Showroom – a unique way of experiencing a brand

Showroom is a place designed to properly represent a brand and its products, to create a prestigious atmosphere that is even more important than the sales process itself.

Analysts claim that showrooms are the next evolution stage in retail. Many customers today treat ordinary shops as if they were showrooms – they visit them to see or test a product, but they eventually make their purchase online. “Customers spend as much as two thirds of their buying time at a stationary shop, even if they eventually buy their product online” – says Andres Mendoza-Pena from the consulting company A.T. Kearney. According to the “Purchases in 2025” report ordered by the Leroy Merlin brand, in 8 years most Poles will not visit traditional marketing places in order to buy a product, they will go there only to… see the product.

Who can make effective use of showrooms?

Surely showrooms “fit” some areas better than others. Display halls seem to be an ideal offer for the producers and distributors of furniture. Thanks to them potential customers can see the company’s offer and its methods of functioning, as well as evaluate the quality and attention to detail of the furniture. Showrooms are also popular in the clothes and fashion branch. Our company has prepared display halls for such clothing brands as More & More, Dockers and Reserved. Showrooms are also used by young designers to present their collections.

The already mentioned Andres Mendoza-Pena claims that online sellers and new brands benefit the most from showrooms. Internet shops can increase the brand’s popularity and customer trust thanks to showrooms. “Our studies show that internet sellers increase their profits by 500% to 800% after opening a stationary shop. That’s a lot” – he explains.

It is also worth mentioning that showrooms are more eagerly visited by a certain type of consumers. Studies carried out by WD Partners show that younger customers are more open to such experiences. 55% of Millennials (people born in the 80s and 90s) consider showrooms as worthy of attention, whereas the interest of the generation of Baby Boomers (those born in the years 1946-64) is only 28%.

Showroom is a challenge

Constantly changing customer behaviors require sellers to be flexible and to react swiftly to the current situation. “There will be more types of shops in the future and each of them will fulfill a different role. Customer offer will have to be more diverse as a result” – says Mendoza-Pena.

The changes in our buying habits will also influence how we perceive sellers in a showroom. Customers will expect help in doing quick shopping, receiving information about products and services that are unavailable on the internet, and they might want to verify their opinion of a product that they encountered on the internet.

Surely, city centers visited by tourists will not have a big need for showrooms – a typical tourist will want to enter a shop in order to do shopping. More showrooms will appear in the suburbs and their significance in terms of customer engagement will grow. The question is how quickly sellers will adjust to this situation and whether they will be eagerly opening new showrooms. Mendoza-Pena claims that online shops are more flexible and adjust to new environments more quickly. Their main obstacle might be money. Traditional sellers may be more reserved as they usually take more time to adapt to new conditions.