Online Showrooms: The benefits of a rising technology

• Read original article here

Online showrooms – also known as digital or virtual showrooms – are an innovative way of letting retailers and brands engage and sell their products through an online platform

Online showrooms work in the same sense as a physical showroom, in that it is an area that allows consumers to explore products, and get a feel for new collections before buying within a branded environment. It replaces the need for a physical location, and instead bridges the gap between digital and physical worlds. 

Many industries, especially retail, have had to adapt to a new wave of digital transformation in order to cope with the global pandemic. The end of 2021 gave sight to the world beginning to open up and recover, yet new COVID-19 variants continue to cast doubt on being able to fully return to the highstreet in 2022. At least this time around the industry is prepared. Beforehand retailers were hesitant in accepting innovative solutions like online showrooms, as they wanted to see proof of success.  

The last two years have certainly provided satisfactory evidence in how successful these solutions can be, through big brand names that have made waves using such technology. In 2021, Diesel launched their Hyperoom digital platform, an exhibition space aimed to facilitate buying all of the holding’s brands; this is one of many similar innovations that we have seen across the industry in order to overcome restrictions through lockdowns. The whole premise of online showrooms is to provide the next generation of customer experience; these solutions provide the perfect playground to nurture immersive and emotional engagements with buyers and vendors within a branded environment. In doing so, retailers will generate higher levels of loyalty with their consumers allowing for longer retention and higher payouts. 

The benefits of using online showrooms 

Consumers are now expecting digital shopping experiences as one choice of many when interacting with a brand. According to Appnovation’s latest consumer report, 53% of consumers believe that online experiences will be more important than in-person ones. The report outlines two key consumer expectations in brands going into 2022: to deliver more online experiences and to create more digitally-enabled in-person experiences. Online showrooms are able to meet both of these expectations, meeting the consumer where they are whenever they want. 

Branded Environments are also not limited to physical locations where people can be restricted in attending, the digital environments are accessible worldwide. Most consumers today lead busy lives and do not have time to visit a physical showroom or a store. Through worldwide access, consumers will be able to visit online showrooms and shop in their commutes to work or when they have a spare five minutes.  

Furthermore, online showrooms are able to offer more information to consumers than would normally be available in a physical store. The digital experience not only showcases information of all the products available, but provides additional information through text and visuals, such as tutorial videos of products in use or comparison lists against other similar products: information that is shared to consumers in what has been seen as a more engaging form of retail. 

The use of online showrooms has also been seen to increase website traffic and the retention of a brand’s website. Competition for online engagement is so high nowadays that it can often be a struggle to get consumers to stay on a page, resulting in a high bounce rate of a website. With creative designs and activities like product configurations, promotional offers and special days, the Virtual Showroom can increase web visitor retention, not only boosting online exposure but potentially improving the search engine ranking of the website. 

Implementing this new digital strategy will become crucial for brands and retailers alike over the coming year. Though it had been the hope for both consumers and retailers alike that COVID-19 would have less of a continued impact than we have seen, brands must be prepared for any eventuality that could cause disturbance in connecting to consumers face to face.  

Digital experiences have shown great engagement in getting brands through the last two years; they must now look forwards into what is next and what will create that next level consumer experience. The answer to that is online showrooms. Branded shopping experiences have progressed from a nice-to-have feature to the next big thing to boost the retail experience. 

Pete Gullick is MarketingDirector atStorey. Pete is an experienced Marketing Director, with a successful background in creating business growth and diversification. He has spent 17 years at Microsoft beginning in Operations, moving into Product Marketing and then into Channel & Trade Marketing. Pete then led the UKI Retail Marketing team for 10 years, overseeing the presentation and promotion of all Microsoft products in third party retail settings, both online and physical, as well as the consumer experience through training and advocacy delivery to retail store staff.