Sternfenster has put 18 months of research and development into a new virtual showroom.
Sales director Nathan Court said: “People moved online during the pandemic to research and buy home improvement products and this hasn’t declined as we’ve moved back to a sense of normality. It is vital we keep up with changing habits, and even pioneer new ways of doing business, which is why we developed the Sternfenster Virtual Showroom.”
Potential buyers are given a choice of products, where they can click-through to product landing pages to learn about the features and benefits. Here, various sub-sections are labelled and sign-posted.
An overview provides a summary of each product, while the ‘Explore Features’ section provides greater detail: technical specs, colour options, hardware options and locks are presented in a series of drop-down menus. These sit alongside a picture of the product with ‘hotspots’ highlighted, which give contextual detail for those benefits. From this page, the homeowner can also watch a short sales presentation, which shows each product as part of a completed project, and take a virtual 360º product tour.
The fabricator has produced a series of CGI videos for the virtual showroom, which gives the viewer one-minute tours of product, including a close-up flythrough of products’ key features.
For example, the Alitherm 300 window, for example, the viewer is shown a close-up of the slimline frame, before highlighting the Yale high-security multi-point locking system and Yale handles, which come in a variety of colours. Other features highlighted include the internal beads, the energy efficient frames and glass, and choice of colours.
Nathan concluded: ”The current squeeze on living standards will lead to some of the volume taken out of the market. But there is no suggestion that the market for high-end products will be as equally affected. These consumers will inevitably spend more, and they will want to work with more professional companies.”
