Although Showme Stores is a relatively young project, it is part of a group of companies that includes an agency and several online stores. As a result, almost 15 years of experience in online marketing, e-commerce and development as an agency have been incorporated into Showme’s foundation. On the other hand, it is supported by almost 10 years of practical experience as an online furniture retailer.
Our beginnings are rooted in a dedicated web agency whose ambitious managing director made it his business not only to manage customer projects, but also to initiate his own ventures. These were set up, among other things, to gain further experience and test online marketing strategies for which customers were not always prepared. The result of these efforts was an online retail store for box spring beds, which was expanded after some time to include a showroom.
It became clear:
But one showroom for the whole of Germany is obviously not enough. In the search for further exhibition space, the idea for Showme Stores was finally developed.
We are therefore very familiar with the challenges faced by both online retailers and brick-and-mortar retailers who also operate their own online store. In the furniture industry in particular, a stationary presence is still indispensable. Although many customers do their research online (a phenomenon known as ROPO – Research Online, Purchase Offline), which emphasizes the need for an effective and informative website, they prefer to examine and test products in person before buying. This is particularly true for larger and potentially more expensive pieces of furniture that are used over a longer period of time.
Opening their own stores represents an enormous entrepreneurial hurdle and a high risk for online stores. It requires extensive know-how in terms of real estate development, personnel management and administration. Added to this are the considerable fixed costs involved.
This is where the advantages of Showme Stores come into play: We take over the tedious search for suitable real estate, take care of the appealing store design and hire qualified consulting staff that we also carefully train. This allows you as an exhibitor to concentrate on delivering your products and presenting them perfectly in line with your branding.
We opened our first store in Dreieich near Frankfurt , the next one will follow in Bad Säckingen on the Swiss border and the opening in Bielefeld is planned for July 2024.
Showme Store was born from the observation of customer needs – in B2C (Business to Customer) as well as B2B (Business to Business) and D2C (Direct to Customer). Paul Sidelnikow recognized the problem of online stores early on and at the same time saw the potential to found an innovative start-up.
The name was created in June 2022 shortly before midnight in a hotel in Leipzig when Eugen Sidelnikov was on a market analysis trip. Quickly smeared on a piece of paper and drew various logos. Refined in the following months in an in-house CI process.
Showme expresses both the customer need “Show me the product” of the consumer (keyword “retail”), but also Showme from the perspective of the online store “Show me to the customer”.
Our aim is to offer online retailers efficient access to stationary sales in a future-oriented way and to make the store brand known at the same time. Online store customers can expect an excellent offline shopping experience.