If you happen to go by the Starr Computers’ Brickdam complex it is well worth the while to pop in for a peek at the company’s ever changing range of hi-tech computerized equipment and increasingly, continually upgraded range of cellular phones. What will almost certainly not fail to impress these days is the company’s new, impressively designed showroom, a fair chunk of the front of the complex’s ground floor display area is now dedicated to an impressive Samsung cellular phone display space.
Showroom marketing has long been one of the great strengths of one of the capital’s more popular hi-tech retailers, though the new showroom areas with its customer-friendly ambience almost certainly puts the company ahead of its competitors.
Company Chief Executive Officer Mike Mohan whose continual exposure to the high-powered marketing techniques of companies like Samsung has made him a convert of showroom marketing told Stabroek Business this week that while quality brands, good customer service and pleasing warranty support are important marketing tools, showroom design can provide a definitive competitive edge.
The new Samsung Experience Centre is a microcosm of a wider conversion to showroom marketing which had long seen the other brand departments within STARR compete amongst themselves continuously to better their showroom appearance. Mohan says he believes that it is this that provides customers with what he calls “special welcome feelings” during each visit. “Every visit may not amount to a purchase but people remember the showroom experience as part of the special wider customer service and invariably they return,” Mohan says. “Customers,” he says, “have enough challenges in their daily lives and appreciate these little in-store aesthetics.
These often convert into that special effort to visit the store.”
In circumstances where the vast majority of local retail outlets are hamstrung by limitations of space, showroom marketing remains limited with barely a handful of businesses being able to afford to place any real emphasis on showroom display. Mohan points out that effective showroom marketing essentially panders to customer preference for going beyond simply being told that the product they are considering is worth the while. “Apart from being a good product,” Mohan says, “the product must be accessible, appealing to the eyes and available to touch.” He explains that this line of reasoning has given rise to display designs with built in security mechanisms that afford customers the opportunity to touch and examine high-priced cellular phones, for example, whilst the fear of theft is minimized.
The Starr Computers boss believes that with the country’s oil and gas economy on the horizon, we can anticipate a significant increase in international visitor traffic, a circumstance that compels us to make an additional effort to raise our business standards by providing quality products, great customer services, full warranty, and, fantastic customer experience. Tasteful showroom marketing, Mohan says, can be a useful tool in pursuit of the goal of higher standards.
