At a time when retailers face challenges stimulating door swings, Bedding Industries of America (BIA) is providing a new suite of complimentary digital consulting services, which the company debuted at Las Vegas Market.
Offered exclusively to BIA’s retail partners, the BIA Digital Consulting program, led by industry veteran Joe Mulcahy, provides retailers with expert guidance and resources to improve their digital presence, according to a news release.
Chief among the new services is access to local SEO consulting to optimize a dealer’s local search engine presence — helping to ensure their stores stand out in searches to expose them to more customers.
Along with providing local SEO consulting guidance, the digital team will work with dealers on multiple fronts, including streamlining website navigation, to make their websites more intuitive and user-friendly, said BIA CEO Jared Carlitz.
“Our mission at BIA has always been to put our retail partners first. In today’s challenging market, retailers are competing heavily for door swings and to engage with potential customers,” Carlitz said. “That is why we’ve decided to make our industry-leading digital capabilities available to our key retail partners at no additional cost.
“We will provide strategies to enhance each dealer’s website, offering a superior customer site experience that increases both engagement and the duration of shoppers’ visits,” he added. “Our team offers expert guidance in the development of professionally crafted custom landing pages, helping dealers better promote the BIA brands they carry.”
According to Carlitz, the program’s overall focus will be on converting web traffic into actual store visits and purchases.
“Few retailers have the in-house expertise or the time necessary to build powerful websites using the most effective conversion strategies, such as call-to-action buttons, optimized landing pages and targeted promotions,” he said. “Our goal is to present them with everything they need — from top-tier consulting to professional development — to succeed online and effectively compete in their marketplaces without the headaches and expenditures that typically accompany these endeavors.”
The BIA Digital Consulting program performed well in its pilot run, offering a 100% increase in user navigation to key conversion pages, ultimately ensuring that more consumers are engaging with crucial website components, company officials said. The retailers also experienced more than a 20% average boost in local organic traffic, driving more local customers to discover their businesses online.
“There’s never been a more competitive time in the bedding industry, and for retailers lowering prices is not the answer,” said Mulcahy, who has devoted more than two decades to the industry and is a former internet director of a 100-plus store chain. “BIA understands that retailers must increase their digital presence in order to thrive in this environment, and this program provides dealers with the tools and resources they need to make that happen.”
He added that the BIA services are not cookie-cutter programs. “Retailers need a partner who intimately understands their needs and speaks their language, who can shine a light into places that have been overlooked to help them understand why their story has not been resonating,” Mulcahy said. “My job is to bring them the information they require to make good choices about what needs to change in order for them to be competitive again.”
