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20 | Kitchen & Bath Design News December 2014 I magine if Home Depot had gotten it right and the Expo Design Centers actually had been success- ful. It's not difcult to recall the fear that reverberated throughout the independent DPH showroom world when Expo frst opened its doors. Many showroom owners feared that Expo was going to put them out of business. There have been volumes written about why Expo didn't succeed. But the bot- tom line is that Expo proved it's not the product that drives people to purchase luxury bath and hardware products – it's the experience created by the interaction of the customer and a knowledge- able showroom consultant. It was nearly impossible to sell luxury products in a cash- and-carry environment. The idea was viable; the execution was not. The reprieve the indus- try received with the demise of Expo was short-lived. A more ominous threat soon emerged, and remains one that the industry has yet to formulate an effective re- sponse to. ONLINE COMPETITION The Internet has changed how people buy, yet most showrooms haven't changed how they sell, or changed their business model to deliv- er more compelling customer experiences. Most showrooms have failed to recognize the dis- tinct advantages that a brick-and-mortar showroom that embraces digital technol- ogies has over other online e-tailers. DPHA members received a taste of how to embrace a digital future at the recent DPHA Conference in Naples, FL. There, Mindy Sevinor Feinberg (Salem Plumbing/ Designer Bath) and Kymberly Weiner (Best Plumbing Tile and Stone) described how they have eliminated cata- logs and price lists in their showrooms and replaced them with tablets that their consultants use to enhance the customer experience and make the sales process more efcient. DPH showrooms are not the only industry to be chal- lenged by the increasingly digital world that we live in. Museums are also embracing new technologies to attract more visitors and improve the visitor experience. A re- cent New York Times article reports that museums are creating new cell phone and tablet applications to enhance the physical experience of touring the museum. DPH showrooms can use similar technology and approaches. Many DPHA members were first to market deco- rative lines. They created sweeping faucet displays and built brands that were utterly unknown even in the design world. Showrooms were able to wow customers simply by displaying products that cus- tomers had never seen before. This is no longer true. Huge faucet and hardware displays are common and the Internet's selection is enormous. The marketplace is looking for a lot more from brick-and-mortar showrooms than product displays. They want a reason to buy from you. They want stories. Being the first one to market does not ofer the op- portunity it once did. Whole Foods laboriously pioneered sustainable and organic pro- duce. It represented a new type of grocer that stood for healthier foods. This capti- vated customers who were willing to pay a premium for what were once simply com- modities. But in the last six months, Whole Foods' stock value has plummeted by 30% because it now has to com- pete against Walmart. Yes, Walmart. The latter now of- fers sustainable and organic produce and food products at prices that Whole Foods could only dream about. Whole Foods and DPH showrooms face challenges today that they could not even imagine 10 years ago. Bernadette Jiwa pointed out in an October Story of Telling blog that every business, re- gardless of size, must address the following changes: • Clutter • Competition • Commoditization CLUTTER There are thousands of fau- cets available supported by terabits of information. With all of the information avail- able, how do your customers know the diference between product A and product B? How do they know if it's right for their project? There's no doubt that consumers come to showrooms better edu- cated and prepared to make buying decisions. L2 reports in an October 2014 study Content & Commerce , "78% of consumers now report engaging in 'webrooming,' or purchasing a product in a store after browsing online." Our ability to curate the troves of design and product information that our custom- ers digest before coming to our showrooms is a competi- tive advantage. We need to retrain our sales consultants. Instead of allowing them to simply talk about products and how well they perform, we must focus on customer needs and dreams. In many cases, customers aren't 100% certain what they want or even all of the options that exist. The sales process needs to include how the products we sell will make our customers feel and what they can do to make their lives easier, less stressful and more enjoyable. COMPETITION Just as Whole Foods never fathomed the possibility that Walmart might one day sell quinoa and kale, many DPH showrooms may not be aware of competitive threats coming from non-traditional competitors. If you don't see companies such as Restora- tion Hardware, Anthropologie and Pottery Barn as a future competitive force, take an- other look. COMMODITIZATION Both the number and dis- tribution points that sell DPH products will continue to expand. How loyal can a showroom be to a line that is sold at 45% or more of list that consumers can buy with- out having to pay sales tax and, in most cases, freight? What image does a consumer have of a brand whose prod- ucts are severely discounted? How can those products be considered as anything other than a commodity? Commoditization is another opportunity for brick-and-mortar showrooms to stand apart by understand- ing and communicating the diferences of original design to consumers, many of whom regularly pay a premium for originally designed products. If a customer is willing to pay $1,000 or more for a hand- bag or pair of shoes that are original designs, what would prevent them from paying that for a faucet they'll use ev- ery day? Will your showroom customer really want to brag about a me-too fxture that they could buy at 45% of, or will they show of an origi- nally designed fxture with pride? The Internet struggles to explain these diferences. The showroom consultant not only can explain the value of original design, but also make the case for why customers should want to pay a premi- um to acquire it. Organizations such as DPHA help member show- rooms develop effective responses to new brick-and- mortar showroom challenges and help to ensure that we don't get blindsided by new competition we don't see in our rearview mirrors. Dave Patters is the general manager of The Bath + Be- yond, an award-winning decorative plumbing and hardware showroom in San Francisco, CA. He also serves as a member of the DPHA Board of Directors . "The Internet has changed how people buy – yet most showrooms haven't changed their business model to deliver more compelling customer experiences." What's In Your Rearview Mirror? DPH professionals must learn how to use their brick-and- mortar showrooms as an advantage when delivering a powerful and efective digital experience. Read past columns and features and send us your comments about this article and others by logging onto our Web site: www.ForResidentialPros.com DPH Perspectives { Dave Patters }