Prior to the launch of the Delta shower door program consumers would buy a shower door with all of the components in one box.  Initially, this would seem fairly efficient, but because retail space is limited, retailers weren’t able to stock all of the various combinations that consumers were looking for. This all in one box mentality was forcing many consumers into making concessions when purchasing their shower door.  For example, if a consumer wanted a nickel frame with rain glass and that sku wasn’t stocked, the consumer would have to decide whether the rain glass or the nickel frame was more important to them.  They would have to buy a shower door with a nickel frame and clear glass or a shower door with a chrome frame and rain glass.  Neither option was ideal and would result in a high level of consumer dissatisfaction and a feeling that they were being forced to buy something that didn’t fully meet their needs. 

With the introduction of the Delta Shower Door Program at The Home Depot we were able to provide the consumer over 160 unique shower door combinations in the same retail footprint where there had previously only been 24 options.  While this massive increase in options for the consumer was applauded by both the retailer and consumers it did create a new problem that we had to solve – how will a consumer find exactly what they are looking for among all of the various options now available.

To solve this, we knew that we would need to provide the consumer with a tool that would simplify pre-purchase research and the shopping experience.   We developed the first-of-its-kind online “configurator” which walked the consumer through the entire shopping experience in order to ensure that they were able to find the exact shower door that they were looking for.  This new “configurator” not only allowed the consumer to create their perfect shower door, but it also gave the consumer the feeling that they were purchasing a semi-custom door, built to their exact needs.  We used simple, easy to use graphics in order to make the size selection process simple, quick, and easy.  We also showed the width and height of the door selected so that the consumer could confirm the size of their door by measuring their existing tub or shower opening.  The rest of the configurator clearly walked the consumer through the selection process with each component selection affecting the next component selection, where necessary.  For example, if the consumer selected a nickel track, we would only show nickel handles in the next step.  This avoided the potential for a mistaken selection which would result in a return.

In 2014 this was the first configurator tool of its kind that was featured on The Home Depot website.  Now, configurators are ubiquitous for nearly every category.  By simplifying the shopping process, this tool increased online sales for the entire shower door category by nearly 30% within a month of its launch.  The mix-and-match nature and the low carrying cost of the program allowed us to offer additional glass, track, and handle options which created in excess of 1,500 unique options on-line.  The additional options available on-line allowed us to “test” these options to see if the volume warranted placement in-store.  This was a reliable way for us to show the retailer the likelihood of success before they made a commitment to in-store inventory.    

Patrick Boehnen

336-453-1922

pat.boehnen@gmail.com