I recently presented to the GA/SC Coastal Chapter of the NKBA on the topic of using technology to influence shoppers at the moment they are making their buying decisions. The talk focuses on how laptops, tablets and smartphones have changed the shopping paradigm.
Before we even consider going into a store, we do our research online and via mobile device. In fact, I contend that by the time a [potential] customer calls or stops by your showroom, they are ready to work with you having already done their due diligence. In researching the latest data for my talk, I discovered some amazing stats from Pew Research (June 2013) that as kitchen and bath dealers, we should take to heart.
In a study of people who first conducted research on a smartphone and then purchased:
- 82% purchased in-store
- 45% purchased online (tablet or desktop)
- 17% purchased from the smartphone
How they conducted their research
- 48% from search engines
- 74% from mobile [app] search engines
- 71% from store locator apps
And upon completion of their research
- 55% purchased within an hour
- 83% purchased within a day
- 93% purchased within 30 days
Now, I’m not foolish enough to think that anyone reading this will EVER sell (or buy) a kitchen (or other remodeling project) on a smartphone – never gonna happen! But, I am foolish enough to believe that these statistics illustrate (in no uncertain terms) that if kitchen and bath dealers want to be in consideration for projects they need to be readily available online and on smartphones.
To blatantly spell it out…
- 82% of people who began research on a smartphone, purchased in a store (showroom)
- 71% of those people began their research with a store locator – the Kitchen & Bath Channel is a store locator. The only one designed exclusively for the kitchen & bath industry.
And don’t forget that
- 93% of these people purchased within 30 days – making the connection, that if your are available during the due diligence phase, closing times can be reduced
Today, being found online at the critical time when buying decisions are made is not about the click-throughs to your website – it’s about how many different places you can be found online, on apps and in searches. With the Kitchen & Bath Channel you get a head start with searchable profile pages, presence on social sites and exposure on an app – at an annual cost that equals a monthly fee charged by other sites – plus the Kitchen & Bath Channel is exclusive to our industry – created by kitchen and bath design and marketing professionals for kitchen and bath industry professionals! We encourage you to subscribe today!