Sternfenster launches virtual showroom

Sternfenster has launched a new virtual showroom to help customers sell higher value products to homeowners.

“People moved online during the pandemic to research and buy home improvement products,” Sternfenster’s sales director, Nathan Court, said. “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.”

Sternfenster’s virtual showroom is said to be the result of 18 months of research and development.

Potential buyers are given a choice of products, where they can click-through to product landing pages to learn about the features and benefits.

An overview provides a clear summary of each product, while the ‘Explore Features’ section provides much 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.

Sternfenster has produced a series of CGI (computer-generated imagery) videos for the virtual showroom, which gives the viewer one-minute tours of products.

The key driver for this ground-breaking tool, Nathan said, was the changing buying behaviour of homeowners, and the growing interest in high-value products.

“Yes, 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.

“Selling tools like the Sternfenster Virtual Showroom will help our customers raise their game, and put them in contention for this high-value, high margin work.”