Show Possibilities, Not Products

Entice and Engage with Application-centered Showroom Displays

By Capital Lighting

What do shoppers see when they step into your showroom? Do they stumble upon a sea of products arranged to maximize space, or do they enter an inviting, inspiring space that awakens their senses and piques their interest?

People choose to shop at showrooms because they like to see fixtures and accessories in a visual context. They want to experience the scale, style, finish, texture and details in person before they commit to bringing a piece home. A showroom where they see products on display, as well as design possibilities, is where they are more likely to spend their time and money. Shoppers who feel a connection with an item and like how it is displayed can envision it in their own home.

Here are a few ways to enhance the shopping experience for your customers. These ideas are compiled from our conversations with experienced showroom managers, interior designers and showroom shoppers.

1. Set the Scene. Rather than display fixtures on their own, show them in the context of real-life applications. Choose complementary accessories, wall color, furniture and other accents that highlight a lifestyle trend and showcase the best features of the product in a style setting. Help your customers envision the piece in their own home and inspire them to recreate the setting. Think in terms of room plans and trends and determine if a fixture is best displayed in a coastal-inspired space, a rustic, farmhouse backdrop or a clean, contemporary setting. Choose accents and décor with care to deliver a tasteful experience.

2. Let Visuals Do the Talking. You may not be able to show every single product in a lifestyle setting in your showroom. But you can show beautiful lifestyle imagery and photographs via your showroom’s digital monitors. Display visually appealing wall posters and tabletop collateral, and update social media posts with eye-catching lifestyle shots of products in use. The more inspired your shoppers are, the less selling you will have to do.

3. Show, Tell and Let Them Take It Home. Have style, trend and design magazines and literature on display for shoppers to browse and/or take home. Make magazines and style guides easily accessible around your showroom. Capital Lighting’s style guide, Designer’s Choice is one such collateral piece filled with lifestyle shots and applications. Another great source of inspiration is ALA and Better Homes & Gardens’ Lighting magazine, which is broken down by style category, making it easy for customers to shop the looks they like. Such pieces help your staff engage customers in conversations around trends and style to discover the best fit for their tastes.

"We’ve encouraged our customers to look through Designer’s Choice for inspiration as they walked through our store and to take it home with them. We’ve also had tables set up in community events where we’ve displayed the style guide. It’s a great source for ideas. The lifestyle shots help us demonstrate that there are a lot of unique ways that fixtures can be used: pendants as reading lights in a bedroom rather than table lamps, two chandeliers over their dining table etc. It’s also given us some ideas for our showroom displays to help us stay current." Brad Goode, LightStyles, Inc.

Copies of ALA’s Lighting magazine are available to ALA members and can be requested through Amy Wommack by emailing Amy@ALALighting.com. Complimentary copies of Designer’s Choice can be obtained through Capital Lighting while placing an order. Stop by the Capital Lighting showroom (3931) at Dallas Trade Mart during Lightovation for examples of vignettes that showcase design possibilities and to check out their latest designs for 2019. Find more information online at CapitalLightingFixture.com.