Believe it or not, the holiday shopping season is almost upon us.
And while it feels like summer outside, it’s time for brands and retailers to turn their attention to the end-of-year shopping bonanza. One category that tends to ramp up this time of year is—you guessed it—flooring.
You probably didn’t guess that, unless you’re in the flooring business. But we won’t tell anyone. Our little secret.
This is a big moment for flooring and those who are shopping for an upgrade. We learned in our previous blog series that appliance shopping is a unique category; appliance shoppers are high-intent, focused shoppers who tend to make a purchase decision quickly—that is, within a week of starting their search.
While the same can’t be said for flooring (it’s typically a bit longer of a process), we can learn some things from other categories and how they apply to flooring, particularly when it comes to content.
Our research shows that the consumer journey for flooring purchases spans up to 18 months; often times, it begins with “dreaming” or the desire to buy new flooring.
In subsequent blogs, we’ll dive deeper into flooring and how to get ahead of the game before the shopping surge hits. We’ll talk about trends, do a competitive analysis of the top brands, which will give you some ideas and creative inspiration, and close the series with a roadmap of how to put this new knowledge into action.
For now, we’re going to lay the groundwork for building a top-notch shopping experience.
Getting started
“Enhanced content” is an all-encompassing term that covers a lot of ground, but boiled down, it largely pertains to your customers’ online shopping experiences. The marriage of what they’re looking for and what you (the brand) provide drives results.
A good way to approach product pages is to think of them as both an education and conversion opportunity; a strong product page serves both of these purposes individually, but at the same time, one function can lead to the other if it motivates the customer.
So, when it comes to enhanced content and quality product pages, what are consumers looking for?
Rich visual presentation: Not surprisingly, customers want to see the product laid out in a way that represents its true application. How will it look in the home? How will it mesh with certain finishes and aesthetics they’re considering for cabinets, etc.? It has to be real, and it has to feel authentic.
Descriptive: This takes time, but it’s worth it. The goal here is to answer every question your customers could have about the product. What’s it made from, where was it made, how customizable is it? They should leave the product page feeling confident that they know everything they need to know.
Intuitive: Particularly with flooring, this is a key element for enhanced content. Brands are leveraging new capabilities and technology to offer a robust, customer-friendly experience on their product pages. Things like CGI (more on this in a minute), video, and multiple-angle photography are musts for product pages. It’s content that customers want.
Action plan
Why is this the peak flooring shopping season? Well, it’s right before the holidays—and we’ve found that customers prefer to have their new flooring installed in time to host their holiday guests. Additionally, the year’s new trends and styles have had a chance to percolate, giving consumers a better idea of what’s “in” and here to stay.
The path to results-driving enhanced content begins with the plan we mapped out above, and the more intuitive the pages are, the more likely you are to stand out in a good way. CGI is something that your creative studio partner (hey, that’s us!) can build, and it will quickly become one of your strongest assets. It displays products in a visually compelling, interactive way in real-life settings—particularly helpful because no one wants to see images of flooring patterns on white backdrops with no visual context.
We’ve set the stage on flooring, and laid out how content wins the day. And we have plenty more to come.
