Boca Raton, Fla.—There once was a time when a consumer would travel from store to store looking at products and comparing prices before making her decision. Thanks to the Internet and an explosion of technology making it easier than ever to access, today’s consumer shops much differently.
Today, consumers either stay at home browsing through websites before deciding where to go or they use their mobile devices to search other places while they are out and about, a practice known as showrooming.
To give the traditional retailer a fighting chance against the big boxes, e-tailers and others, FloorForce, an online technology company, has developed the 2D Product Catalog “which rivals anything out there,” noted Bobby Glennon, COO.
By working in partnership with manufacturers and distributors, 2D gives dealers the ability to set up a virtual showroom, he explained. “The flooring dealer is fighting against e-commerce sites, sites from Home Depot and Lumber Liquidators which are spending millions to get consumers on their sites and into their stores.
2D allows retailers to market their products and brands online in local markets, Glennon said, to a focused audience that is in the process of searching for and purchasing flooring. “We’re bringing dealers not just ‘today’ but the future of the web experience which creates a high value for the consumer.”
What makes 2D special, he pointed out, is the retailer controls everything. “Dealers select every product in the catalog as it mirrors what they carry in the store. They can manage it internally, for instance by putting a ‘for sale’ tag on specific products. And, it allows them to put the price on the item because people like to see what they are paying for something. It doesn’t matter the kind of site; they want to see pricing.”
The pricing option is for just the product, Glennon noted. “It is very difficult to show install pricing as there are a lot of factors professional retailers have in their pricing structures. So 2D will show only material prices.”
In addition, dealers can manage the pricing from gross profit to a specific price. “They can even mark something as being on clearance,” he said. 2D also allows consumers to zoom in on products to see their character or texture, see room scenes and add items to a shopping cart. Dealers can set it up for samples to be sent home or available in the store only, and even set up an in-home appointment with a salesperson.
Put simply, Glennon concluded, “2D allows retailers to manage their website just like their actual store and allows them to compete against the big boys.”
For more about 2D and FloorForce, call 561.394.7876.