Retail 2.0 In Use: Retailers report on how Retail 2.0 has changed their operations – Jan 2024

By Jessica Chevalier

Much has been written about the introduction of CCA’s Retail 2.0 to the market. Today, the system is no longer just a concept, but a tool in the field that Carpet One and Flooring America retailers are activity utilizing.

To get perspective on how Retail 2.0 impacts both the sales process and the customers’ sales journey, we reached out to Cathy Buchanan from Independent Carpet One Floor and Home in Westland, Michigan, which installed the system in October 2022, and Callie Blackstock from Dalton Carpet One in Athens, Georgia, which installed the system in October 2023.

Q: How has Retail 2.0 changed the way you serve the customer?
Blackstock: Through CCA’s research and development of Retail 2.0, it found that the majority of flooring consumers shop with color at the forefront of their minds. Displaying products by color helps narrow down the selection process to a more concise offering, and, from there, our sales team can educate and navigate clients toward products that best fit their lifestyle.

Buchanan: Retail 2.0 helps consumers know that we are providing them the tools that they need to make their experience easier. When they see the display, they say, “Oh my gosh, it looks like you have everything!” Our Retail 2.0 goes down a very long wall and makes a brief L turn. It’s a pretty impressive presentation for the consumer.

The aspect of selling based on color is what everyone should be doing. It’s a no brainer, and it captures the consumer and makes their shopping experience quite easy.

Q: How has your RSA team responded to the system? How steep was the learning curve?
Buchanan: I had been talking about the system for a long time before it was installed, so my team was prepared. In fact, I went to Carpet One’s headquarters in New Hampshire, got a hands-on experience with the display and brought back pictures to show my staff.

Carpet One University put together an amazing learning program; my staff spent two hours with their support team, and it really made everything come into clarity. We have a strong, veteran sales staff, so it was easy. However, we were simultaneously training one new salesperson who had no background in flooring, and they asked, “Why wouldn’t everyone use this?”

Blackstock: The system is logical once you understand how it works: hard surface being grouped in two categories-water resistant versus not-and then arranged by color. Carpet is grouped by construction.

There is the learning curve of having different products on the display compared to the old Carpet One displays, so there are new names and new products to learn. Even some of the RSAs’ tried-and-true products have a new private label name to learn, so it takes time to get adjusted. Our RSAs and clients have benefited from having one collective brand versus several CCA brands, which helps to detangle the process, not having to explain/understand both the brand and then the product.

Q: What is the greatest advantage of the system?
Blackstock: Sorting by color/structure allows for a variety of price points to be side by side. It opens the door for an upsell purely by directing the consumer to their color/style preference.

We are the only retailer in town with this system. The displays look and feel updated, and the technology component-a QR scanner screen that pulls up the product and its specs, a room visualizer and a quick estimate calculator-brings shopping for flooring into the modern age.

Buchanan: The look, the modern presentation, the lighting, the display, the samples, the information on the back of the samples, being able to verify pricing digitally: all of it makes our operation look concrete and legitimate.

Q: Did you have to remove other supplier racks to accommodate the new system?
Buchanan: We had to remove a lot of displays and moved the ones that duplicated what we had, those that weren’t productive and distributor offerings. Coretec stayed; Mannington’s Adura stayed. We are an Ambassador dealer for Karastan, so that stayed, as did a Michigan-branded solid hardwood collection because all the Room By Room hardwood is engineered.

Blackstock: Aligning with the introduction of Retail 2.0, we underwent a renovation that reduced the footprint of our showroom. So, going in, we already knew we needed to streamline our offerings.

Previously, we would find ourselves hanging on to displays for the “what ifs,” as we tried to have a little bit of everything to cover our bases. But too many options can be a bad thing and often leads to a client feeling overwhelmed.

As we considered what to keep and what to discard, we ran sales reports to see what was selling best and also sat down with our team to get their feedback. Comparing the objective and subjective data helped us land on what we needed to keep on display for our clients and what we felt confident removing from the showroom.

Q: Is Retail 2.0 shortening the consumer’s purchase journey?
Buchanan: 100%. They are not in our store as long. They are not overwhelmed. They are not taking home a million samples. It removes the question, “Am I making the right decision?”

The only thing we miss are larger samples. I can’t shop by looking at a small swatch. We need samples that the customers can take home to see how they will look in their space. We are working with some manufacturers, including Shaw and Mohawk, to see how we can offer that.

Blackstock: We find it to be a good starting point. It helps guide customers to a color family or style they gravitate towards. From that offering, they may find something they fall in love with and are confident in selecting for their space.

For some, it can lead them to a product outside of the Retail 2.0 selection. Every consumer is unique and has a different buying journey, but I do think we have seen it simplify the shopping process for some of our customers.

Q: How has Retail 2.0 changed your merchandising strategy?
Blackstock: Retail 2.0, along with our remodel, helped push us to a less-is-more approach. We reduced the number of displays we are showing and even the number of floor grids on display. In the past, we tried to showcase a multitude of floor grids so customers could see a variety of products installed. We found that showing fewer products and larger grids simplified the appearance of our showroom. The advancement of room visualizers and product photos makes up for having less on display.

Buchanan: We have the long wall display and five pods that are low-profile, free-standing in the showroom. These pods are lovely because they are on wheels, so I can rearrange them and move them easily.

Further, there are not a lot of distracting logos or signage, and it is streamlined from in-store to online.

The overall impression when the customer enters the showroom is, “They know what they are doing here. They understand me and my time limits and want to help me find the right product.”

You have to have a well-trained staff, not just displays. Displays can present the product, but the staff has to be able to introduce, guide and sell the product, meeting the customer’s wants and needs.

Q: Has Retail 2.0 helped with pricing?
Blackstock: The QR code price system is easy to use and takes a live pull from the database, so the automatic upkeep is definitely nice. You do have to scan every product you want to compare, so you are not able to gauge pricing at a glance.

Buchanan: Not every Carpet One or Flooring America store has digital pricing, but we went all out, and it makes life easier. I don’t have to print sale tags, post them and, later, take them down. Customers can see the original price versus the sale price, and they feel as if it’s a real price, not a made up or falsified one.

Q: Did you remodel your store when you did this reset?
Buchanan: We repainted and changed the whole showroom. We had a boring gold tone that we swapped out for a lovely grey and, in certain areas, we have an accent of a sea glass color. We changed all of our flooring in both the hard surface and soft surface areas. And we created new seating areas. One, which serves as the focal point, has a stone wall, fireplace, TV and nice, comfortable chairs.

Blackstock: We underwent a complete renovation, consisting of knocking down walls and building new ones, new plumbing and electrical work, new paint, new flooring, new tile and new cabinetry.

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