Consumers are increasingly flocking toward digital screens for their everyday shopping, drawn to the speed and convenience of tapping on a screen to find all the information they need. Hopping on this digital trend, we at Sergenian’s Floor Coverings have introduced two kiosks to our showroom to help customers find what they want faster and easier, bolstering our sales process.
During a total store remodel last year, we reorganized our showroom stock to place the kiosks in our soft-surface and hard-surface areas. The kiosks are part of CCA Global Partners’ Carpet One and Flooring America cooperatives. At Sergenian’s, we have over 400 hard-surface flooring samples in the co-op’s system that customers can run through the kiosk. Each sample, organized in the store by color, has a QR code customers can grab and bring to the kiosk to scan. Once a customer scans the QR code, all the information a customer needs to know about the panel pops up on the screen, including species of wood, warranty type and installation process. One of the most helpful features of the kiosks is that they allow customers to scan up to three panels at a time to compare the specifications.
Another standout feature of the kiosk is its ability to show customers what the flooring would look like in their homes. Customers can upload a photo of a room in their home and the system will edit the flooring they’ve chosen into the picture. If the customer doesn’t have a photo, the kiosk offers sample room photos of kitchens, living rooms and entryways so customers to get an idea of what the flooring would look like in those spaces.
While the kiosks provide a new tool for customers, they can only be used with products within the CCA Global Partners system. So if customers want to compare a product within the Flooring America co-op to one outside of it, they won’t be able to use the kiosk—and that’s where our knowledgeable staff comes in to help.
In the few months we’ve had the kiosks, customers have embraced the new technology on the showroom floor. We have especially found the comparison tool has sped up the sales process as customers can look at the features of our products side-by-side to help them make decisions.
Mark Maly is the director of retail operations at Madison, Wis.-based Sergenian’s Floor Coverings.
