Kitchen & Bath Business - April 2019 - 40

ORLANDO
JANUARY 10-12
2017

"You have to tell the same story, maybe from different
angles, but it has to be the same story at each point of
communication. Customers have to believe in
your authenticity."
* DR. MARKUS MIELE, MIELE GROUP

And then there's the trade professionals themselves - how much time
they're spending on running their business versus being on the job helping to install.
"So, we're involved with software as a service platform to help them run
their business better, procure product better and spend more time doing
install work and less time on back-office functions," added Murphy.
Stoever said the industry is also moving into a phase of technology innovation that's less about making sure things don't break and more about how to
stay ahead of expectations.
"For instance, each time you talk to a home assistant, you increase your
expectations of what it can do," he added. "That's happening across all technology, and we're going to get so far ahead of what we expect these devices to
do that potentially we will be letting our customers down because we're not
keeping up with it. Focusing on what's happening today in this rapidly changing tech environment is a defensive strategy. We have to be on the offense."
THE IMPACT OF DIGITALIZATION

A subset of technology is the digital revolution's transformation of all aspects
of the industry.
"It's not only the products with apps installed, it's also in smart manufacturing, which is coming on very strong, and in marketing as well," said Miele.
"We use a lot of digital tools in marketing.This is a big revolution and a field
where creativity and software come together."
Additionally, the consumer's purchasing journey has morphed into an
omnichannel experience, and the executives concurred that it's imperative
to understand what purpose the different channels serve.
"Almost everybody is online at some point in the journey, and almost everybody is also in a brick-and-mortar showroom or store at some point,"said
Fink. "This tells us that buying has become an omnichannel experience. We
have to meet the consumer where they want to go. But you have to understand
what each social media channel is for and tailor the communication to each.

On Instagram, consumers might be looking for
visual inspiration, while on Twitter they might
be looking for more of a purpose-driven message
about a product's water conservation, for example."
And along with the exponential influence of
social media channels comes a loss of control over
the brand image.
"We no longer own and tightly control the
brand," noted Fink. "We collectively own the
brand with the consumer, it's built by the dialogue we're having with the consumer and what
consumers say about us - ratings and reviews -
driven through social media. Telling your story
and staying true to it is at the core of what a brand
is about. And bringing it to the consumer in a way
that's easy to consume, design and understand -
without losing what makes them so special - is
really the secret sauce."
Francis asked about how to protect the brand,
particularly at point-of-sale, and how to keep pricing even in an omnichannel environment. Miele
offered that the most important strategy is to be
consistent in messaging.
"You have to tell the same story, maybe from
different angles, but it has to be the same story at
each point of communication," he added. "And
this is quite challenging because you have to
think about what medium to use and what angle
to use in that medium. Customers have to believe in your authenticity."

"Focusing on what's happening today in this rapidly
changing tech environment is a defensive strategy.
We have to be on the offense."
* MARK STOEVER, 2020

/ APRIL 2019 / KBBONLINE.COM / The official publication of NKBA (NKBA.org) and KBIS (KBIS.com)

http://www.KBBONLINE.COM http://www.NKBA.org http://www.KBIS.com

Kitchen & Bath Business - April 2019

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