From large-scale manufacturers, to distributors, to retailers of all shapes and sizes, there are all sorts of home improvement companies using the Roomvo visualizer to aid their business.
But perhaps none more unique than Floor-It Nebraska.
Traditionally, home renovations have been a stressful experience for customers. For someone looking to purchase new flooring, the process might have included multiple trips into a showroom. Taking some physical samples home to narrow down your options. An in-home measuring appointment.
Maybe even some sleepless nights along the way.
The goal for Floor-It Nebraska was to eliminate some of these steps and offer customers a more streamlined and painless shopping experience. Thanks to a unique business model, aided in part by the Roomvo visualizer, that’s exactly what they’ve managed to do.
Showroom on wheels
The concept is rather simple.
Instead of asking customers to come into a physical brick and mortar store, they’re going directly to the customer’s home with a mobile showroom that’s built into a trailer.
“Clients can actually step inside and still have the ‘shoppable’ feeling that they get when they go to a store,” said Dustin Ruzicka, owner and CEO of Floor-It Nebraska.
They’re just doing it on their own doorstep, and on their own time.
On that same visit, the Floor-It Nebraska rep will go into the customer’s home to assess and measure their space, allowing Floor-It to provide an on-the-spot quote. That’s something that would have to happen at some point anyway, so “why not kill two birds with one stone?” Ruzicka figured.
Other mobile showrooms that Ruzicka had come across weren’t as practical because customers had to stand outside a van or a smaller unit to look at samples. In fact, that’s how Floor-It Nebraska started out as well. But it wasn’t nearly as comfortable or convenient as being able to walk into an actual “showroom on wheels.” And customers often felt like they didn’t have enough selection to choose from.
“Other companies have tried it,” Ruzicka said. “We just took a little different spin on that concept.”
Floor-It Nebraska’s model is unique to flooring stores in Nebraska and was one of the first in the United States. They do also have a physical storefront, primarily to house their warehouse and office space, but Ruzicka said that roughly 80% of their sales “start and end in the mobile showroom.”
“It’s definitely a big part of what we do,” he added.
The benefits of Roomvo visualization
While Floor-It Nebraska’s showroom on wheels carries an extensive selection of samples, they’re still working within a more confined space than a traditional showroom. As a result, they won’t always have the precise sample a customer might be looking for. Or, perhaps, the customer might be toying with a few different options and not know the specific type of flooring they want at this point.
That’s where Roomvo comes into play.
As part of their home visits, Ruzicka or another member of the Floor-It Nebraska staff will often pull up the Roomvo visualizer on an iPad or cellphone, snap a quick photo of the client’s room, and instantly be able to show them what different products will look like within their space.
“Sometimes people will say, ‘We’ve got these beautiful wooden cabinets, but I don’t know if I want a wood floor because it might be too much wood,’” Ruzicka said. “So, with the room visualizer, we can show them what some different colours of wood floors might look like as opposed to say a tile look in there. It really, really helps them get a better idea of what they maybe want and what they’re liking.”
In many cases, Ruzicka said customers will have already played around with the Roomvo visualizer on the Floor-It Nebraska website before his team even arrives. It might even be the reason they contacted them in the first place, having fallen in love with the way a product looks in their space.
In other cases, they’ll wait to use the Roomvo visualizer with other members of their family following the in-home consultation to help finalize their decision.
“A lot of times, people won’t tell you to their face what they’re thinking,” Ruzicka said. “So let them play with it when you’re not there, come up with what they’re really liking together, and then we can re-address. This has definitely helped in the follow-up category with some customers.”
Turning a house into a home
Choosing a new floor doesn’t have to be painful. The most common feedback Ruzicka has received from customers using the room visualizer?
“This is fun.”
From his experience, it has allowed people to really start to dream about what their space could look like. And that, he said, is how you “make their house a home.”
Contact the Roomvo team today to learn more about how our state-of-the-art room visualizer can help your business.
Written by:
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Farhan Devji is a published author and content writer who’s written for some of Canada’s biggest newspapers and worked in communications/marketing for close to a decade. His new book, Alphonso Davies: A New Hope, was published in May 2023 with ECW Press.