Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM AUGUST 2022 50 A s you read this article, our Luxury Appliance vertical at Nationwide is just 1.5 years old. Considering all the changes and uncertainty during the pandemic, the idea of launching a brand-new business vertical might have seemed a little crazy. If you'd told me three years ago that we were going to launch this new vertical when we did, I would have said that we were a whole lot of crazy! But, as always, timing is everything, and it turned out there was no better time than January 1, 2021 for us to focus on this very important space for our members and strategic vendor partners. So, what has changed? Let's start by looking at how consumer shopping has evolved. Over 80% of shoppers today do their research online before they make a purchase, and that number continues to climb rapidly. The Luxury Appliance business isn't immune to the trend, which is why it's very important that retailers are marketing to these consumers and providing the best possible online experience. At Nationwide, we've invested in resources to help retailers create effective digital strategies customized for the luxury consumer, to help drive more traffic to their websites and ultimately into their stores. We've invested in our website platforms in four ways: 1. We're working to create a better experience for luxury consumers by upgrading our strategic vendor partners' landing pages. 2. We're adding appointment scheduling options to provide the higher level of service the luxury consumer expects. 3. We're expanding options for virtual tours. 4. We're integrating RDC inventory feeds from our strategic vendor partners that help them identify if, and when, products can be delivered. With consumers spending more time than ever at home, our investments focused on web and digital have helped our members increase their overall share in their respective marketplaces. As the pandemic took hold, it prevented many reps from traveling to see retailers and conduct very important in-person product trainings. Vendors quickly pivoted to creating their own Learning Management Systems (LMS's) or conducted webinars to keep retail sale associates updated on important training initiatives. For these reasons, we've been busy improving the Nationwide Learning Academy with an important upgrade: Luxury University, an on-demand, rewards-based education platform. As we all know, an educated sales professional is a key differentiator for the independent channel vs. Big Box. Having the best sales team is how we win! The last area I want to mention, especially as the cost of doing business continues to skyrocket, is a couple of retail activation tools we've developed for our Members. One of the programs we tested that has received an overwhelmingly positive response is our Sales Driver program. Without giving away any secrets, this program improves our Members' margin, drives focus to our strategic vendor partners, and supports our PrimeMetrix initiative (which is helping drive better business intelligence to the Members). To sum up, our retail activation focus is helping improve margins, close more sales and drive more share to our members. The best part of our new Luxury Appliance initiative being just 1.5 years old is that we're barely getting started! We look forward to seeing this channel – and the luxury business – continue to grow and thrive. ,John O'Halloran Appliance Trends John O'Halloran, Director of Luxury Appliances, Nationwide Marketing Group RO ADAPTING YOUR BUSINESS FOR THE NEW LUXURY APPLIANCE EXPERIENCE

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