7 Tips To Market To Today’s Furniture Buyers

Furniture World News Desk on 8/23/2017

Roseanne Luth

By Roseanne Luth

As customers start on their path to purchase journey, large furniture buyers now have more to consider than ever before. In addition to choosing the design, the level of comfort, and the practicality of a piece of furniture, there’s also the question of how customers should make such a substantial purchase for their homes, and what they expect from the experience.

Furniture buying has transitioned from a model of department store clerks and showroom managers boasting their wares to digitally savvy customers perusing the breadth of available models and offerings online. As more furniture buyers consult their social media networks and favorite comparison sites along their buyer’s journey, you might think the future of selling your furniture will be solely online. But, while the furniture-buying process is undoubtedly changing, it may not be in the way you think.

In order to better understand how today’s consumer really begins, continues, and finalizes the decision to purchase new furniture, Luth Research conducted a long-term study of behaviors and habits. Participants in the research intended to make a major furniture purchase within three months and considered themselves a primary or joint decision-maker in large furniture purchases within their households. The unique insights from the study have prompted 7 helpful tips – so you can start adjusting the way you market your furniture today.

1. Create a Valuable Digital Space
   In our study, we saw that the majority of consumers begin their path to purchase online to give themselves a general gauge of available options and prices. These online searches do not typically translate into sales, but they do allow consumers to narrow down the features they want in furniture, learn about new brands, and find out what they would pay for certain brands.
   
   As a furniture seller, you need to create an informative website for brand awareness that potential customers can browse as they start out on the path to purchase. However, consumers usually do not revisit online resources in the twenty-four hours before or during the in-store visits. This means that, while important, your digital space shouldn’t be the only place you invest your time, money, and effort.


2. Prepare for Store Visits
   One of the primary functions of researching information online is to prepare the consumer for the goal of experiencing the furniture in person at a brick-and-mortar store. 60% of study respondents mentioned visiting a store in person while on their purchase journey. Customers don’t often plan to shop at a single store, either.
   
   With roughly 5 times more people making a purchase at a physical store than online, and customers visiting multiple shops to cross-compare, you need to create a positive experience at your store. Check out your competition to see how they handle store visits, so that you can make sure you stand out from the other locations your potential customers are visiting.


3. Project Expertise and Friendliness
   In-store visits can backfire if the behavior of sales representatives does not meet consumer expectations. The study found that when representatives are pushy, unhelpful, or unknowledgeable, customers don’t feel like their best interests are in mind and a purchase is far less likely to occur.
   
   Ensure your sales representatives guide potential customers toward purchases that reflect a highly researched and delineated comparison among brands. If your staff take the time to explain features and benefits as they expand and contract based on each brand’s price points, you will ultimately create a snapshot of your company’s expertise and gain consumer trust.


4. Make Your Offer Too Tempting to Turn Down
   Customers blanched at the idea of having to increase their budget to find what they like, especially if the in-store experience comes with few sales or discounts to relieve the financial anxiety. They simply were not prepared, mentally or financially, to commit to the purchase of a large piece of furniture they felt could be cheaper at another time or place.
   
   Given that the most cited reason for delaying a purchase was wanting to wait for a better price or a special sales event, make sure your large furniture is a great deal. While you may not have the margins to provide constant discounts, you do have the ability to demonstrate how your furniture is good value for money. If your potential customers think your stock is fairly priced, they won’t want to wait to make a purchase.


5. Be Clear about Your Delivery Policies
   While home delivery may not be a deal-breaker to many consumers, for a sizable fraction of the populace, it can be the difference between a furniture purchase and walking out of a store empty-handed.
   
   Consider your company’s home delivery options. Whatever the delivery options are, be sure that they are clearly explained to each customer. 1 in 5 customers said they experienced confusion when reading about policies online, and that number increased to nearly 1 in 4 customers during in-store visits. Your policies need to be easily understood or you could risk alienating your customers.


6. Provide Helpful Customer Service
   With telephone communication less popular than ever, online customer service plays an integral role in shaping a consumer’s attitude toward a brand. Third-party review sites are considered unbiased, though they are less preferred than reviews on retailer and brand sites. After a purchase, more than half of consumers are prepared to provide a response – positive or negative – to the company itself, including writing a personalized review on that brand’s website. Roughly the same proportion will post on social media about the product.
   
   Remember to respond decisively and professionally to complaints. These public responses will go a long way to shoring up consumer confidence and marketing your brand. Consumers are wary of a site that boasts only positive reviews and recommendations, and they will seek out reviews that describe issues with the product and how a company handled those concerns. Take a customer’s dissatisfaction and turn it into an opportunity to help improve your service and show your potential customers that you care.


7. Understand How Millennials Shop
   While laptops and desktop computers are the preferred devices for furniture shopping, smartphones are catching up. They are often used by millennials when visiting a store, bucking the larger trend of other generations that do not research online information while in-store. Millennials also visit physical stores more than older consumers, yet are significantly more likely to purchase an online-only brand that has no store to visit. They are comfortable trusting information received online with no follow-up phone call, store visit, or chat online.
   
   With this in mind, try targeting your potential millennial customers with online marketing they can see and use in-store. This can include a strong social media presence, as well as personalized advertisements and offers. If your location provides free wi-fi, that will not only boost customer goodwill, but it will also facilitate the millennial's in-store shopping experience online.