THE IDEAL BLUEPRINT

Vital tips for successful showroom planning…

THERE IS PLENTY OF OPPORTUNITY to touch and feel product at Cornwall Pools’ welcoming showroom.

The ideal blueprint for a successful showroom will focus attention on your main profit-making selling points, displayed in a way that moves the customer around the store. Take time to add-in obvious and clearly separated product areas such as chemicals and water treatment.

A designated section on heating and climate control will pay dividends. Don’t forget a splash of potential impulse buys on display, strategically placed by the cash point! “The main theme when planning a showroom is ‘flow’,” advises Nigel Braun, the owner of Cornwall Pools, a company with over 25 years’ of pool and spa selling experience.

He and his team have put a lot of thought into their stand-out showroom in St Austell, Cornwall. “Whether it’s someone who has come in to buy chemicals, or someone looking to spend thousands of pounds, the flow of the store should be accessible and easy to follow,” Nigel emphasises.

“Make sure there is the space to wander around so if a customer wants to splash their hands in the water or take a swim in a pool, they can. “If you were spending £35,000 on a car, you would expect to be able to try it out first,” Nigel reminds us. “A pool is no different,” he says. Nigel names stand-out suppliers like Certikin, Ocea UK and Cranboune Stone, who go out of their way to support trade customers with display material to help seal new and repeat sales.

SUPPLIER SUPPORT
Nigel says it is also important to keep the showroom looking fresh by responding to market trends. “Hot tubs were in high demand during the pandemic, but rising running costs have since reduced the number of sales, so we changed the number of hot tubs on display from five to two,” Nigel explains. “However, interest in swimming pools and home exercise, are booming,” he adds.

Too much clutter and too much diversification are both mistakes to be avoided in Nigel’s opinion. “Sometimes you can go over the top, making your showroom look too pretentious, so people are not comfortable enough to ask questions, let alone prices,” he warns. On display at Cornwall Pools are three above ground pools for customers to try, one at 6’3, one at 5’3, and one at 4’3.

“It can be difficult to display pools, so you have to be a little creative,” he explains. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, official dealers of Jacuzzi, Hydropool and Viking hot tubs, Wensum Pools has over 20 hot tubs and swim spas as well as three swimming pools and saunas on display at its extensive indoor and outdoor showroom base in South Raynham, near Fakenham in Norfolk.

WENSUM POOLS HAS OVER 20 HOT TUBS and swim spas as well as three swimming pools and saunas on display.

“The ideal showroom,” says sales and marketing manager Ben Halton Farrow, “Is one that offers a warm welcome, with lots of options to show customers exactly what they are buying. “Interesting and interactive, your showroom should be tidy and clean, fully stocked and all products priced,” he adds. “A showroom must have a wet room, a closing area for sales and point of sale items inside and outside.

“If you have a good on-line presence a few signs and lots of pictures to accompany the products work well in store.” Staff are always readily available with a key time for showroom coverage being spring through to the summer season. Although larger swimming pools are harder to display, Wensum Pools has come up with a solution. “We have made a smaller version of one of our pools showing all Certikin fittings including a Coverstar in ground, with mill board pit covering, shown in four colours.”

BOTH HOT TUBS ROCK SHOWROOMS offer the opportunity to browse their ranges in a no-pressure, hassle free environment.

BUSINESS BOWS
Starting off as providers of stress-free hires, over a large part of the South West, to then opening a stand-out showroom in Lydney in The Royal Forest of Dean, Angharad and Joe Wrigley, of Hot Tubs Rock, are now celebrating the opening of their second showroom in Evesham.

Both Hot Tubs Rock showrooms offer the opportunity to browse their ranges in a no-pressure, hassle free environment. The team offers the chance to wet test tubs and swim spas or even hire a tub before purchase, ensuring customers are completely happy with their product and placement decisions.

“Taking on another hot tub showroom is of course a big risk at the moment, we just don’t know how this year is going to go but we are so lucky to have a huge amount of support behind us built up over the last eight years, people know and trust us in this industry and we are hoping to replicate that across our new location too” Once you step inside either of their stunning showrooms you will quickly realise they are so much more than just hot tubs.

Alongside a pleasing range of hot tubs and swim spas Hot Tubs Rock offer saunas, garden structures, such as motorised pergolas, outdoor kitchens, garden furniture and accessories and most recently added to their business bow is an interiors range.

COMPANY CONTACTS

Cornwall Pools
Tel. 01726 860866
www.cornwallpools.co.uk

Hot Tubs Rock
Tel. 01594 808844
www.hottubsrock.co.uk

Wensum Pools
Tel. 01328 838834
www.wensumpools.co.uk