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20 | Kitchen & Bath Design News | September 2015 E commerce and information ac- cess continue to change the way consumers buy. There's been a paradigm shift that has disrupted all of retail, and premium and luxury d ecorative plumbing and hardware products are no exceptions. Speed is one of the significant changes that ecommerce has brought to the retail arena. Customers order something today and they expect it to - morrow or the next day – freight free. Amazon continues to investigate how it can provide same-day delivery. Now, most consumers expect the same speed and ease of purchase from established brick and mortar busi- nesses. Telling a customer they have to wait six, eight or 12 weeks for the item they want to buy most likely will be a much more difcult sell. Few luxury brands have responded to the need for speed, omni-channel brand engagement and experiential re- tailing, because business in the luxury sector is really good right now. A Bain & Company luxury goods worldwide mar- keting study reported that luxury goods accounted for $929 billion in sales in 2014. If it's not broke, why fx it, right? The tide is beginning to turn, however. The bastions of luxury un- derstand that clinging to the past while the rest of the world is moving in a diferent direction is a one-way ticket on the road to obsolescence. Gucci is selling smart watches and next year Chanel will begin to sell online. More luxury brands have de- veloped apps and are beginning, albeit slowly, to embrace the digital world. Another paradigm shift is the erosion of exclusivity. With few ex- ceptions, luxury fashion, watches, accessories and other goods are avail- able everywhere from Neiman Marcus to online luxury discounters. Consum- ers can fnd designer labels, furniture, cars and even luxury brand plumbing products at up to 80% of at multiple locations. FROM EXCLUSIVE TO EXPE RIENTIAL Ecommerce and the democratization of luxury have transformed premium luxury products from exclusive to experiential. Consumers don't buy decorative plumbing and hardware products based on what they do or the type of fnish they have. Features and benefts to a showroom customer do not have the same cache that they once commanded. Showroom customers expect high quality, perfor- mance, design savvy and technological superiority. Luxury has morphed into delivering experiences that make cus- tomers feel better. Ana Andjelic writes in Luxury Daily, "Contemporary luxury brands are at the intersection of busi- ness, products, services and experiences – not just communication platforms." So too, are decorative plumbing and hard- ware showrooms that compete daily with luxury brands for disposable in- come dollars. The sale of premium and luxury decorative plumbing and hardware is now a hybrid on the road where products, services and experiences merge. Luxury is more about lifestyle, not logos. Today's consumers are more concerned with how products they buy will make them feel rather than a need to keep up with the Joneses. LUXURY IN THE SHOWROOM Many DPHA members were frst to market. They pioneered lines, took risks and became go-to resources for products that many customers had never seen before. The Internet has changed that competitive advantage. Nothing is beyond the reach of a con- sumer armed with a mouse. How many customers are truly wowed by the products found in a showroom? Sure, there may be a "red cow" or two in a showroom that turns heads, but for the most part, custom- ers likely have seen much of what is on display before they even cross a show- room's threshold. Just as luxury icons Gucci and Chanel realized they must embrace the democratization of luxury, many showroom owners understand that maintaining the status quo is unsus- tainable. Showrooms change displays often, but how often do showrooms change the way they approach cus- tomers and merchandising strategies? There is a compelling argument for doing so from Professor Art Markham of the University of Texas. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Markham says that conventional wisdom holds that messages and information drive the decision to buy. But information and messaging are not the only com- ponents that will infuence customers and prospects to purchase from your showroom. The showroom envi- ronment – what and how products are presented and the approaches sales professionals take to gain con- sumer trust – will have as much, if not more, infuence than information and messaging. Showroom sales professionals can leverage this new premium and luxu- ry-consumer buying paradigm to gain the trust of their customers by ask- ing the right questions and listening intently to customer responses. If the driver of luxury purchasing is indeed how a product will make the customer feel, then a good starting point is to ask customers the feelings they'd like to receive when they use their new kitchens and baths. Customers may be puzzled by this question, because they probably have never been asked how they want a room to feel. But this question is essential to identify the emotional connection that customers want to have when they enter and use their new bath or kitchen. The responses from cus- tomers will help sales professionals specify the best products for their clients' projects. It is a question that enables sales professionals to better understand customer goals and is an efective tool to gaining customer trust. Becoming a trusted advisor to customers also involves simplifying the buying process. The more choices presented to potential customers, the harder their brains need to work and subsequently the more difcult mak- ing a decision becomes. How else would you explain that 70% of those eligible to participate in a 401k program don't sign up? Sev- enty percent of employees are ofered free money and they don't grab it. The reason: Signing up and selecting from the numerous choices of funds to buy requires too much efort and energy. This may explain why so many sales professionals default to a par- ticular product or line. It's not that they don't want to specify other prod- ucts. But doing the same thing over and over requires less energy. So, if you want to make more sales in your showroom, give your customer fewer options. Showrooms can leverage informa- tion overload by limiting choices and curating information on their cus- tomers' behalf. How can a consumer who searches for a farmhouse sink on Houzz.com ever make a selection from the 77,000 choices available to them? The ability to infuence cus- tomers and get them to sign on the bottom line depends on eliminating impediments that make decision- making difcult. Consider conducting an internal experiment: For two weeks, track sales based on products shown in a vignette versus those that are grouped with similar products. Chances are, an overwhelming majority of sales will come from the vignette. Remember, often, when it comes to ofering product choices, less can actually be more. Kymberly Weiner is the marketing and showroom merchandising man- ager for Best Plumbing Tile & Stone's showrooms in Somers, Scarsdale and Yorktown Heights, NY and Stamford, CT. She is an active member of the DPHA Education Committee. DPH Perspectives { Kymberly Weiner, Best Plumbing Tile & Stone } The Democratization of Luxury As with most luxury brands, the luxury DPH arena is now focusing more on delivering experiences that make customers feel better. Read past columns and features and send us your comments about this article and others by logging onto our Web site: KitchenBathDesign.com "Ecommerce and the democratization of luxury have transformed premium luxury products from exclusive to experiential."