Two shops under one name
A customer has been looking at a velvet armchair on your website for a week. She comes into the showroom on Saturday and asks to sit on it. The sales person does not know whether it is on the floor at this branch, because floor stock is not on the website. He checks the retail system and finds a different price to the website, because the website had a promotion code applied. The lead time he quotes is four weeks shorter than the one online, because the website was updated from an old price list.
She leaves to think about it and buys online that evening. The sale is recorded as a web order. The sales person who spent forty minutes with her gets nothing for it and does not know it happened.
Why the two channels drift
- The website runs on an ecommerce platform, the showroom on retail or EPOS software, and they share little data.
- Prices, promotions and lead times are updated in one and not the other.
- Floor models and display locations are not shown online.
- Customer records are separate, so neither side knows what the other has done.
- Sales are credited to the channel where the payment happened, not where the decision was made.
Furniture is a considered buy. Most customers do both: browse online, sit in the showroom, go home, buy later. If the two channels do not agree, the customer notices before you do.
What the gap costs
| Mismatch | What happens |
|---|---|
| Price | Customers question which price is right, and trust drops |
| Lead time | Different promises in different places |
| Floor stock | Customers travel to sit on a piece that is not there |
| Customer history | Staff start from scratch with warm buyers |
| Sales credit | Showroom staff lose out on sales they made |
How we join the showroom and website
- Products, prices, promotions and lead times are held in one place, usually your retail system or a product database, and pushed to both the website and the showroom tills.
- Each showroom's floor models are recorded, and the website shows 'see it in our showroom' with the branch, so customers can plan a visit to sit on it.
- Customers who sign in or leave an email online are matched with showroom visits, so a sales person can see the pieces a customer has looked at, saved or requested swatches for.
- Showroom staff can create a basket or quote on a tablet and send it to the customer by email to complete online later.
- When a customer completes an order online after a showroom visit or a quote, the order is linked to the sales person, and your commission rules decide how it is credited.
- Reports show sales by where they were influenced, not just where they were paid, so you can see the showroom's real contribution.
A Saturday afterwards
The customer looking at the velvet armchair sees on the website that it is on the floor at your nearest branch. When she arrives, the sales person looks her up by email and sees the chair and two fabrics she requested swatches for. The price and lead time are the same on his tablet as on the website. She wants to measure at home, so he sends her a quote by email. She orders from it that evening, and the order is linked to him.
Things to agree before we start
Joining the channels raises questions that are about the business, not the software. Should online-only promotions be honoured in the showroom? How should sales be credited when a customer visits two branches and then buys online? Which system is the master for prices? We help you set the rules, then the systems follow them. Customer data from both channels is handled under your privacy notice, and what you can combine is for you to decide with your advisers.
The order of work matters. Prices and lead times usually come first, because mismatches there cause the most confusion. Floor stock and customer matching follow. Linking sales to showroom staff comes last, once everyone trusts the data.
Signs your channels are out of step
- Showroom and website prices or lead times differ.
- Customers cannot tell online which pieces are on the showroom floor.
- Sales staff cannot see what a customer looked at online.
- Showroom-influenced sales are credited to the website.
- Promotions run in one channel and confuse the other.