What can marketers learn from furniture retailers?

eCommerce can go hand in hand with bricks and mortar, and a bed shop in the Cotswold's proves it!

According to Eurostat, retail footfall in the UK has been down month on month for twenty-three of the past twenty-four months. Bad news. Opening new stores in this climate may seem an odd thing to do, but it is all part of the omnichannel mix.

Beds in the Market Place? Madness.

Back in January, the Sun newspaper published an article about residents of a Cotswold town being up in arms about a branch of Bensons for Beds being opened in their historic market place. The report, culled from reader comments on a local newspaper site and social media, implied that the townspeople thought it was not “upmarket” enough for them.

Had the reporter scratched more than just the surface, he would have discovered the real query was about the practicality of this type of retailer in a busy high street environment. Sure you can dive into a coffee shop and grab a skinny latté, no problem depositing a cheque in the local bank or a buying pair of red corduroys in the men’s outfitters. But a bed? How will you load it up? There’s no parking outside the shop and no warehouse at the back. Madness.

Missing the point – it’s just for show

Of course the good people of the market town were judging the decision to open the store based on a fixed view of furniture retailing: it’s all about out-of-town sheds, wandering around vast showrooms, testing a couple of mattresses and saving a few quid on delivery by borrowing a pickup and running your new purchase home – think Ikea.

But it is highly unlikely anyone will wander into this shop and walk out with a bed. In fact, they won’t be able to as none of the stock on display is for sale. Madness?

One of the traditional criticisms of eCommerce and online retailing is with some products it is just impossible to sell online as customers want to touch, feel and try before they buy. Websites were just brochures to get you to the store where you did the real business.

But there is a new reality. Millennials, or digital natives, between 25-34, are influencing the way retailers react to the sales cycle, much of which is now done online. Research, narrowing options, paying and arranging delivery are all doable online.

Of course if you do not trust the great reviews of the bed you are interested in, you can always pop into town to see and try it yourself. The point is this: the shop in the market place is just for show, part of the omnichannel mix.

So what do the numbers say?

That’s not just speculation, according to Google research:

• Online is already involved in some 75% of all furniture purchases
• By the end of 2016, online will affect 70% of all offline

Furthermore when it comes to buying furniture Mintel reports that of those millennials:

• 72% enjoy browsing online
• 61% use smartphones for searching
• 53% are happy to buy on a smartphone
• 55% see no need to visit a store at all
• 52% are happy to share on social media and
• 64% would review online.

There is a clear message in those figures: you just cannot separate online from offline, they are now interdependent, retail is omnichannel and now requires:

• A consistent experience at every touch point
• Convenience
• Personalised and relevant
• Social accessibility

Lessons for the rest of us…

Like many of their competitors, Bensons for Beds understand the figures, they understand that an increasing number of customers are using numerous channels to discover, research, purchase, and review furniture. But what can marketers learn from the best of our nation’s shopkeepers?

1. Whatever channel you are using to get to market, you must provide a consistent customer experience – in the same way you want your logo to be used consistently, you want your brand to be experienced consistently, wherever it is.
2. Be prepared to change entrenched preconceptions about how you market your services and products.
3. Accept that change is constant and there is no end game!

Welcome to the new reality!

Thanks to Andrew Fowler for sharing their advice and opinions in this post. Andrew is the UK Country Manager of Apptus