In this Better Data is Better for Everyone series, we’re starting a discussion around product data – more specifically what the entire industry stands to gain if vendors give showrooms top-notch product data. In Part 3, I’d like to change the tone of this discussion for a moment and speak directly to vendors. 

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There’s a direct correlation between the quality of the product data that lighting showrooms have to work with and the number of sales for those products. For a long time, showrooms have been at the end of the list for product data – and we’ve been working hard to make do with what data makes it down the line. The status quo isn’t great – but I think we have an opportunity to do better. Much better. 

At a bare minimum, the data showrooms need to best sell your wares should be early, enriched, and include high-quality images. (For more about what great data looks like, click here to read Part 2) In some cases, vendors are already creating data at this level, but it’s not getting to showrooms. In others, great crafting high-quality data is still a project in the works.

If getting better data to showrooms feels like an undertaking that leaves you asking “what’s in it for me?” keep reading – because there’s a pretty big potential upside for vendors that put in the effort.

Listen, I know that getting better data to lighting showrooms isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. There’s no conspiracy here, it’s often just a process that hasn’t been built out. There are costs involved. But there are also opportunity costs to consider.

There are several very compelling reasons for you to get on board with getting showrooms better data. It’s no secret – better data is better for everyone, especially vendors.

A Market Share You Might Be Missing

I won’t argue that having your products listed on a large online retail site isn’t important. I can understand the pull to focus your resources on getting data prepped for that purpose. But, if you’re under the impression that it isn’t worth it to give the same attention to showrooms, you’re missing out. Point blank. 

Together, lighting showrooms make up a massive purchasing block for the industry. If you add up all of the lighting purchases that go just through XO Logic and Lit Living customers, the figure approaches $3 billion annually. And those numbers are just for our customers – the numbers nationally are much larger. 

In addition to the sheer sales volume, XO processes close to 2,000 searches per second for its lighting showroom clients. This is a huge amount of traffic. Products with insufficient data are harder to pull up in a search result, so they’re less likely to be seen or sold. Having accessible, searchable data in the hands (and files) of your showrooms is a big deal if you want your products to be found. 

Strike While the Iron’s Hot

Timing matters. This is a message that echoes true across all parts of our lives. Nobody knows this better than a teacher trying to convey the importance of timeliness to a tardy student, or a manager to an employee. To be fair, with good scheduling, a few minutes here or there shouldn’t completely throw your day out of whack. The same, however, can’t be said of the timing for product data. 

If you’re not 5 minutes early, you’re 10 minutes late. 

We’ve already noticed that there is a strong correlation between how early vendors get their product information to showrooms and the overall volume of sales. Showrooms that have all of the latest product information at market are not only able to help build hype for their vendors, but they’re also able to hit the ground running and start making sales.

This isn’t just hyperbole – we’ve seen an 800% improvement in sales for vendors that have their data ready and disseminated to showrooms by market. The showrooms that miss the boat and aren’t ready with their data on time miss out on being able to take advantage of the huge sales boost that comes with striking while the iron is hot, and run the risk of starting out the year already behind.

And don’t forget – as I mentioned above, XO processes 2,000 searches per second. Vendors that have their data ready and available get seen – by a lot of people. Most showrooms have algorithms built into their catalog searches that bring the newest products to the top of the search, so vendors that miss the boat and aren’t ready by market run the risk of being buried in searches, which doesn’t do anyone any good.

Build Brand Awareness

Consumers are more informed now than ever before. It used to be that customers would walk into a showroom and ask for help. They wanted our advice on what to choose and sought out help identifying what they were looking for and refining it down to the perfect product. They weren’t particularly aware of brand names and reputations and relied on our expertise to steer them toward the best product for their needs. 

Now, 9 times out of 10, customers are walking into a showroom with a list in hand full of vendor names and product styles. They’ll show us examples of what they like that they’ve already found on our website – sometimes looking for a specific fixture they’ve already fallen in love with. Customers do their research before they arrive – they shop the website before they come in person. If you’re one of the vendors with high-quality data for the latest products, your products will be much easier for customers to find online, which means you’re way more likely to make it on their shortlist before they walk in the door. 

It all comes down to visibility

Vendors, your most important salesperson is your data. Almost everybody in the industry can name a few people who have their branding down. These vendors spend a lot of time and resources on advertising, branding, and building relationships, and guess what? These vendors are also the ones that are way on top of their data. A healthy advertising budget used well will always have a good reach, but don’t underestimate the built-in brand awareness that comes with getting top-notch data to your showrooms. 

Great data = brand awareness. It’s as simple as that. It doesn’t matter how great your products are – if they don’t show well in a digital catalog, they won’t resonate with the customers. When your products are easier to find online, when they look great, and when they have all of the details customers are looking for, customers remember who you are. As they search, they’ll start exclusively seeking out brands that are easy to find and easy to research. They remember while they’re searching, and they remember when they come into our showrooms. Customers that walk in with an already positive view of your brand are much more likely to walk out the door with one of your products at the end of their visit. 

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The importance of your data just can’t be overstated – it’s a big deal. The vendors that understand this and get on top of their data before market stand to win big. As showroom owners, we want nothing more than for our vendors to do well. We’ve already seen it – vendors that get great data to showrooms early are able to take advantage of the huge market share that showrooms collectively hold in the market, see huge returns at market, and build an incredible brand awareness that customers will remember when they’re ready to shop.

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In Part 4, the final of this series, I’ll be diving into the nuts and bolts of it all, and how having high-quality and timely data can help you build a great reputation with showrooms and their customers.