For the past 50+ years, decorative plumbing showrooms have been designed and merchandized to showcase hundreds of faucets, dozens of showerheads, a brigade of toilets and walls of cabinet hardware to wow their clientele. The original premise was that featuring an almost endless array of products would convince most customers that the showroom had everything that they could possibly want or need and therefore there would be no need to look elsewhere to find exactly what they wanted.
While the original premise for laying out and merchandizing showrooms has not changed dramatically or at all in the past half century, the way customers shop and what they expect have undergone dramatic paradigm shifts. These shifts are causing or should compel showrooms to reconsider the purpose of their showrooms and how they can re-imagine their space to improve the customer experience and positively differentiate themselves from competitors.
A great starting point is to recognize that more is not better or even advantageous. In fact, more can be detrimental. Customers, especially those who patronize decorative plumbing and hardware and kitchen and bath showrooms, don’t want more choices in their lives. Barry Schwartz, in his book The Paradox of Choice: Why Less Is More, explains that while freedom of choice is crucial for well-being, having too many choices is counterproductive.
NYU Stern professor and best-selling author Scott Galloway agrees, noting that abundant choice is not a good thing for customers or a showroom. Showroom customers don’t want or need to see hundreds of faucets, a wall of cabinet door samples or 40 toilets lined up for dress rehearsal. Some may, but most don’t, because having to sift through an endless array of products taxes showroom customers’ time and attention. The average American makes 35,000 decisions a day.
“Consumers don’t want more choice, but more confidence in the choices presented,” Galloway writes. This means that showroom customers value clarity and assurance in the products that they select more than having a wide array of choices.
In the Interest of Time
For most showroom customers, time is their most precious asset. They want to minimize the time needed for product selection. They come to showrooms for professional guidance and expect (even if they don’t realize it) that the showroom will curate choices for them that result in the best solutions for their projects. The more time a showroom can save a customer or their designer, the more valuable and reference-worthy that showroom becomes.
Sara Hines, principal of Kitchen and Bath World in Albany, NY, has developed an effective approach that saves her customers countless hours by eliminating the need for customers to be involved in the product selection process at all.
“The showroom is not a place to pick products,” Hines asserts. “Customers can walk around Pinterest if they want to look at products. Our showroom serves to demonstrate our capabilities and showcase our talent.”
Displays at Kitchen and Bath World are full kitchens and complete bathrooms, helping customers to imagine what is possible. “The primary purpose of our showroom is to convey a feeling. We also are very conscious of our customer’s and our own time,” Hines related. She has a four-step process that minimizes mutual time investment.
“The more time a showroom can save a customer or designer, the more valuable and reference-worthy that showroom becomes.”
Step one is a one-hour initial interview to determine customers’ lifestyle needs, what they are attracted to, functionality preferences and dream list. “We explain how our services will fit customers’ needs, wants and dreams. We also discuss budget in the initial conversation by providing a cost estimate based on their wish list, explaining that this would be a typical budget for a project of this size and scope.”
Step two is a one-hour home visit to measure the space, assess lifestyle and style preferences and obtain a contract commitment.
Step three encourages committed customers to create boards on Houzz and Pinterest and to designate their designer as a contributor. “If a majority of the pictures a client posts features flat-paneled cabinets and chrome faucet finishes, that tells us what the customer wants,” Hines explained.
Step four is the final presentation. Kitchen and Bath World designers use information from interviews and social media posts to design a complete kitchen, and present a layout with 3D renderings, product selections and an outline of the project cost. “80% of the time, our customers don’t make a single change. There are often tears of joy and a sense of wonderment at how our team could know exactly what the customer wanted. If there are tweaks, they typically do not involve design changes,” Hines said.
More significantly, by eliminating product choices from the customer’s to-do list, Kitchen and Bath World creates more time for its designers to design, which translates to more productive hours, higher revenues and increased margins. Eliminating customers from product selection also reduces stress and anxiety and increases end-result satisfaction.
Careful Curation
KONSTUNION in Bethesda, MD is another showroom capitalizing on the paradigm shift that values less as more. Catering mainly to architects, high-end home builders and the design trades, KONSTUNION’s showroom is meticulously curated to create an ambience of installed art. According to Showroom Director Jim Bartak, “We have partnered with a select few manufacturers that cater to our target demographic and understand our value proposition. Our limited number of vignettes and displays are crafted to inspire our designer and homeowner clients.” Bartak noted that everyone who enters KONSTUNION recognizes that it differs from a traditional decorative plumbing showroom and quickly realizes that the same level of careful curation that was involved in merchandising the space will be applied to their project.
Kitchen and Bath World’s and KONSTUNION’s approach affirms Galloway’s claim that consumers want someone else to do the research and curate options for them. This requires showrooms to provide expert-filtered or pre-selected options rather than presenting an overwhelming number of choices. This is also the desire of designer Molly Switzer AKBD, of Molly Switzer Interior Designs in Portland, OR. Switzer believes that her clients want to have some say in product selection, viewing her role as ensuring that clients are invested to their comfort level without burdening them with too many options.
Similar to many of her peers, Switzer selectively visits showrooms to highlight specific items that her clients are concerned or passionate about. She gives preference to showrooms that understand her needs and provide her with a private or semi-private dedicated space to stage products and present options. Having coffee and water available for her in-showroom presentations is a small attention to detail that carries an enormous impact.
Designer Jenifer Wiley of J Wiley Designs in Dallas, TX also acknowledges that her clients don’t want to spend much time focusing on product selection or showroom tours. “Our clients expect us to select products that meet their needs. We don’t need to tax their or our time visiting a showroom. That does not dismiss the value of a showroom, however,” Wiley remarked. She stressed that showrooms are important and crucial to the design business. “Our designers need to spend time in showrooms to learn about products and options and to stretch their comfort zones,” she added.
Shannon Ggem of Shannon Ggem Design in Los Angeles, CA, also does not rely on showroom tours for product selection. Instead, she relies on the showroom as a valued resource and partner to help match what she’s recommended, and reinforce her expertise to clients. “Bringing a client to a showroom makes for an enjoyable shopping experience, giving them a broad product overview while also supporting our design choices.”
Investing in Updates
The time is ripe for showrooms to reimagine their roles and pivot to meet the shifts in consumer and designer preferences and needs. Start by evaluating current displays with a fresh lens. Ask how each display makes it easier for a showroom customer to make decisions, save time or contribute to a compelling experience they want to share with their neighbors, friends and peers.
Eliminate dead or dated displays and repurpose that valuable real estate in your showroom for more productive purposes such as creating “solution centers.” Replace a wall of faucets with themed vignettes that illuminate how different elements work together to provide a complete package.
Invest in staff training that emphasizes consultative selling skills in addition to product knowledge. Develop interview protocols that help staff uncover client needs efficiently and effectively.
Showrooms can beat the competition and become a destination of choice by evolving from a product library into a space where expertise, efficiency and inspiration converge. Challenging a design and merchandising system that has not materially changed in the last 50 years can and will create more value for your clients while improving operational efficiency and profitability for your company. The future belongs to those who understand that, in today’s market, less truly is more – but only when “less” is carefully curated and expertly presented.
Tom Cohn serves as the exec. v.p. of the Decorative Plumbing & Hardware Association, North America’s largest trade association advancing the interests of decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms, manufacturers and representative agencies. Named a 2020 KBDN Innovator, Cohn also is president of Cohn Communications, a multidisciplinary marketing and association and buying group management firm headquartered in Washington, DC.