Dering Hall hosted a survey of over 600 design professionals and enthusiasts the last three weeks in an effort to improve the search experience on Dering Hall by finding out what trade professionals are looking for when sourcing luxury products.  Here are some of our early findings:

1.  Design Professionals Use a Variety of Sources to Find New Products

We asked respondents to choose which sources they found to be "outstanding" when sourcing luxury products for high-end design projects.  Trade professionals seem to value individual brand websites and design centers, with nearly a quarter labeling these sources as "outstanding."  For digital design centers, Dering Hall ranked the highest, with 1stdibs and Houzz having fewer respondents labeling them as "outsanding."  Print publications and trade shows also did not fare as well in the survey.

These were the results.

2. When Sourcing Products Online, Dimensions are Critical

We asked design professionals to prioritize data points when souring products online.  What information is essential for you to know when choosing products for a project?  When asked what elements were essential, design professionals labeled dimensions as most important, while brand or manufacturer did not seem as essential.  Here were the results:

3. Trade Only Options are Important in Online Search

What are the elements that would improve online search for luxury products?  Design professionals seem to prioritize trade only options and a bigger variety of smaller or artisan brands.  Things like commercial options or concierge services were less important.  The following were labeled important elements in improving online search:

As more design professionals move online to source products, it is important to understand what the trade community values in digital.  This is the first step for Dering Hall as we embark on a full-scale effort to improve our site as a digital design center for trade professionals.  We are thrilled that trade professionals favor Dering Hall over some other online aggregation sources, according to this survey, but as a community of designers founded by industry insiders, we are aiming to create an experience that is truly unparalleled.  

Thank you to everyone who took the time to participate in this survey.  If you are interested in providing feedback or participating in a summer focus group at Dering Hall, email marketing@deringhall.com today.