ORLANDO, Fla. — Buyers are finding sellers online more frequently than ever before, and the companies that aren’t selling in the digital space are going to be left behind, according to Craig McAndrews.

McAndrews, former business professor at the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, gave a wake-up call to attendees at the recent 2022 Bedding Conference, sharing that buyers are less reliant today on sellers to help them solve their problems than in previous years.

Traditional selling strategies have become a drag on business, and the availability of digital tools have enhanced the selling approach for today’s sellers, he said. Those tools, however, must be adopted to keep up with today’s digital customers.

Buyers go through six steps in making a purchase: need recognition, information search, requirement building, supplier evaluation, purchase decision and post-sale service. Today, consumers are 57% through the process before they reach out to a seller, McAndrews said.

“Today’s buyers are further along in the process than ever before,” he said. Shoppers transitioned quickly to e-commerce in the first quarter of 2020, with a three-month growth rate comparable to the previous 10 years.

Another consumer shift shows consumers between the ages of 30 and 55 — prime mattress buying ages — will be considered digital natives in 2025.

“Companies without a strong digital presence will get left behind,” McAndrews said, adding that social media will continue to play a key role in sales. “There’s no surprise here. The younger generation uses social media much differently than we do. … They use it for research, learning and to make transactions.”

Along with the rise in digital natives comes a wave of mistrusts in sellers.

“Millennials are 2.2 times more likely to mistrust sellers,” McAndrews said. “They trust information and people around them, but they don’t trust sellers. …  They have different expectations of what they’re looking for form buyers. Sellers are still reaching out buyers in the same way, and that will no longer work.”

McAndrews pointed to the classic selling approach that assumes consumers need retailers’ help in making purchase decisions. Because consumers are so far down the path of buying, he said, the traditional model won’t work. “They have already done their research and are ready to make the purchase.”

McAndrews pointed to customer relationship management tools to keep sellers on track and stay up to date with customers through automated prompts and more. Lead generation tools like Zoom Info and LinkedIn Sales Navigator help sellers mine business networks that can net new customers, and messaging tools like Podium, Slack and other platforms enhance connections for prospects as they travel through the purchasing funnel.

“If you’re not on social media, your brand doesn’t exist,” he said, adding, “Over time, your network is your net worth. You have to speak the language of social, and you have to engage in it. It will create opportunities for you.”

I’m Sheila Long O’Mara, executive editor at Furniture Today. Throughout my 25-year career in the home furnishings industry, I have been an editor with a number of industry publications and spent a brief stint with a public relations agency where I worked with some of the industry’s leading bedding brands. I rejoined Furniture Today in December 2020 with a focus on bedding and sleep products. It’s a homecoming for me, as I was a writer and editor with Furniture Today from 1994 until 2002. I’m happy to be back and look forward to telling the important stories impacting bedding retailers and manufacturers.

Sign up to get exclusive industry information delivered directly to your inbox.

© 2022 BridgeTower Media. All rights reserved.

Use of this website is subject to its Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell My Info/Cookie Policy

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.