One Way to Price Match-Proof Your Showroom

You can’t stop online shopping and price comparisons from happening, but there are ways to curtail them from impacting every sale.  

When customers come into a lighting showroom and find fixtures and lamps they like and want to buy, that’s only half the battle in today’s marketplace. Very often they hesitate when it’s time to close the sale and say, “Let me go home and think about it” (translation: “I’m going to search online to find a better price”) and you never see them again. Or they return a few days later with a screenshot printed out showing a ridiculously low price online and ask you to match it. Neither scenario is good for a showroom’s business.

 At Lightovation this month, Robert Marash of Innovations Lighting explained how he is trying to help showrooms overcome this problem. One of the hallmarks of his company since its inception in 2014 is customization. When customers are essentially  building their own fixtures by selecting the glass shades from among many options, choosing the type and color of cords plus the size and configuration of the canopies, there is no easy way for them to search for an exact match online. They also feel more “invested” in the design since they are selecting each component themselves to create a fixture that their friends and neighbors cannot find online or buy off the shelf.

But that’s only the start of the solution for lighting showrooms. Customization takes time and knowledge — and for new or inexperienced salespeople, the procedure can feel too complicated, time-consuming, and perhaps a bit outside of their comfort zone. Therefore, they don’t attempt to show customers that option. Instead, they steer them toward complete fixtures (sold as shown with a choice of finish and size) and hope the customers can make a quick buying decision right then and there.

Recognizing this stumbling block, Marash directed his team to streamline the process by creating a convenient display for showrooms that is compact, attractive, and easy to understand.

Since its debut, that merchandiser has become a useful tool for showroom salespeople. However, at the January edition of Lightovation this month, Innovations expanded its toolbox by unveiling a new Innnovations Learning University program to help salespeople feel more comfortable and confident in selling the company’s customizable fixtures.   

Creating the educational program was Jeff Goldfarb, who retired last summer from his six-year tenure as the company’s national sales manager, but he jumped at the chance to help Marash with this special project. Goldfarb adapted his experience in conducting product knowledge sessions into a series of online video learning modules that break down the knowledge process into easily digestible steps (complete with quizzes to ensure comprehension).  

“The goal was to train sales associates in a consistent manner,” Goldfarb explained.

Since the course is meted out over a series of video modules that can be watched online at each salesperson’s pace, there is a greater likelihood of viewers retaining the knowledge shared in each module topic.

According to Goldfarb, the owners of multiple stores who visited the Innovations showroom at Lightovation immediately understood the benefits. “This is a time-saver for them,” he said, noting their challenge of making time for product training in each showroom. Stores with several locations have more occurrences of new employees joining those businesses or switching departments (i.e. plumbing to lighting), which means a greater need for training.

There is a certification component to the Innovations Learning University program, but full details have not been released yet. The Learning University will launch in approximately one month. There are plans to create a similar version for reps that will “take the rep out of the role of training so they can free up their time and focus on management,” Goldfarb said.

Offering customization of some products is just one tool that showrooms can use to differentiate themselves and reduce the occurrence of online price wars. There are other lighting companies – particularly domestic manufacturers – who offer the ability to mix and match features to provide “custom” looks that aren’t as easily shopped online. There are also other tools that can help. For example, Lighting One offers its showroom membership a private label line of lighting fixtures that by its nature hinders the practice of online price shopping.

Does your showroom have a successful method for reducing the ability of consumers to conduct price comparisons? Tell me all about it at linda@homenewsnow.com