Imagine being able to keep your showroom doors open to customers all day, every day?

As we start to prepare for ‘life after lockdown’, the independent KBB retailer needs to continue communicating its unique range of products and services, which of late has become somewhat reliant on virtual communications and new digital services.

Born out of a need to respond to lockdown #1, Jones Digital was created last summer as a way to pioneer and champion digital storytelling, social media content, branding and marketing services within the KBB and builders merchants sectors.

As the pandemic took hold back in March 2020 and design enquiries slowed for the KBB retailer, a timely conversation between Scott Currie, Managing Director at Virtual 360° Tours Glos and Peter Jones at Jones Digital, led to the meeting of two minds and 100% commitment to the promotion and development of Scott’s other passion = multimedia solution that simulates an existing business or property.

The brainchild of accomplished kitchen designer, Scott Currie, Virtual 360° Tours Glos was first established in 2018. Creating a totally immersive, virtual reality tour that is tailored to KBB showrooms, Virtual 360° Tours are designed to market any showroom using the market-leading Matterport platform. By providing a 1st class service and amazingly accurate totally immersive Virtual tours at a price point that will appeal to almost everyone, end users can start the ‘customer journey’ with you sooner rather than later. In fact, statistics report that websites that offer virtual tours gain 83% more interest than those without. This figure means you’re able to engage your customer for up to 10x longer when compared to standard photography, which is static, unresponsive and ultimately, uninspiring.

In just 6 months, Virtual 360° working in partnership with Jones Digital has achieved:

– 163 confirmed bookings – for Virtual 360° Showroom Tours 
– 106 Showroom Tours – already filmed and completed 
– 88 supporting Digital Storytelling Packages – 100% bespoke to each business
– 632,507 unique visits and page impressions to its clients’ online showrooms
– 144,724 full plays of the tour recording – 24/7, 365 days a year!

Scott says, “From a simple online post highlighting my virtual tours and invitation to appear on the Survival Special Series that was created in response to lockdown #1 through Jones Digital, Peter and I found we had a common goal – to unreservedly support the specialist retailer. From there, we decided to team-up and share the benefits of digital storytelling as with the addition of a virtual showroom tour, you can support everything you say to your customer with well-rounded visuals and interactive mapping of their showroom and all-important product displays. We have found that serious customers will visit a virtual showroom up to 7 or 8 times, so you can be safe in the knowledge you’re able to engage with self-selecting clients who are keen to spend with you.”

Peter Jones adds, “I was so fired-up when hearing about Scott’s one-stop digital solution I felt sure that if we didn’t join forces it could be a missed opportunity for the independent KBB retailer. For me, having the added benefit of a virtual tour is a proactive way to have an edge on the competition and serve an already captive audience without needing your physical store to be open. We have already begun to disrupt the narrative of our industry, transforming how retailers are able to communicate and engage with their customers and this is why we are overwhelmed by the positive results so far.”

“For me, ‘collaboration is the new black’ as we seek to raise the bar in terms of attracting and retaining the best customers for our businesses. By investing in your online presence you will become more prominent to end users and help mitigate the impact of the virus on you and your business” says Peter. “Every showroom tour can be seamlessly embedded into the architecture of your website with tags, links and videos containing further product information, as required. This in combination with chat bots and online enquiry forms, which all help customers to interact with your business in real-time with messages instantly delivered to members of your team” says Scott. 

Sarah English, Sales and Marketing Co-ordinator at Poggenpohl says “Overall we are very happy with the service, the team were helpful and professional. We love the new 360° tours – we have had a very quick turn around with any tweaks and some great advice. It is too soon to tell if it has increased sales levels but we have definitely had some positive conversations with clients from the virtual tours.”

“The virtual tour has become a real asset for the sales and marketing team and our customers love it. Scott was extremely knowledgeable and offered great advice, we would highly recommend Virtual 360” says Nancy Murray, Marketing Manager at Urban Myth.

Are you looking to reach your customers from the comfort of home? Please contact below:

Jones Digital → Foyne Jones Towers: 5 The Waterside Centre, North Street, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2PE | t 0207 486 1777 | e [email protected] | w www.foynejones.com

Virtual 360° Tours Glos → t 07973 419 933 | e [email protected] and [email protected]  | w www.virtual360toursglos.co.uk

Note to editor: Research from TIG Global indicates that half of all adults on the internet rely on virtual tours for product and service research regularly. They offer an excellent ROI, as they will increase dwell time on your website and encourage customers to spend more time exploring their options with tags, links and videos of products for a virtual showroom experience. Experts at Seek Beak have found that 67% of customers want more virtual tours and they strongly appeal to millennials, ensuring that you are communicating to the next generation of decision makers – the digital natives.