In flooring showrooms all over the world, sales teams face the same frustrating challenges every day:

• Shoppers walk in and out without being tracked—meaning potential leads disappear.
• Samples are checked out and never returned, causing costly delays and lost sales.
• Follow-ups don’t happen, even though 80% of sales require 5+ touches to close.

Why? Because most sales associates are juggling multiple customers and relying on notebooks or spreadsheets to track their day. That means important info gets lost in the shuffle.

A staggering 48% of sales teams never even attempt a follow-up after an initial interaction, leaving valuable opportunities on the table.

The Solution: Roomvo PRO — Built for the Showroom Floor

Roomvo PRO is a free all-in-one mobile app designed specifically for flooring retailers and their sales teams. It keeps everything organized from sample checkouts to lead tracking, in one simple interface, right from your phone, tablet, or laptop. Everything you need in one convenient place.

With Roomvo PRO, you can:

• Capture and track leads in seconds
• Check samples in and out with confidence
• Send automated follow-up emails
• Visualize products instantly with the built-in Roomvo Visualizer

What a Smarter Sales Process Looks Like

Here’s how Roomvo PRO transforms your in-store sales experience:

1. A customer (let’s call him John) walks into the showroom and your sales associate greets him.
2. The associate grabs John’s name and starts a new lead in Roomvo PRO, so they can jot down some notes.
3. Together, they explore options to find the perfect fit for John using the Visualizer on Roomvo PRO. This is particularly important when samples aren’t in the showroom.
4. The Sales Associate uses Roomvo PRO to check out samples the customer is interested in. John takes home those samples and can’t wait to try them out in his home.
5. Roomvo PRO automatically sends John an email reminder outlining which samples he checked out and when they’re due back, and includes links to visualize those samples from home.
6. John returns the samples on time, the associate checks them in and closes the deal. Everyone is happy!

Why It Works

• Leads are documented: No more guessing who came in, what they wanted and where the last sales associate left off.
• Samples are returned: Track who has what and when it’s due.
• Follow-ups happen automatically: Keep your dealership top-of-mind without lifting a finger.
• Sales increase: Customers who visualize a product in their space are 5x more likely to buy.

The Best Part? It’s Free.

Roomvo PRO is available now and activating it for your sales team is completely free. All you need to do is sign up, train your team (we can help with that), and start turning more conversations into conversions.

Key Features Recap:

Lead Tracking Made Easy

• Capture every customer who walks in. Never lose a potential sale again.

Visualize In-Store

• Let customers see how flooring will look in their own homes right on the spot.

Sample Checkouts

• Know exactly who has what sample, when it went out, and when it’s due.

Automated Follow-Ups

• Keep communication flowing with email reminders that do the work for you.

Make Your Showroom Smarter

Roomvo PRO isn’t just a sales tool—it’s the sidekick your team didn’t know they needed. From the first greeting to the final sale, Roomvo PRO ensures nothing falls through the cracks.

Ready to get started? Activate Roomvo PRO for Free Today

*Sources:

• Invesp: https://www.invespcro.com/blog/sale-follow-ups/
• Roomvo: Internal Data https://hello.roomvo.com/gated-case-study-the-design-house

The post Introducing Roomvo PRO-Free for Sales Associates: Close More Deals, Track Every Lead, and Never Lose a Sample Again first appeared on Roomvo.

But for many consumers, imagining how a product will look in their homes is easier said than done. For manufacturers and dealers, that hesitation can mean the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity.

Ambientes Casablanca, one of the leading clay product manufacturers in the Americas, experienced this challenge firsthand. The company wanted to help dealers close more sales by empowering consumers with confidence in their choices.

Enter the Roomvo Partner Program (RPP). 

By equipping Ambientes Casablanca with industry-leading room visualization technology and more, Roomvo transformed the shopping experience for the manufacturer and its dealers, doubling leads for dealers and boosting dealer sales by 14% in just six months.

Read the full case study here.

Overcoming consumer indecision

Picture this: A customer walks into a showroom, falls in love with a tile design, but second-guesses whether it will truly match their space. Sound familiar?

According to Oscar Freddy Gomez Prada, Commercial Manager at Ambientes Casablanca, this problem was all-too common.

“Consumers often struggled with indecision because they couldn’t picture how the products would look in their homes,” says Gomez Prada. “This hesitation made it difficult for our dealers to close sales, especially on premium items.”

Ambientes Casablanca initially tried developing its own room visualization technology to show customers how products would look in their rooms. But the quality wasn’t up to par, and the costs added up quickly. They needed a proven solution that would make a real impact.

Transforming the shopping experience

Ambientes Casablanca partnered with Roomvo to integrate room visualization into its website and showroom shopping experience, as well as providing its dealers with cutting-edge room visualization technology. And just like that, the shopping experience was transformed.

Ambientes Casablanca has signed up 14 dealers for the Roomvo Partner Program (RPP) as of November 2024. As part of the Roomvo Partner Program (RPP), dealers get free access to Roomvo Assistant, a room visualization widget that lives on the website and allows shoppers to see tile and flooring in their homes before they purchase.

For dealers looking to truly maximize their web presence, subsidized Roomvo Sites offer SEO-friendly, fully integrated flooring websites designed to drive more website traffic, leads, and sales.

Closing sales

But Roomvo didn’t stop there. Ambientes Casablanca worked closely with Roomvo to train dealers on how to use visualization technology to close sales, both online and in the showroom. Plus, by syncing product data across its network, the manufacturer ensured accurate images, descriptions, and specs were always at dealers’ fingertips.

“Our dealers love Roomvo,” says Gomez Prada. “It makes it so much easier for them to close sales. The visualizer puts a smile on consumers’ faces and gives them confidence to purchase if they’re feeling indecisive.”

More leads, bigger sales

The impact of Roomvo was transformative: 2x more consumer leads generated for dealers, 14% increase in dealer sales within six months, and 7% increase in average ticket size.

Why? Because when consumers can see their vision come to life, they buy with confidence. And sometimes, they buy even more than they planned.

“Roomvo opens up new possibilities for consumers,” says Gomez Prada. “Even if they were only thinking of redoing their floors, now they see how great new walls would look and decide to do those too.”

For Ambientes Casablanca, the Roomvo Partner Program (RPP) has been a game-changer — for their brand and their dealers.

“Whenever I visit a dealer on the Roomvo Partner Program (RPP), I notice how much happier they are than those without it,” says Gomez Prada. “They’re so engaged, and all I hear is glowing feedback.”

Level up your shopping experience

Book a demo to learn more about Roomvo Partner Program (RPP) and give shoppers the confidence to buy while boosting your bottom line.

The post How Roomvo increased Ambientes Casablanca dealer sales by 14% first appeared on Roomvo.

Check out the press release to learn more.

For years, Roomvo has been at the forefront of visualization technology, empowering homeowners and professionals to see their ideas come to life before a single plank is laid. Meanwhile, QFloors has built a reputation for simplifying flooring business management, helping companies of all sizes operate more efficiently. Together, Roomvo and QFloors are blending these strengths to create a seamless experience for dealers and their customers.

Supporting 7,000+ dealers

Individually, both Roomvo and QFloors have served thousands of flooring professionals, from small family-owned businesses to industry giants. Combined, we’re now supporting a network of over 7,000 dealers. This scale isn’t just about numbers — it’s about the ability to innovate and offer solutions that work for everyone, whether you’re managing a family-owned dealership or serving hundreds of businesses across your dealer network.

Innovation at the core

Recognized as one of North America’s fastest-growing technology companies for four consecutive years, innovation isn’t just a buzzword for Roomvo; it’s a guiding principle.  Together with QFloors, which has consistently set the standard for quality technology in the flooring industry, we’re doubling down on what we do best: creating tools that empower businesses and enhance customer experiences.

From Roomvo Inspire’s AI-driven designs to QFloors’ fee-slashing QPay, our combined tool kit is built to push boundaries. And this is just the beginning. With our commitment to reinvest in technology and customer success, the future is bright for the flooring industry.

Transitioning made simple

We know change can be daunting, especially when it involves your website or business operations. That’s why we’ve made switching to Roomvo and QFloors as smooth as possible. For many dealers, transitioning to Roomvo and QFloors can be done in as little as one to two weeks. Our dedicated, award-winning support team is with you every step of the way, ensuring you can focus on what matters: running your business.

Unlocking value with integrated solutions

Our integration isn’t just about combining two companies; it’s about creating more value for our customers. Imagine leads generated through Roomvo’s visualization tools seamlessly flowing into QFloors’ enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, or being able to track the ROI of a dealer and manufacturer’s co-marketing efforts right down to the dollar. These innovations are just two of the possibilities we’re working on bringing to life.

Celebrate with us

To celebrate this new chapter, we’re introducing exclusive pricing on packages that combine the best of Roomvo and QFloors. These offers are only available for a limited time, so now’s the perfect moment to explore how our tools can transform your business. And with the speed and ease of implementation we’re known for, there’s really no reason to wait.

Looking ahead

Roomvo and QFloors share a common goal: to support the flooring industry through innovation, transparency, and unwavering customer service. Together, we’re not just meeting the challenges of today — we’re shaping the future of how flooring businesses operate. 

Stay tuned for more updates — or book a demo today to learn how these changes can benefit your business. We’re here to help.

The post Roomvo and QFloors: The future of flooring technology first appeared on Roomvo.

Now, with Roomvo’s groundbreaking new technology, those days are gone.

Roomvo has partnered with the Houston Association of Retailers (HAR.com) to launch AI Remodel, our proprietary AI designer that lets homebuyers unleash their creativity and truly envision the potential of a property.

HAR.com is the most successful consumer-facing US REALTOR® association website, with over 70,000 listings across Texas. Thanks to AI Remodel, homebuyers on HAR.com can now experience a home’s full potential before ever setting foot inside. With just a few clicks, buyers can virtually customize a home’s floors, walls, countertops, and exteriors — transforming any space into their perfect vision.

AI Remodel opens up an entirely new way for buyers to reimagine properties — not as they are, but as they could be. Here’s a closer look at how AI Remodel is set to transform the real estate industry.

Where innovation meets imagination

Roomvo is the leading innovator in interior decor and real estate, with millions of consumers harnessing our technology each month.

Our powerful AI technology powers the AI Remodel tool, bringing a new level of interactivity to the homebuying experience. Imagine stepping into a home’s virtual canvas and painting it exactly how you want in just seconds, using our proprietary AI designer. This is the future of home customization, and it’s here now.

“AI Remodel allows consumers to visualize a home’s possibilities before they even step foot through the door,” said Mario Arriaga, Chairman of the Board at HAR.com. “This innovative tool is one of many ways HAR is pushing the envelope with AI to create a more engaging, efficient home search.”

A partnership that redefines the homebuying experience

“Partnering with HAR is an exciting moment for us,” said Brandon Shidlowski, VP of Sales at Roomvo. “This collaboration is all about empowering consumers — giving them a chance to see every possibility, every design option, and truly understand the potential of a space.”

This isn’t just about selling a tool. It’s about giving homebuyers the authority to create their dream spaces, turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. With AI Remodel, Roomvo’s power to redesign is literally at your fingertips.

Real design, real possibilities

Ready to start imagining your dream home? It’s simple. While browsing listings on HAR.com, click the “AI Remodel” button on any photo of a property. From there, you’ll instantly be able to experiment with different furnishings, compare before-and-after images, and even access product information used in your virtual redesign. It’s like a design studio that fits in the palm of your hand. Try it out yourself.

Redesign, reimagine, revolutionize

Join us in embracing the future of homebuying. Visit HAR.com, explore the new AI Remodel feature, and start transforming your next home into the masterpiece you’ve always imagined. Check out HAR’s press release to learn more.

Interested in learning more about Roomvo? We’re here to help! Book a demo and select ‘Real Estate’ as your industry.

The post Roomvo partners with leading real estate website HAR.com to launch AI Remodel first appeared on Roomvo.

For a lot of people, the winter holidays represent the “most wonderful time of the year.”

And for retailers, they can be the most profitable too.

On average, the months of November and December accounted for close to 20% of total retail sales over the last five years. This should come as no surprise, considering that some of the biggest annual shopping events — Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Boxing Day — fall during this period.

And while holiday sales are slowing in some industries as consumers try to cope with the rising cost of living, home decor/improvement businesses appear to be among the least affected.

So, is your business ready to capitalize on the crucial months ahead? As much as it’s an opportunity, the holiday shopping surge also comes with its challenges — limited availability of samples, staffing shortages, more returns, and more competition, to name a few.

Here’s how room visualization can help you overcome them.

A new way of sampling

As a home decor brand, you know how important samples are in the buyer journey. With flooring, countertops, and wall coverings, for example, people typically want to see your products up close and personal, and, ideally, in their own homes before going ahead with a purchase.

If you don’t carry an abundance of samples, or deliver them in a timely manner, you could be missing out on leveraging the increased demand during the busier times of the year.

Unless you provide an alternative solution, that is.

For many home decor retailers and manufacturers, that solution is Roomvo’s industry-leading room visualizer. With Roomvo, customers are able to visualize your products in their homes using a cellphone or desktop, “eliminating the need for physical samples,” as The Home Depot stated in their visualizer launch. And for those who still want a closer look, The Home Depot also offers Roomvo’s 3D virtual sample option that allows users to zoom in on products for details like texture.

These digital alternatives bring your entire product catalog to your customers’ fingertips without the limitations of physical samples, decreasing the amount of time they might require to make a purchase.

Bring room visualization into the showroom

If you have a brick-and-mortar storefront or showroom, you can expect to see more foot traffic during the holiday season.

With Roomvo, you can set your showroom up for success with shopping experiences that keep your customers in-store for longer, generate warm leads, and drive on-the-spot sales.

So, how does this all work?

It could be as simple as placing Roomvo QR Codes on product samples and displays. Once a customer scans the code on their cellphone, they’ll be taken to the room visualization page on your website and be able to see the product come to life in demo rooms or their own living spaces.  

Additionally, with Roomvo Kiosk, customers can use the room visualizer on interactive touchscreen displays — either independently or in collaboration with your sales staff — and get access to your entire product catalog, beyond the samples you have on display. If they’re not ready to make a purchase, they can then send themselves or someone else a list of their favourite products. And your sales team will receive a copy of the email with their contact info and list of SKUs, making it easy to follow up.

After seeing your products visualized in their homes with Roomvo’s technology, shoppers are up to 5x more likely to make a purchase. So, even if your sales reps aren’t available to hold your customer’s hand in the showroom, Roomvo can help do the job for them.

Optimized e-commerce website

People love shopping online around the holidays. In fact, Cyber Monday alone drove $11.3 billion in e-commerce sales in 2022, making it the biggest online shopping day of all time.

If your home decor business has e-commerce capabilities, you need to be doing everything you can to optimize your website for this online spending spree — from creating product pages that sell, to providing different types of engaging content experiences.

Room visualizers check both those boxes.

Flooret, an online-only retailer, launched their Roomvo-powered visualizer in December 2018 and found that visitor time on site had more than doubled, bounce rates had fallen, and sales volume had increased by more than 20% in the four months that followed.

Without the ability to show off your products in person, room visualization is the best way to instil consumer confidence and turn your website browsers into buyers.

Reduced returns

Unsurprisingly, more online sales typically lead to more returns. They go hand-in-hand, which is why retailers typically see the highest levels of returns around the holidays.

In fact, holiday returns cost U.S. retailers upwards of $100 billion in 2020, according to a survey from the National Retail Federation. The survey also found that 11.5% of home improvement orders were returned in 2020 — only the auto parts and apparel industries had higher return rates.

Safe to say, this can be a very real (and costly) challenge.

That’s why it’s important to not only have high-quality product imagery, but also a room visualizer that delivers an ultra-realistic simulation of what your products are going to look like in a customer’s home. Roomvo’s proprietary visualization technology accomplishes this by expertly detecting different surfaces and lighting conditions in the customer’s original photo, resulting in smoother edges and lifelike detail in the final rendering.

If people know exactly what they’re getting, and how your products are going to look in their space, they’ll be far more likely to keep those products where they belong: in their homes.

Your competitive advantage

How can you set yourself apart from the competition?

That’s an important question at any time of the year, but even more so during the highly competitive holiday season when shoppers are bombarded with all sorts of discounts, promotions, and communications from brands trying to get a share of their wallets.

For home decor businesses, providing a fun, frictionless shopping experience that makes it easier for customers to find their perfect match could be the answer.   

“It takes away all the worry they had, and helps them get to a purchasing decision faster,” Scott Levy, president of Arley Wholesale Inc., said of Roomvo’s visualizer. “If you can get to customers in their home, and your competitor can’t, you’ve got the competitive advantage.”

The post How room visualization can help home decor businesses excel this holiday season first appeared on Roomvo.

For the fourth year running, Leap Tools — the creator of Roomvo — has been ranked as one of the fastest-growing companies in North America on the 2024 Deloitte Technology Fast 500.

Now in its 30^th year, the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 ranks the fastest-growing technology companies in North America based on revenue growth from 2020 to 2023.

Roomvo’s Chief Executive Officer Pawel Rajszel credits the company’s rapid revenue growth to raving customers, transformative innovations, and continued expansion into home decor that empowers consumers to bring their dream spaces to life.

“We’re proud to have made the 2024 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 for the fourth year running,” said Rajszel. “We’ve made huge leaps again this year, especially in bringing AI to the forefront of our products and platform. Roomvo is not just a visualizer anymore.”

Continued innovation

Over the past year, we’ve launched many new products, features, and improvements to help our customers create even more outstanding shopping experiences. Here are just a few:

• Roomvo Studio: Tired of spending lots of time and money on creating marketing content? With Roomvo Studio, you can create lifestyle images and immersive videos for all your products at scale, for a fraction of the cost. Better, cheaper, faster – with Roomvo.
• Roomvo Inspire: Using our proprietary AI designer technology, Roomvo Inspire allows shoppers to transform their entire room in seconds, making it easier and faster to start their project and get to a purchase decision.
• Roomvo Direct: Take your PDPs to the next level by incorporating Roomvo’s visualization capabilities directly onto the page, for an even more tailored and interactive experience.
• AI Chatbot: Roomvo’s AI-powered chatbots are virtual sales assistants that never sleep and provide immediate, personalized responses to any consumer inquiries. This means more leads for you and a better shopping experience for your customers.

Continued expansion

Thanks to this commitment to innovation, Roomvo has attracted thousands of retailers and manufacturers in over 80 countries to its platform, with millions of consumers using Roomvo each month and over a billion products brought to life. As the new year beckons, we’re excited about our continued expansion in 2025.

“We believe everyone deserves a beautiful home,” said Rajszel. “Over the next few months, we’ll be taking a giant leap forward towards that mission by enabling consumers to effortlessly redesign their entire spaces. We’ll be making Roomvo even more accessible for brands, without the usual sky-high requirements, so that consumers can access the magic of Roomvo in many more places.”

Rajszel added: “Thank you to our customers for supporting our success. And thank you to everyone at Leap Tools for working tirelessly to keep our customers at the cutting edge and help shoppers realize the home of their dreams.”

To stay up to date on the latest Roomvo innovations, sign up for our monthly newsletter at the form below.

The post Roomvo/Leap Tools ranked among North America’s fastest-growing companies on the 2024 Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ first appeared on Roomvo.

Costly photo shoots, busy photographers, and time-intensive scheduling make “plan product shoot” the task no marketer or merchandiser wants to see on their to-do list.

While some businesses might utilize CGI to create product visuals, the output is usually poor. The process is also unscalable, leaving companies reliant on freelancers to do the work.

Whether it’s paint, flooring, tile, countertops, or wallpaper, retailers and manufacturers need a one-stop content creation solution that can produce high-quality images and videos at scale.

Enter Roomvo Studio.

From product thumbnails to close-ups, lifestyle visuals, and HD videos, Roomvo Studio leverages cutting-edge 3D rendering technology to deliver professional-grade images and videos at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods.

“We know the importance of high-quality product imagery and videos, as well as the need to create this content quickly,” said Murtaza Abedin, Head of Product at Roomvo. “We’ve already brought more than a billion products to life in people’s homes through our room visualization platform. Now, we’re excited to transform how product content is created to inspire shoppers at the beginning of their purchase journeys.”

Here’s how Roomvo Studio can help your business embrace a smarter, faster, and more affordable approach to content creation.

A new way to create product content

Shed the constraints of your costly content production process and deliver stunning product visuals for marketing campaigns, web, social media, print, or anywhere else.

Professional-grade imagery

High-quality visuals are key to a strong brand identity. Roomvo Studio creates images in 4k and videos in 2k, helping you keep standards high and maintain a consistent aesthetic across all your content.

Cost-effective production

Photographers, assistants, studio hire, set dressers, editors … the cost of producing product photos and videos through traditional photo shoots adds up quickly. 

Roomvo Studio enables high-quality images and videos at a low cost by eliminating physical photo shoots and manual editing.

Nimble response time

By speeding up the creation of product and lifestyle images and videos, you can respond to market demands quickly.

Is one of your LVT flooring products taking off? Create a gallery of beautiful lifestyle images and put them front and center on your homepage. Is flora and fauna-themed wallpaper suddenly everywhere on social? Make a 20-second sizzle reel of your busiest, boldest prints and post it on Instagram.

Unleash your imagination

With traditional shoots, you get a selection of images and videos to use in your marketing — and then you’re on your own. 

Not so with Roomvo Studio. Now, if you have an idea for a visual marketing campaign, you can strategize with the Roomvo team and create new assets in no time, helping you stay creative throughout the year. 

“As a marketer, the ability to create beautiful imagery out of essentially thin air feels like magic,” said Chad Neufeld, Marketing Director at Roomvo. “If I’ve got an exciting visual campaign idea, I now know that I can make it a reality. I’m no longer limited by anything other than my own imagination.”

Creative cross-selling 

If you’re a manufacturer, e-commerce seller, or big box retailer that works in multiple product categories, Roomvo Studio can bring your offering together into one cohesive campaign. Showcase unique combinations of your flooring, tile, paint, countertop, and wallpaper and help spark your customer’s imagination.

Set up to succeed

Studio sounds great in theory — now how does it work in practice?

Let’s say you’re a manufacturer that’s been working through the same arduous content production process for years. You’ve got everything down to an exact science, but now you’ve started working with a new e-commerce partner who expects multiple close-ups, lifestyle photos, and high-definition videos.

To speed up production, you partner with Roomvo to get the content you need. After syncing your assets with Roomvo, you choose from one of Roomvo Studio’s 3D room scenes or request a custom scene. After, identify which products you need photos or videos for and pick colors and laying patterns for the products. Then, select your preferred camera angles or video tracks — and let Roomvo Studio go to work.

Next, you choose from one of Roomvo’s 3D room scenes or request a custom scene. After, identify which products you need photos or videos for and pick colors and laying patterns for the products. Then, select your preferred camera angles or video tracks — and let Roomvo Studio go to work.

In a fraction of the time you’re used to waiting, your beautiful lifestyle images and high-definition videos are rendered. Your e-commerce partner is thrilled, and your products are set up to succeed.

Everyone deserves a beautiful home

By offering a smarter, faster, and more cost-effective alternative to traditional photo shoots, Roomvo Studio empowers retailers and manufacturers to produce stunning, professional-grade visuals with ease. 

“Our mission has always been to make a beautiful home accessible to everyone,” said Abedin. “Now, the world’s top manufacturers and retailers can present their products with the best possible images and videos, helping shoppers choose the right products to transform their homes.”

Whether you need images for marketing campaigns or videos for social media, Roomvo Studio’s innovative 3D rendering technology provides endless creative possibilities, allowing you to stay agile and responsive to market demands. With Roomvo Studio, the only limit to what you can create is your imagination. Embrace the future of product content creation, and set your brand up for success.

The post How Roomvo Studio is revolutionizing product content first appeared on Roomvo.

No matter what it’s used for, the backyard has long been a crucial part of the family home — and its importance continues to grow.

78% of homeowners invest in improving their backyard each year, and 16% say they spend more on their outdoor spaces than interior home improvements.

And let’s not forget what’s out front either. Curb appeal is not just a point of pride for homeowners; improving how a house looks from the outside can add as much as 10% to its value.

To help homeowners re-design their homes — both inside and outside — thousands of home decor manufacturers and retailers worldwide have partnered with Roomvo to show shoppers how their renovations could look with the power of room visualization. But until now, Roomvo was primarily designed for indoor spaces, leaving room for improvement outside.    

“Optimizing Roomvo for outdoors was one of the most common requests we received from our customers,” said Murtaza Abedin, Head of Product at Roomvo. “We’re always looking for ways to innovate, and outdoor spaces are becoming increasingly important. So we got to work to ensure we’re bringing the full magic of Roomvo to outdoor spaces.”

Here’s what’s new.

Better realism

Roomvo now offers much greater accuracy when visualizing outdoor spaces, delivering more realistic shopping experiences and giving shoppers more confidence to purchase.

Optimizing Roomvo for outdoor was no easy feat. Outside spaces are larger, lighting conditions are brighter and more variable, and surfaces are far more complex.  

“Think about a brick walkway or paved outdoor space,” Abedin explained. “The grooves between the bricks or slabs have more depth than indoor tiles, for instance. We had to improve our capabilities to render these surfaces more realistically, as they’re a lot more three-dimensional.”

Greater flexibility

In addition, Roomvo can now detect and adapt to different outdoor surfaces more easily, allowing shoppers to select exactly which surfaces they want to renovate.

For instance, when shoppers upload an image with both grass and pavement, they can choose to apply products only to the paved area rather than paving over the grass by default. This improvement gives shoppers a lot more flexibility in their designs.

In optimizing Roomvo for outdoor, the engineering team was excited to bring together other innovations happening across the company. For instance, Roomvo now allows shoppers to paint almost any surface type. At the front of the house, this innovation means shoppers can experiment with different colors for eaves, gables, gutters, fascia, columns, chimneys, porches, and more. 

Improved conversions

Another recent innovation is Roomvo’s ability to automatically detect what type of room or space shoppers have uploaded using artificial intelligence (AI) and only recommend relevant products. So if a customer uploads a picture of their backyard, vendors can choose to suggest outdoor products only.

“We can recognize whether someone is uploading an outdoor space and then only show outdoor products,” said Abedin. 

This feature helps retailers and manufacturers better target their offerings, making shoppers 5x more likely to purchase when they visualize products with Roomvo.

New horizons

With more and more shoppers looking to redesign their outside spaces, Roomvo’s optimization for outdoor has come at the perfect time. By maximizing realism, offering shoppers more flexibility in their designs, and only suggesting relevant products, Roomvo’s improved outdoor visualization capabilities are already delivering improved shopping experiences and increased conversions.

Try Roomvo outside and experience the full magic of room visualization in an outdoor space.

The post New horizons: How Roomvo is transforming outdoor visualization first appeared on Roomvo.

If you think of a car manufacturer, say Toyota, you might have 20 products in the market at any given time. You’ll have some variations within those products, of course. But still, it’s not a huge number.  

If you’re a flooring manufacturer, however, that number could be hundreds of thousands.

Here at Roomvo, we work with some of the biggest players in home decor manufacturing — Shaw, Mohawk, Dal-Tile, MSI, and Engineered Floors, to name a few. And, almost every day, I hear how challenging it can be to have such an expansive product range. You have thousands of products. And you may be working with thousands of dealers.

So, how are you giving all those dealers the support they require to sell your products? How are you maintaining that brand control and consistency downstream? And how do you know what’s truly resonating with the end consumer — without having to rely on lagging indicators?

For a lot of manufacturers, including each of those listed above, the Roomvo Partner Program (RPP) has become a huge part of their business strategy.

Here’s how it can help.

Visualize it

Let’s start with the most transformative part of the Roomvo platform: room visualization.

Picture your shopper in their kitchen, a mess of tiny flooring samples strewn across the floor, desperately trying to imagine how their new renovations could look. Not an easy task.

With Roomvo, shoppers can upload a picture of their room to the visualizer and swipe through different products to see what looks best. For manufacturers, that means better engagement, quicker purchase decisions, and ultimately, more sales. Now wouldn’t you want those benefits for the businesses selling your products too?

When you sign up for RPP, each one of your dealers gets free access to Roomvo Assistant, the room visualization widget that lives on their existing websites. 

You can also set your retailers up with a new, subsidized website, complete with a customizable product catalog, search engine optimization, lead capture functionality, and, of course, our state-of-the-art room visualization technology. 

So, with room visualization, you’re generating leads, reducing the time it takes for a customer to make a purchase, driving conversions, and, in many cases, nudging customers towards higher tickets. All with a single tool that your retail partners can add to their websites for free if you’re signed up for RPP.

Assuming they don’t already have it, of course.

Don’t get left behind

Now we focus on the other camp: the 5,500+ (and growing) dealers who already have Roomvo. When a manufacturer joins RPP, they get instant access to that network. In turn, it becomes easier for any of those dealers to access your products.

Maybe it helps you connect with a dealer you weren’t working with previously, helping to open new doors and expand your reach. 

Or perhaps a retailer already carries your products, but they can’t show them on their visualizer because you’re not signed up for RPP. Most of the world’s leading brands are already partnered with Roomvo. Do you really want to be the only one whose products aren’t available to visualize?

If you’re not signed up for RPP, you could be giving the upper hand to your competitors in the showroom too. Many dealers are now using QR codes and interactive kiosks to bring visualization into the showroom. Without RPP, shoppers might not even know your products are available.

Syncing product data

RPP doesn’t just get your products into the hands of our 5,500+ dealers. It also allows you to control the flow of information and sync your product data with them — instantly.

Like I mentioned at the beginning, the flooring industry has a lot of SKUs — sometimes hundreds of thousands for just one manufacturer. I’ve seen first-hand the logistical problems this can create. Every time manufacturers make changes to products upstream, they also need to update their dealers downstream. This can be incredibly complex. You might be partnered with thousands of dealers, who each carry a different selection of your products, making quality control a real challenge.

Luckily, RPP helps manufacturers take back control of their data, their assets, and their brand.

Whenever you upload or change a product image, for example, the image will automatically be updated across both of your room visualizers and, depending on their level of integration, your dealers’ product catalogs and product display pages (PDPs). And if you take your product offline, it’s offline. No need to ask each one of your dealers to remove them from their catalogs individually. No need for manual labor. No need to worry about image quality, incorrect product details, or out-of-date product offerings.  

When we asked Michael Johnson, the vice president of enterprise sales and marketing technology over at Shaw, about their partnership with Roomvo, he said getting access to the Roomvo footprint was a “critical” component for this very reason.

“It gave us a channel where we could provide our dealers with timely data that helps them sell our product in their local market,” Johnson said. “We sync with Roomvo on hundreds of thousands of selling styles every single day. So, the partnership that we’ve established with Roomvo allows us to provide our dealers out in the marketplace with accurate images, accurate product descriptions, accurate specs, and the most timely changes to which product is added or removed from our portfolio.”  

RPP allows manufacturers to provide dealers with accurate images, product descriptions, and specs on hundreds of thousands of products. Each dealer can personalize their data streams according to which products they carry, rather than a generic list of products. In other words, it allows you to put your best foot forward, making sure your products are being presented as they should to the end consumer. This gives you more control of your brand, more visibility for your products, and, ultimately, more sales.

Access to consumer insights

With so many products out in the market, deciding what stays and what goes is massive. Without RPP, manufacturers have limited access to what’s happening at the retail level, so it’s tough to see which products are actually resonating with consumers.

Roomvo helps inform decisions on product development, marketing and merchandising with a data-driven approach, giving you easy access to consumer-level insights gleaned from visualizer usage across your entire retail network.

As Todd Skidmore, senior director of digital marketing, e-commerce, and analytics at Mohawk, explained in our recent webinar, this gives manufacturers a much larger data sample to work with.   

“I think that’s the biggest benefit you get,” Skidmore said. “You’re looking at a wide variety of dealers, and you can also start to understand geographic differences because you have enough of a sampling size … If we only had our brand sites, that’s potentially not enough information to drive the reach or the locality of things and the specifics when you get to a certain geographic area.”

With the breadth of data available from Roomvo, Skidmore said his team has a better understanding of the types of products, categories, color trends, and design approaches that are driving engagement and leads. And they use that information to ensure their product development decisions “are matching what consumers are actually engaging with.”

For example, if no one is viewing your product today, you already know that in six months no one is probably buying it. So, maybe let’s reduce production and not waste money on products that nobody is buying. Or let’s up our game with promotion. If you do neither, the sales data will eventually come in several months later. At that point, it’s too late. You’ve already lost millions of dollars.  

Generally, this can be a massive blind spot. We’re constantly striving to give manufacturers more data, better data, that helps inform business decisions related to product development, marketing, and merchandising. And we’re just getting started.

Give more, get more

No manufacturer in the world has the resources to cater to every dealer the way they’d like.

It’s just not feasible.

That’s why it’s so important to build automated, scalable systems using the latest technologies, which allow you to interact with your dealers more efficiently. Then, you’ll be able to cater to 1,000 instead of 100, offering best-in-class service without needing to be there every day.

Don’t underestimate the impact this could have on your bottom line. This way, you’ll be able to do a lot more for your dealers — and get a lot more from them.

And that, to me, sounds like a win-win.

The post Give more, get more: How home decor manufacturers are changing the way they interact with dealers first appeared on Roomvo.

Few people have a better understanding of the UK flooring industry, so I was excited to sit down with David and get his take on the burning issues: how the industry is faring, what challenges it’s facing, and how manufacturers can build stronger relationships with contractors. Here’s what I learned.

What state is the UK flooring industry in, and where is it headed?

A lot of people thought flooring would be hit hard by the pandemic, but it’s proven to be almost bulletproof. Especially in the residential sector, the flooring industry has bounced back brilliantly, with floor layers and flooring products in great demand. Homeowners had saved so much money during the pandemic, and suddenly they wanted to spend that money on home improvements.

But there are challenges too. Compounded by the war in Ukraine, we initially saw a scarcity of raw materials and a bottleneck in supply, which has had a lingering effect on material prices.

What other challenges is the UK flooring industry facing?

Of all the issues that I speak to contractors about, skilled labour shortages are the number one worry. A lot of veterans are starting to retire, and many young people today just don’t see the flooring industry as an inviting career. You can go into schools and talk about a career in flooring, but it just doesn’t have the same attraction as some of the other career paths on offer.

The industry has put a lot of effort into presenting flooring as a more attractive option to young people. As well as that, governments need to offer more apprenticeship opportunities to get people into the trade.

How can manufacturers build strong relationships with contractors?

Many contractors have long-established relationships with manufacturers, and trust is all-important. One factor that inflationary pressure has highlighted is the need for manufacturers to be transparent with contractors at all times. For instance, if manufacturers are raising the prices of their products, they need to be honest about the reasons why. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about a contractor who discovered that one of their carpet tile suppliers had artificially raised their prices and blamed it on inflation. When the contractor found out, it did real damage to their relationship.

How can room visualization help manufacturers build new relationships with contractors?

Visualizers are a true unique selling point (USP) for manufacturers. Having a room visualization platform gives them a status boost and really helps set them apart from their competitors. 

Contractors can go through all the manufacturer’s products and see what works in different environments. Rather than just imagining how products will look, contractors can upload a photo of their installations and visualize the flooring in place immediately. Contractors can also share the visualization with their clients to show them how the finished project will look.

Every year I speak to more and more businesses using room visualization. It’s definitely the way forward.

What benefits does room visualization have for domestic contractors?

Room visualization is a great way for domestic contractors to make products come to life for the end consumer, instead of asking them to rely on their imaginations. If a contractor came to my house, took a picture of my room and showed me exactly how my new flooring would look in my home, I would be much more likely to purchase.

What consumer trends are you seeing in UK flooring? Are any particular materials or colours popular right now?

In terms of colour, cream, beige and champagne continue to be popular for upmarket residential projects. But we’re also seeing a shift towards more colour variation, especially greens and blues, and a slight shift away from the ever-popular grey towards warmer tones.

As for materials, LVT herringbone continues to be popular for its looks and longevity. Linoleum and rubber retain their niche places in the market too.

Carpet tiles are  an interesting one, as they are usually the material of choice for offices. We thought carpet tiles would take a hit during and after the pandemic, when so many people were working from home and it looked as though offices were becoming redundant. But the market has survived and thrived. In terms of style, some commercial clients are looking for quieter designs and patterns. Also coming into vogue are multi-directional, biophilic designs that are more in touch with nature. For residential carpet, we’re seeing a trend in textured and distressed — and wool is back on trend.

Is sustainability a big focus for the flooring industry?

It definitely is for many manufacturers. It’s in a brand’s interest to deliver more sustainable products and market themselves based on that, especially when they’re dealing directly with the consumer. 

It’s not always so straightforward with some contractors, particularly those facing financial restraints. They have less capacity to prioritize sustainability but many are gradually coming around to the benefits of sustainable practices. Eco-friendly products are sometimes assumed to be more expensive, so the motivation to be sustainable is lower. I’m not normally in favour of tougher government regulations, but they sometimes work in shepherding businesses towards more sustainable business practices.

The post ‘The industry is almost bulletproof’: Q&A with UK flooring expert David Strydom first appeared on Roomvo.