With the gradual change in the retail industry scene, more and more physical stores are closing. There has been a steady decline in people wanting to go to actual stores, and more of them prefer to be in the comforts of their home while doing online purchases. While this trend is surely getting more popular, there has also been some changes in the contemporary furniture design and manufacturing industry.
According to JMD Furniture, a well-known modern furniture store, there are many interesting facts about the constant decline of physical retail:
- In the past year, there have been multiple closures of major retail stores such as Sears, Macy’s, Radioshack, JCPenney, and Payless. These stores have either closed off some of their branches or filed for bankruptcy.
- There is too much spending cost in trying to keep a physical store – although physical stores are still integral, there is too much financial upkeep that’s needed to be done if a company owns a physical location. The cost of the rental, hiring employees and other taxes that can be done without as compared to building an online or e-commerce business.
- There is a retail sales decline in the past 11 months – the trend is inevitable. Since people’s spending habits change over time, some of them are not interested in actually going out and buying something. It could be that purchases are made up of digital products, or they prefer their items to be delivered to their home.
Given these obstacles, modern furniture stores decided to skip the showroom and the physical location of their company. Why is this so? Modern furniture pioneer JMD Furniture gives us additional insight.
Why The Modern Furniture Store Is Ditching The Showroom
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The rise of digital marketing
One of the best advancements in terms of marketing is its digital counterpart. People can now easily make advertisements online through the use of search engine sponsored posts, social media sponsored posts, or even through e-mails. Since people are more engaged with their smartphones and other gadgets, there is a high likelihood that modern furniture stores can show their products by simply targeting users who match their description of ideal clients. These people can be easily targeted through the use of artificial intelligence data collection or through search engine optimization. More companies have reported getting good returns out of digital marketing, and modern furniture stores also report the same results.
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E-commerce is more far-reaching
Compared to traditional showrooms, e-commerce is a more far-reaching way to start a business. Clients can simply browse through pictures of collections, see how each design is made with appropriate close-ups, and pick a furniture of their choice based on their customization preferences. This can all be done by simply setting up a website where all the information can be accessed. Showrooms can only be modified once in a while and may be too costly to re-model when trends change. E-commerce is a great way to modify these themes and quickly update potential customers.
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The decline of retail stores and physical locations
As mentioned earlier, there is an evident decline in people wanting to visit physical stores. More people prefer to make online purchases even for physical products. To avoid this blunder, modern furniture stores skip past the conventional strategies and make “online showrooms” instead.
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The power of social media and visual content
Speaking of online showrooms, these visuals can be easily shared with thousands of people online. Social media platforms such as Pinterest are full of people who are looking for new things to add to their home. When modern furniture stores have social media accounts, they can easily share their products multiple times without the risk of spending too much.
Although showrooms are still a great addition, more contemporary stores can succeed without it. Businesses can conveniently create visuals for more people with a far-reaching effect.