From advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to browser-based business management software to digital samples data, the world of flooring software is rapidly expanding, which is a good thing for today’s flooring retailer looking to up their game.
To help those retailers on their way, we spoke to the industry’s top providers to find out what they’re bringing to the table.
Broadlume
Broadlume offers a wide range of offerings to help support retailers and their businesses, including new technologies launched this year. “As we started thinking about our 2024 roadmap, we got back to the basics with a practical and direct approach to planning—we spoke with our customers,” explained Todd Saunders, CEO. “We asked two simple questions: What challenges are you facing; and how can we help?” According to Saunders, the No. 1 answer was simple: “I need to do more with less.”
As such, Broadlume has innovated and expanded its platform with highly impactful and user-friendly tools that deliver ready-to-buy shoppers to retailers and help them close higher-margin sales. For example, the platform now offers AI-powered e-mail marketing, an advanced SEO service, product pricing and a massive upgrade to its visualization kiosk.
“This direction was inspired by the success we saw with retailers who leverage our Digital Retailing tools that feature an online-to-in-store visualization experience, professional content from the best manufacturers to drive customer interest and e-commerce sample ordering that doesn’t require retailers to lift a finger,” Saunders explained. “When you focus on improving the floor shopping experience and making retailers’ lives easier, good things happen,” Saunders noted.
Cyncly
Looking to the future, Cyncly has several new tools on the way. To help its customers work faster and more efficiently, it’s developing a Measure LiDAR solution that will be available later this year. “We want to make it fast and easy to create a quote for the homeowner to sign,” said Kurt Wilson, director of product management, Cyncly Flooring. “A LiDAR-based system helps flooring teams ditch the measuring tape and the back-breaking furniture moving. This new enhancement will accelerate everything; it will be possible to measure rooms in just minutes, so teams can get in and out of homes faster to ensure retailers stay ahead of schedule. They can close deals faster with on-site quote creation, adjustments and signing features.”
Cyncly has also been hard at working integrating its latest flooring acquisitions into the business. “We’re very excited about the acquisition of Mobile Marketing and the products and services that we can now include in our offering,” Wilson said. “By incorporating the strong marketing tools in their toolkit, we can offer new ways for our long-time ERP customers to drive additional revenue for their operations. Lastly, we can now provide integrations that serve our customers who sell kitchen and bath. Our integration between 2020 Design Live and RFMS gives our customers additional efficiencies when it comes to quoting and selling kitchen and bath products.”
Measure Square
Measure Square is known for its measuring software but recently announced its new CRM. “The Measure Square CRM is a one-stop system that speaks directly to the needs of the industry,” said Steven Wang, CEO. “Its unique contribution lies in its ability to fully integrate with Measure Square software and expand on the existing capabilities in the estimating software.”
The new tool removes the need for double entries with several apps. “Measure Square CRM streamlines a project from start to finish, no matter how big or small,” Wang explained. “The retail community has long been looking for a one-stop CRM solution to grow their retail flooring sales and installation operations that are directly integrated with their daily trade-specific tasks and workflow, such as estimating/quote and job scheduling. Measure Square CRM streamlines retail flooring measure estimating to the sales process, so retailers can close more sales with faster turnaround times. Pairing with Measure Square Mobile makes the estimating process incredibly fast.”
Roomvo
Roomvo was the first to take the bull by the horns by bringing cutting-edge AI to the flooring industry in 2017 to power its room visualization platform. Now, the company is offering up Roomvo Inspire. “Roomvo Inspire will offer an immersive, engaging shopping experience that supports shoppers earlier in the buying journey—guiding those uncertain about where to begin and helping jumpstart the design process,” said Murtaza Abedin, VP of product.
The company is also touting its AI Chatbot. “Built specifically for the flooring industry, Roomvo’s AI Chatbot provides instant, personalized responses to customer inquiries—even outside regular business hours,” Abedin explained. “Customized for each retailer’s unique business, the chatbot engages and educates shoppers, and is trained to ask the shoppers to contact the dealer for more details, thereby driving leads and foot traffic into stores.”
What’s more, Roomvo’s AI chatbot is now available for all Roomvo Sites customers. Roomvo Sites are complete, professionally designed websites built specifically for retailers and start at $120/month.
QFloors
QFloors, a family-owned software company headquartered in Utah, has several new next-generation tools on the docket, which it has invested in significantly for several years. First is QPro, its browser-based business management software, and second is QPay, credit card processing with cutting-edge features and integration, which can integrate seamlessly with both QFloors and QPro software.
“There’s no question that investing time and resources toward developing next-gen technology tools requires a significant upfront sacrifice,” explained Chad Ogden, CEO. “But it’s all about the long game. And it requires a business plan that extends far into the future. We have been working on our browser-based cloud software QPro for quite a few years. It’s taken much longer and cost us way more money than we anticipated. So why do we continue to be committed to seeing QPro through? Because we truly believe it will be the Gold Standard software of the future. It will be what every other software is trying to achieve and measure up to.”
For QPay, Ogden said there are the advantages of being able to send out emails, invoices and statements with pay-at-home links. “You can have a ‘Pay Now’ button on your website so customers can securely pay online. In addition, when payments are made, they are automatically logged into the QFloors payments and deposits screens, saving time and mistakes.”
Samples App
Samples App has grown in popularity throughout the industry for its ability to control the life cycle of samples from both the retail and manufacturing side of the business. “More and more people are becoming aware of the app because of its ease of use and flexibility,” said Paul Murfin, executive advisor. “Samples are a massive expense and problem, and nobody has been able to get their arms around managing samples activity and expense effectively—until now.”
At the retail level, it’s a simple way to manage the check in/out process of a sample, but it’s also so much more. “It gives the salesperson/consumer the opportunity to exchange information,” Murfin explained. “The retailer can also generate reports to see what their best-selling products are and ensure those items are in stock. It’s a real good sales management tool as well.”
The data is just as robust, if not more so, at the manufacturing level. “Now they have the ability to check samples activity themselves. They can know when a sample is missing, arrange for a replacement, get incredible analytics with what is getting done with their samples—which enables them to grow sales. So the analytics that become available to a manufacturer are incredible.”
Showroom Pricing
Showroom Pricing, a software company founded by fellow retailer Kristen Stensby, offers several unique features via its software platform. First, it allows flooring dealers to update pricing in their showrooms in real time. It also helps to manage samples and leads.
“In the ever-evolving landscape of the flooring industry, where tradition meets innovation, technology is not just an enhancer—it’s a game changer,” Stensby said. “Our commitment to pushing the boundaries of technology is deeply intertwined with our collaborative approach. We strive to engage with our customers/dealers in flooring showrooms to gather direct feedback about what’s working and their needs. This two-way communication channel ensures that our QR code system continuously evolves, meeting the real-world needs of our clients while staying at the forefront of technological advancements. The future of tech in this industry is really going to be a balancing act between AI advancements and the human/personal element that drives it.”
