About Topps Tiles
Topps Tiles is the UK’s leading tile specialist with over 300 stores and 1,500 specialist experts. For the last 60 years, Topps Tiles has provided inspirational shopping experiences with unrivaled customer service, coupled with innovative product ranges and exceptional convenience. The retailer works with the best tile manufacturers in the world to create and source new, innovative, and high-quality tiles using the latest technology.
Industry: Tile retailer
Products: Tile and flooring
Company size: Enterprise (5,000+ employees)
Founded: 1936
Headquarters: Enderby, UK
Roomvo products: Visualizer (Went live in January 2021)
3.7X
Sample conversions
(January to June 2024)
3.3M+
Product views
(January to December 2023)
The challenge
Topps Tiles wanted to improve the online and in-store shopping experience to boost engagement and sample conversions.
Although the retailer had developed a proprietary room visualization solution, it was limited to displaying products in stock photos. Topps Tiles needed a visualization solution that could show shoppers what products would look like in their own homes and give them the confidence to purchase.
“Tiles are a considered purchase, and the look and feel is really important,” said Leah Collings, Digital Experience Manager at Topps Group. “It’s therefore crucial for us to show how our products will look in real life, especially online, as part of an omni-channel brand.”
Customers usually research products online before visiting a showroom to see the tiles in person. To expedite the purchase journey, Topps Tiles sought to encourage sample orders online, aiming to combine physical samples with room visualization to deliver immersive at-home shopping experiences.
“Customers often want to see the product in person before purchasing, so we’ve been encouraging online sample orders,” said Collings. “We wanted shoppers to be able to stand in their kitchen holding a tile sample in one hand and their phone in the other, visualizing how our products would look in their homes.”
“Roomvo has definitely increased sample conversions for us,” said Collings. “When customers visualize our products in their homes, they feel more confident and are therefore more likely to purchase.”
Leah Collings
Digital Experience Manager, Topps Group
The solution
Topps Tiles partnered with Roomvo in January 2021 to enhance the online shopping experience.
After evaluating various room visualization platforms, Topps Tiles was impressed by the quality of Roomvo’s visualization experience and its commitment to continual innovation.
Within just a few weeks, Roomvo went live on the Topps Tiles site, allowing customers to see more than 1,000 products in their own homes, including wall, floor and outdoor tiles, LVT, laminate and wood flooring. The platform keeps customers on the Topps Tiles site throughout the visualization experience, where they can visualize multiple surfaces simultaneously, adjust tile patterns, rotate orientation, change grout color and thickness, and compare products side-by-side.
To maximize usage, Topps Tiles integrated multiple entry points to the visualizer on its website, including the product catalog, the resource center, and individual product detail pages (PDPs). Additionally, retail sales associates are trained to use Roomvo in-store, and shoppers can access the visualizer on computers in the Design Advice area in showrooms across the UK.
Unlike the previous visualization solution, Roomvo’s data analytics platform gives Topps Tiles access to shopper intent data, allowing the retailer to track the performance of the visualizer, identify consumer trends, and troubleshoot issues in merchandising and marketing.
“If shoppers are visualizing one of our products heavily, but it’s not something we would usually see as a bestseller, we can look into what we can do to increase sales,” said Collings. “For instance, we can see if we need to update product imagery or if there’s anything else we can improve on the product page.”
“Roomvo helps bring our products to life for consumers, both online and in-store. We love that new features and improvements are continually added to improve the shopping experience. It’s an ever-evolving platform.”
Leah Collings
Digital Experience Manager, Topps Group
300K+
Website shopping sessions
10 mins
Average time in shopping sessions
10
Product views per session
(January to December 2023)
The results
Roomvo powers Topps Tiles to achieve an impressive 3.7x sample conversions when consumers use the room visualizer.
“Roomvo has definitely increased sample conversions for us,” said Collings. “When customers visualize our products in their homes, they feel more confident and are therefore more likely to purchase.”
Customers are also more likely to engage with Topps Tiles products online than with the previous visualization solution. In 2023, customers visualized over 3.3 million products in over 300,000 visualization sessions, viewing an average of 10 products in 10 minutes per session.
With the ability to link directly to sample order pages from within the visualizer, Roomvo has helped Topps Tiles achieve its goal of increasing online sample orders. The retailer is continuing to build on its success, achieving an 80.4% month-over-month increase in online sample orders originating from the Roomvo visualizer between April and June of 2024.
Roomvo has also enhanced the in-store shopping experience, giving retail sales associates a powerful tool to close sales on the spot.
“Roomvo helps bring our products to life for customers, both online and in-store,” said Collings. “We love that new features and improvements are continually added to improve the shopping experience. It’s an ever-evolving platform.”
Ready to transform your retail business?
Increase online sample orders for your tile and flooring company with Roomvo’s industry-leading visualization platform.