I interact with independent flooring retailers daily, and the buzz on the street is e-commerce-the antithesis of the traditional way of selling flooring. At April's NWFA Wood Flooring Expo, I spoke with many dealers and distributors, and I was amazed by how often I was discussing the opportunities to increase sales and market share that e-commerce can provide.
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I interact with independent flooring retailers daily, and the buzz on the street is e-commerce-the antithesis of the traditional way of selling flooring. At April's NWFA Wood Flooring Expo, I spoke with many dealers and distributors, and I was amazed by how often I was discussing the opportunities to increase sales and market share that e-commerce can provide.
E-commerce has grown immensely in the last five years and, in my opinion, will continue to grow exponentially. The current generation, and certainly the next generation of shoppers, is not only more comfortable with e-commerce but often prefers it when given the option of traditional shopping. However, e-commerce might not be for everyone, and it might not be right for every wood flooring dealer. With that said, following are some of the pros and cons to consider when contemplating whether to pursue e-commerce.
With an integrated e-commerce website, you have a product catalog that is basically a showroom that is open 24/7. Operating an e-commerce-built website may bring extra business you would have never gotten by just operating your brick-and-mortar store. In addition, operating an e-commerce website allows you to sell outside your traditional market, so there's another chance at additional sales.
First Steps
Ambitious e-commerce models allow consumers to buy a product online and have it delivered anywhere. If this is the model you want, know e-commerce logistics can be a full-time business. For the most part, the typical distributor or manufacturer isn't set up for residential delivery or return pick-ups.
Additionally, national or even multi-city advertising can be expensive and complex. To launch a successful e-commerce site, one must be willing to spend a significant amount of money just to learn what works. One must also understand that Internet advertising is an always-changing environment that must be expertly and constantly managed to achieve a good ROI. Unlike a marketing website, an e-commerce site must be kept up-to-date in real time; nothing will guarantee failure for an e-commerce site faster than selling an item that is discontinued, mispriced or out of stock.
Not surprisingly, launching an e-commerce business requires a lot of expertise that is not commonly present at most floor covering dealers today. It will probably require new hires and considerable time and investment into a business model that has not been convincingly proven to work in the floorcovering industry. This is why many top manufacturers are not yet in support of the e-commerce model and are quickly taking measures to formulate policies and guidelines to regulate the sale of their products online.
Paths to Success
E-commerce may be something that will be inevitable in the future. But when you lay it out and look at it closely, I believe there are less costly and better paths to take right now to grow your business before spending a lot of time, energy and money pursuing the questionable concept of selling floor coverings over the Internet. Following are a few suggestions on competing with e-commerce stores as well as big box stores.
At a bare minimum you need a highly visible website. This can be achieved by investing in pay per click advertising and/or building a great website that is expertly built for geo-targeted search engine results in your market and on your most important products. You'll want to ensure your website is professionally designed, is enticing to your target audience, gives multiple ways to communicate and portrays your strengths, all in one quick visit. Including product images and pictures of installations on your website is mandatory since consumers are used to shopping online, comparing products and seeing reviews. A product catalog with pricing is highly recommended and has become the norm on the websites of today's most successful flooring dealers.
Last, advertise the fact that your company is locally owned and operated, has a showroom where they can see your products, has a well-trained staff to help them and has installation services. These attributes are not shared by most e-commerce companies and will give the consumer more than one reason to stay away from strictly online companies, box stores and the mega retailers.
In the Future
Like I've said before, consumers have become very comfortable shopping for many items via the Internet. Best Buy's strategy to operate smaller stores with lower overhead is proof that consumers are enjoying online savings. Fortunately, the level of customer service that is expected and really needed to properly sell floor covering is not available exclusively via e-commerce-there's still a physical component of delivering and installing that wood flooring, so the rise of e-commerce by no means spells the end of floor covering stores. For now, if you focus on delivering a great buying experience that includes a highly visible and engaging website, great customer service, adequate product selection, product knowledge, and expert installations, you should be positioned to gain market share and have overall success now and in the online future.
