What`s underfoot is online at Armstrong.com
Though bulky, hard-to-ship home improvement materials generally can’t be purchased online yet, the web’s power as a research tool is driving a better-informed shopper to home improvement retailers and helping to move the needle on sales, say manufacturers.
Some 25% to 40% of visitors to the web site of flooring manufacturer Armstrong Holdings Inc. use the site’s Design-A-Room feature, which lets users try out the look of more than 2,000 hardwood, laminate and vinyl flooring products in various room settings online, Armstrong general manager of e-marketing Jesse Engle tells InternetRetailer.com. The tool, the most popular interactive feature on a site that also includes a materials estimator and store locator, has been online for about two years, got an update as part of a major re-launch of Armstrong.com earlier this year, and is slated for further enhancements to be launched early next year, Engle adds.
In making a flooring materials purchase, consumers are most influenced by a sense of how the product will look, installed, in their own rooms, Engle says. Design-a-Room lets them swap out online not only depictions of various Armstrong flooring products and room settings, but also allows shoppers to change wall colors and kitchen cabinet surfaces. “The idea is to get as close as possible to what their own room looks like,” says Engle. “We want to deliver a predisposed consumer from the web site to the appropriate retail outlet for them. If they want to install the floor themselves, more than likely they are planning to buy it at one of the big boxes. If they want it installed professionally, more than likely they are going to end up at an independent flooring retailer. We sell through a lot of channels, and we’re channel agnostic.”
Armstrong’s Design-A-Room feature can also be accessed through a link on home improvement site Lowes.com.
Armstrong is piloting a program that will close the loop post-sale to better tie utilization of the online tool to store purchases, Engle adds. For now, Armstrong measures the tool’s effectiveness in terms of percentage of site visitors who use it and feedback from a web survey of users.
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