There’s a big change going on in the way that customers find and research outdoor furniture. More and more customers are using their smartphones.

Smartphones are dramatically changing the retail landscape. Outdoor furniture retailers that sell patio furniture and lawn furniture need to understand how customers are using smartphones in order to stay relevant.

Here are some ways that customers are using their smartphones to shop.

Showrooming

Casual Living recently had an excellent blog post on showrooming. It basically boils down to customers using their smartphones to price shop inside your store. Citing a Pew Research Poll, Casual Living says more than 50 percent of customers used their smartphone to help them shop last holiday season.

So how does showrooming work? Here’s how… a customer visits your store, and they find a product that they like. They then use their smartphone to search online to find the cheapest price. There are even apps that allow customers to scan UPCs to pull up a list of comparable prices.

Location Searching

Customers aren’t using the Yellow Pages any more to find a business phone number or address. Some aren’t even using desktop computers.

More and more customers are using their smartphones to find the nearest restaurant or store. They search Google on their smartphones for something like “furniture stores in La Verne, California.”

For furniture retailers, this makes it critical to be in one of the top spots for local search engine results on Google and Bing.  If your business isn’t in one of the top two or three results spots, you’re going to loose that business to the competition.

Coupon Searching

Finally, customers are using their smartphones to search for coupons and discounts. They’re most likely searching for coupons on Google as well as the retailer and manufacturer websites. They may also search social media sites such as Facebook and Foursquare to see if there are any deals or specials.

What’s Really Happening?

In short, the smartphone is dramatically changing the shopping experience. Some retailers are scared. In reality, this is a great opportunity for furniture retailers. It’s a chance for you to improve the shopping experience at your business. It’s a chance for you to bolt ahead of the competition.

It all starts with developing an excellent shopping experience. Your showroom is the key to your success. Make your showroom an experience that customers will remember. Move beyond the products and offer your customers something that they can’t get online. This may include great customer service, loyalty rewards and expertise in interior design and decorating.

To succeed in this mobile era, you also need to develop a local search strategy to ensure that your business is at the top of Google and Bing. You also want to have mobile coupon opportunities, so the next time someone pulls out a smartphone at your store, your sales staff can tell them about the mobile discounts.

The smartphone is going to be part of the shopping process for years to come. It takes a plan to succeed. Now is the time to start planning for it before it is too late!