Page 32 - HME Business, October 2018

A LOOK AHEAD FOR HME
“Where I think the future really lies is trying
to identify those kinds of products that don’t do well online,” Slavitt says. “One of them is a lift chair, for example. You can buy a lift chair online, but the difficulty is that lift chairs are not like a bath seat. We feel you really have to sit in a number of them, almost like trying on a pair of shoes, to be able to make the right decision.”
Naturally, consumers will want to give those chairs a “test drive” in the store. But won’t those buyers collect that information and still buy online where they think it’s cheaper?
“All day long, we educate our consumers on why it’s much better to buy from us,” Slavitt explains. “Because we offer white-glove delivery in our market area for free, because we add on things that other online retailers charge for, it’s actually less expensive for you to buy a chair from Mobül in our market area than it is for you to order that same chair online.”
By providing warranties that include free labor, or adding on to existing warranties, getting high service ratings from manufac- turers, and adding additional upgrades, in-store retailers can offer better value than online retailers ever can, Slavitt says.
“If you buy that chair online they’re not gonna do that,” he says, adding that changes in sales tax for e-commerce have helped level the playing field. “Because online retailers now have to charge sales tax, there’s no longer a disad- vantage of buying it, for example, through a California retailer. We have a high sales tax rate in our city and you would be paying that same sales tax rate if you now ordered it online.”
Service and add-ons result in customer loyalty, which is something online retailers have a much harder time earning.
“Two-thirds of our business is repeat busi- ness, and that is because, if you structure your business like Mobül, where it’s heavily focused on customer service, quality of product, standing behind what we do, we build tremendous customer loyalty,” he says.
approach to retail sales, Baumhover says, adding that the industry is seeing a notice- able change in who the industry’s customers are and the overall shopping habits and expectations of those customers. Boomers, GenXers and Millennials together expect a lot, shop competitive on price, but are also swimming in a sea of information and choice. It’s hard to know where to begin.
“It’s so easy for consumers to find what they need either at another store or a click
of a button, but ... they’re finding harder
and harder to get someone that really knows what they’re talking about and someone that’s willing to go that extra mile to take care of them,” he says. “I really think that’s where our folks, our providers in the industry, can really shine and capture more and more customers.”
And no one can provide the combination of high-touch service and expert knowl- edge of HME products and how they relate to therapy and care than an HME provider. Providers should sharpen that edge with as much training as they can get, Baumhover advises. n
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Management Solutions | Technology | Products
Stellar Service
Rob Baumhover, director of VGM Retail Services
And of course, providing top-tier service plays an indispens-
able role in providers’
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