Designing a showroom: Tips for successful exhibition spaces
People want to test and experience products extensively before they buy them. Create a unique customer experience in your showrooms by designing the perfect showroom. You can find tips on how to do this in this article. Attractive showrooms convey trust and credibility, strengthen the brand image and ultimately have a positive influence on purchasing decisions.
Contents:
- Designing a showroom: Tips for planning
- The functions of a showroom: The following points must be fulfilled
- Designing a showroom: Tips you should consider when furnishing
- Visually convincing
- Use light
- Use storytelling
- Create testing opportunities
- Select suitable software and hardware
- Setting targeted impulses
- 5 specific tips for furnishing the showroom
- Showme Stores as experts for showrooms
Designing a showroom: Tips for planning
A showroom concept must be drawn up before companies go into wild actionism when setting up their exhibition spaces. This requires various preliminary considerations:
- What values does the company represent?
- Who should be addressed with the products and services?
- Which topics are in focus?
- Which products are on display?
- What information does the consumer need to understand the products?
- How high is the budget?
The more detailed and careful the answers to the basic questions are, the more concrete the concept can be developed.
The functions of a showroom: The following points must be fulfilled
The preliminary considerations also include being aware of the purpose of the exhibition space.
A showroom fulfills various important functions aimed at effectively presenting products or services and influencing potential customers. Here are the main functions of a showroom:
- Product presentation: The showroom displays products in a real context, enabling customers to evaluate quality and functionality.
- Brand representation: It reflects the brand identity and creates a consistent brand experience.
- Customer experience: The space has a pleasant, informative atmosphere and encourages interaction.
- Building trust: A well-maintained showroom signals quality and professionalism.
- Sales promotion: It increases the incentive to buy.
- Customer acquisition: An appealing showroom attracts new customers and promotes word-of-mouth advertising.
- Market research: It enables the observation of customer behavior and provides insights into preferences.
- Competitive advantage: An optimally designed showroom stands out from the competition and attracts attention.
These functions support the main objective of a showroom: to convince potential customers of products or services.
Designing a showroom: Tips you should consider when furnishing
It is important that the potential consumer feels comfortable in the showroom. Therefore, the furnishings should be tailored to their needs. It is best to satisfy all 5 senses of the customer when furnishing.
Visually convincing
Satisfying the 5 senses starts with the visual appearance. The design of the showroom should present the brand perfectly. The interior design of the showroom must also match the overall architecture of the building. The colors and shapes used serve to make a visit to the showroom as pleasant as possible. Be sure to provide comfortable seating. The more comfortable the customer feels, the longer they will stay. Longer dwell times lead to more sales.
Use light
Lighting conditions also play a decisive role. Retailers have recognized this and therefore make targeted use of light sources in showrooms. It’s not just about creating good visibility. With the right light, the goods are perfectly staged. For example, prominent products can be displayed with a spotlight. The color of the light also has an influence on purchasing decisions. Products look different under warm lamps than under cold light. Which option is chosen depends on the product and the desired effect.
Use storytelling
The buzzword storytelling has long held its place in marketing. The showroom should also be used to tell a story. Why? Because it can create a relationship between customer, product and company. Good customer loyalty ensures repeat purchases and recommendations. However, storytelling must be implemented professionally. Information boards with the company’s history no longer grab anyone’s attention. People’s attention span is shrinking. Interactive media is therefore the best way to convey your own story or background information on products. A media mix of audio and video activates several of the customer’s senses at once.
Create testing opportunities
Customers don’t just come to a showroom to look at a product. They could also do this virtually. They want to test the goods. For this to succeed, the exhibition space must offer the necessary facilities. If fashion is exhibited, changing rooms are needed. In a furniture showroom, it must be possible to use them. People can take a seat on the couch or at the dining table or desk. The cell phone or laptop can be operated. The more intensively the customer can experience the product, the better.
Select suitable software and hardware
Setting up a modern showroom requires a lot of software and hardware. When selecting the products, it is important to consider what function the showroom should fulfill. Interactive offers for visitors are particularly promising. If potential customers are provided with tablets and digital kiosk systems (information terminals), the showroom visit is immediately more fun.
But a lot of technology can also be a problem for exhibitors. The software and hardware should be quick and easy to use. It is helpful if all products come from a single source. If there are any difficulties, you don’t have to contact several different places, but have a single point of contact. Challenges are usually solved more quickly as a result.
Setting targeted impulses
Of course, it’s nice when the customer comes into the showroom and orders a product straight away. But what if they never show up again afterwards? Then you have a one-off sense of achievement, but nothing more. It would be better if incentives were created in the showroom to encourage the consumer to become a repeat offender. This can be achieved through targeted stimuli, such as
- Regular redesign of the exhibition space, for example according to the season or on certain occasions
- Presentation event for new products
- Workshops
- Exclusive offers
- Regular product innovations
A regular customer program can also help. In this context, regular visitors receive certain discounts or other promotional opportunities.
5 specific tips for furnishing the showroom
Showme Stores operates three showrooms in Germany and shares five important furnishing tips:
- Welcome: Use interactive information steles or other digital information terminals to make the customer feel immediately welcome.
- Inclusion: Present your exhibits in such a way that all visitors can understand the products quickly and easily. This means, for example, offering several languages, audio and video. In addition, no more than one topic per product station should be explained.
- make the purchase easier: Ideally, the customer completes the purchase immediately in the showroom. For example, set up QR codes for purchase with a cell phone.
- Interactive tools: Offer tablets, interactive video walls as well as timelines, multi-touch tables, graphics and documents. These invite you to join in and experience them for yourself.
- Simple operation: Even if the showroom is filled with a lot of technology, you need to be able to operate and maintain it easily. Administration should require as little effort as possible. This should be taken into account when selecting the hardware and software.
Showme Stores as experts for showrooms
At Showme Stores, we place particular emphasis on the creation of showrooms. Our staggered exhibition areas start from as little as 20 m² and offer the ideal presentation opportunity for your products. Expert consultants on site provide detailed product explanations and also assist with online purchases.
Our Showme stores are invitingly designed, with modern café lounges and a homely interior, making a visit to the showroom a pleasant experience. More and more innovative companies are using this option for the future of window shopping. If you are interested in our offer, please do not hesitate to contact us!
