Can Decorative Showrooms Follow Brookstone's Example To Deliver More Compelling Customer Experiences?

Brookstone, the retailer of niche tech products, desk toys, massage chairs and other limited distribution products, has been challenged because most of its stores are located in shopping malls, many of which have fallen out of favor with consumers.  Indeed, consumer fraffic in many of Brookstone's malls is down.  In response to this trend, Brookstone developed a new strategy to entice customers to its stores by opening its first Makers Showcase in the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, NY.

 

The Makers Showcase features small, up-and-coming brands, many of which are made from collaborative invention platforms, are crowdsource funded and have no brand name recognition. The goal is to have consumers interact physically with the products, just as they do with other Brookstone merchandise, however the new approach comes with an innovative twist. Brookstone's Makers Showcase is designed to deliver hands-on experiences with new products and offers the opportunity for consumer events where product producers meet face-to-face with customers. This one-on-one interaction allows manufacturers to see customer's reactions first-hand and provides insights as to what works, and helps the "makers" better understand what is important to the customer and what messaging resonates most soundly.  Brookstone benefits by providing consumers additional reasons to visit its stores.

 

Can decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms achieve the same results by emulating Brookstone's experience?  What prevents a showroom from partnering with a manufacturer to create a pop-up boutique in the showroom space?  What prevents manufacturers or their reps from hosting active demonstrations of their products in a showroom in order to provide a more compelling and interactive customer experience while at the same time giving repeat customers, designers and trade members additional reasons to come to the showroom?  Wouldn't manufacturers and their reps benefit from one-on-one interaction with showroom consumers?  Please share your thoughts on the DPHA Facebook page or with our LinkedIn group, we'd love to hear what you think?