping, white glove delivery, and generous return policies have more than made up for the initial inconvenience of not actually seeing the product prior to delivery. Websites now contain a wealth of product information such as detailed descriptions and dimensions, beautiful photography, hundreds of swatches (all available for viewing in person with free, fast shipping) and even product videos.
For too long, innovations and updates to the in-store shopping experience did not keep pace with the rapid innovations shaping the online shopping experience. Some forward-thinking retailers have begun bridging the gap, with sales and marketing strategies that offer the best of both worlds. The internet giants are hot on their heels. The majority of furniture retailers remain woefully behind.
Last week at HFA’s first-ever CEO Summit, the country’s top retailers vowed to take back sales from online competitors like Amazon and Wayfair by leveraging the advantages of the in-store experience.
We’re glad to see that someone is reading this blog.
Amber Engine has been advocating that retailers differentiate themselves based on a stellar in-store experience for some time now. But having a great store isn’t going to be as effective without the ability to connect to consumers. Traditional methods of advertising are unlikely to reach the next generation of shoppers who rely almost exclusively on social/mobile technology to locate and comparison shop the products they’d like to buy.
The online competitors that these CEOs are hoping to take back sales from have already realized that some kind of click-and-collect strategy is exactly what consumers have been asking for. Both Amazon and Wayfair are opening brick-and-mortar locations in the next year. Furniture retailers with generations of experience have a leg up on the tech giants for once, but only if they invest in solutions that link their brick-and-mortar stores to the internet, whether it’s through an ecommerce website, SEO, selling on marketplaces, embracing social media or optimizing their local listings & ads.
As cash-strapped as retailers find themselves, without investment in software and technology that bridges the digital/physical divide, the era of the small, independent furniture retailer will come to an end.