Death of the showroom? How experience centres are redefining the way you shop for your home

Experience centres help people imagine how products would fit into their lives.

PHOTOS: EDL, RIGEL, CASTLERY

Published Sep 11, 2026, 12:40 PM

Updated Sep 11, 2026, 01:34 PM

Experience centres replace traditional showrooms by letting customers interact with home products in real-life settings, enhancing their understanding and emotional connection.

Brands like Woosa, Hansgrohe, and Flexform create immersive spaces where customers can physically experience products like mattresses, showers, and furniture.

These centres help reduce buying uncertainty, build brand expertise, and influence customer preferences early in the purchase journey through sensory and personalised engagement.

SINGAPORE – If you have had to buy furnishings, electronics or other products for your home in recent months, you may have noticed that “experience centres” are starting to replace the humble showroom.

Some even come with swanky names. Local mattress brand Woosa has its Dreamery in Tampines North, with sleep pods that customers can book into. Meanwhile, bathroom and kitchen product brand Hansgrohe has a Water Studio in Mohamed Sultan Road , where shoppers can see a dozen or so shower fittings in action.

In June , Italian luxury furniture brand Flexform launched its Flexform Experience Centre in Bendemeer Road, in partnership with Rosso Italia Living, the brand’s exclusive distributor in Singapore.

And in March, bathroom accessories brand Rigel opened its revamped experience centre in Changi. It includes a Wellness Ensuite, which has been fitted with the brand’s latest Smart Water Closet, cold plunge tub, sauna pod and immersive ceiling shower. Customers can book into the Wellness Ensuite to experience the facilities there, subject to availability.

The revamp is a way to provide customers with a more tangible experience of the brand’s products, so they can better imagine these in their own homes, says Tana Bui, a branding strategist with Rigel.

“We were seeing a shift where home owners today aren’t just renovating for function, but also for how a space makes them feel,” she notes.

“Rather than imagining (how a product feels) from a spec sheet, we want them to feel it, step into the rain shower, sit in the sauna and picture their own routine in that space.”

Likewise, the Flexform Experience Centre is meant to “offer clients an immersive introduction to the Flexform lifestyle”, says Lim Swee Hoe, managing director of Rosso Italia Living.

The space is deliberately structured to foster a welcoming atmosphere, down to the smallest sensory detail, he adds, via the use of soft lighting, drapery and calming music.

The Flexform Experience Centre in Bendemeer Road opened in June. PHOTO: ROSSO ITALIA LIVING

The Flexform Experience Centre in Bendemeer Road opened in June.

PHOTO: ROSSO ITALIA LIVING

“Every design decision was made to create a calm, welcoming atmosphere that encourages visitors to slow down and experience the furniture without distractions,” says Lim.

“Traditional showrooms primarily serve a sales function: They display products to customers who are already close to making a purchase,” notes Dianna Chang, associate professor of marketing at the Singapore University of Social Sciences .

“Experience centres, by contrast, are designed to engage consumers much earlier in their buying journey. They allow people to interact with products in realistic, immersive settings, helping them imagine how those products would fit into their own lives,” says Chang.

This is even more pronounced with home fitting products, where important attributes – such as comfort, texture and water flow – cannot be fully appreciated from an electronic screen or just on a status display.

“Online platforms are valuable for discovering products and gathering inspiration, but we find that they cannot fully replicate the sensory and personal aspects of an in-person visit,” says Hansgrohe marketing executive Stella Tan.

You can see how Hansgrohe showers work at The Water Studio’s live demo space. PHOTO: HANSGROHE

You can see how Hansgrohe showers work at The Water Studio’s live demo space.

Allowing customers to see and feel how different shower sprays work “provides the human guidance and hands-on experience that can give customers greater confidence in their decisions, especially for products that will become a long-term part of their homes and daily lives”, she adds.

Indeed, one commonality between the products offered by these different brands is that they are all high-use and integrated into your most intimate spaces.

As Woosa co-founder Tyler Peh points out: “There are very few things we use every single day, for seven or eight hours at a time. A mattress has a direct impact on how well we sleep, which in turn affects our physical health, mood and even how we perform at work.”

More than a showroom

That said, some experience centres are probably just regular showrooms with a fancier label.

“The real difference is what the space lets people do. A showroom says, ‘Here is the product. Have a look’. An experience centre says, ‘Come and try living with it for a while’,” says Shilpa Madan , assistant professor of marketing at Singapore Management University.

The sleep pods at Woosa's The Dreamery are enclosed and hidden behind curtains. PHOTO: WOOSA

The sleep pods at Woosa's The Dreamery are enclosed and hidden behind curtains.

“That is why lying on a mattress in a private room, turning on a working tap or seeing how a laminate looks under warm versus cool lighting matters. You are not just looking at the product. You are mentally moving it into your home,” she explains.

A good experience centre can help reduce uncertainty , help consumers personalise the product to their own needs and make technical features easy to understand without turning the visit into a lecture, she adds.

There is also a broader branding payoff.

“Experience centres allow brands to position themselves as experts in the category, rather than as companies that simply sell a product.

“A laminates brand, for example, can teach consumers how lighting, texture, durability and maintenance affect what will work in a real home,” says Madan.

“That expertise can shape preferences well before a purchase is made. This is especially valuable for brands that sell through designers, contractors or retailers, because they may never control the final transaction,” she adds.

Yamini Chinnuswamy is a correspondent at The Straits Times. She covers lifestyle news and features, with a focus on pop culture and design.

体验中心帮助人们想象产品如何融入他们的生活。

照片：EDL、RIGEL、CASTLERY

发布于2026年9月11日下午12:40

更新于2026年9月11日下午1:34

体验中心取代了传统的展厅，让顾客在真实的生活场景中与家居产品互动，从而增强他们对产品的了解和情感联系。

Woosa、汉斯格雅和Flexform等品牌打造沉浸式空间，让顾客能够亲身体验床垫、淋浴房和家具等产品。

这些中心通过感官和个性化互动，帮助减少购买不确定性，建立品牌专业知识，并在购买过程的早期影响客户的偏好。

新加坡——如果你最近几个月需要购买家具、电子产品或其他家居用品，你可能已经注意到，“体验中心”正在取代简陋的展厅。

有些甚至还起了时髦的名字。本地床垫品牌Woosa在淡滨尼北区开设了Dreamery，提供可供顾客预订的睡眠舱。与此同时，卫浴和厨房产品品牌汉斯格雅在穆罕默德苏丹路开设了Water Studio，顾客可以在那里亲眼看到十几种淋浴设备的实际使用效果。

6 月，意大利奢侈家具品牌 Flexform 与该品牌在新加坡的独家经销商 Rosso Italia Living 合作，在 Bendemeer Road 开设了 Flexform 体验中心。

今年三月，卫浴品牌Rigel在樟宜机场开设了全新升级的体验中心。中心内设有一间健康套房，配备了该品牌最新的智能马桶、冷水浴缸、桑拿舱和沉浸式顶喷淋浴。顾客可预约体验健康套房内的各项设施，具体视情况而定。

Rigel 的品牌战略家 Tana Bui 表示，此次改版旨在为顾客提供更切实的品牌产品体验，以便他们更好地想象这些产品在自己家中的效果。

她指出：“我们发现，如今的房主在装修房屋时，不仅考虑功能性，也考虑空间带给他们的感受，这种转变正在发生。”

“我们不希望他们仅仅通过规格表来想象（产品的触感），而是希望他们能够亲身感受，走进淋浴间，坐在桑拿房里，想象自己在这个空间里的日常活动。”

Rosso Italia Living 的董事总经理 Lim Swee Hoe 表示，Flexform 体验中心旨在“为客户提供沉浸式的 Flexform 生活方式介绍”。

他补充说，空间经过精心设计，旨在营造温馨的氛围，甚至连最小的感官细节都力求完美，例如使用柔和的灯光、帷幔和舒缓的音乐。

位于本德米尔路的Flexform体验中心于6月开业。图片：ROSSO ITALIA LIVING

位于本德米尔路的 Flexform 体验中心于 6 月开业。

图片：ROSSO ITALIA LIVING

林说：“每一个设计决定都是为了营造一种平静、温馨的氛围，鼓励参观者放慢脚步，不受干扰地体验家具。”

“传统展厅主要服务于销售功能：它们向已经接近购买意愿的顾客展示产品，”新加坡社会科学大学市场营销副教授 Dianna Chang 指出。

“相比之下，体验中心旨在让消费者更早地参与到购买过程中。它们允许人们在逼真、沉浸式的环境中与产品互动，帮助他们想象这些产品如何融入自己的生活，”张先生说。

对于家居装修产品而言，这一点尤为明显，因为舒适度、质感和水流等重要属性无法通过电子屏幕或状态显示屏充分体现。

“在线平台对于发现产品和收集灵感很有价值，但我们发现它们无法完全复制亲自到店的感官和个人体验，”汉斯格雅市场营销主管 Stella Tan 表示。

您可以在The Water Studio的现场演示区亲眼见证汉斯格雅淋浴系统的运作方式。图片：汉斯格雅

您可以在The Water Studio的现场演示空间亲眼目睹汉斯格雅淋浴设备的运作方式。

她补充说，让顾客亲眼看到、亲身感受不同淋浴喷头的使用方法，“可以提供人性化的指导和亲身体验，让顾客对自己的选择更有信心，尤其是对于那些将成为他们家庭和日常生活长期组成部分的产品而言”。

事实上，这些不同品牌提供的产品有一个共同点，那就是它们都是高频使用产品，并融入到你最私密的空间中。

正如Woosa联合创始人Tyler Peh所指出的那样：“我们每天都会使用的东西很少，而且每次使用时间长达七八个小时。床垫直接影响我们的睡眠质量，进而影响我们的身体健康、情绪，甚至影响我们的工作表现。”

不仅仅是一个展厅

也就是说，有些体验中心可能只是换了个更高级的牌子而已。

“真正的区别在于空间能让人们做什么。展厅说，‘这就是产品，请看’。体验中心则说，‘来体验一下，感受一下它的存在’，”新加坡管理大学市场营销助理教授希尔帕·马丹说道。

Woosa 梦幻乐园的睡眠舱是封闭式的，隐藏在帘幕之后。图片：WOOSA

Woosa's The Dreamery 的睡眠舱是封闭的，隐藏在帘子后面。

“这就是为什么躺在私人房间的床垫上，打开水龙头，或者看看复合地板在暖光和冷光下的效果都很重要。你不仅仅是在看产品，你是在想象它搬进你家的样子，”她解释道。

她补充说，一个好的体验中心可以帮助减少不确定性，帮助消费者根据自己的需求个性化产品，并使技术特性易于理解，而不会将参观变成一场讲座。

此外，还能带来更广泛的品牌推广效益。

“体验中心让品牌能够将自己定位为该领域的专家，而不是仅仅销售产品的公司。

“例如，强化木地板品牌可以告诉消费者，照明、纹理、耐用性和维护如何影响产品在实际家居环境中的效果，”马丹说道。

她补充道：“这种专业知识可以在购买发生之前就影响消费者的偏好。这对于通过设计师、承包商或零售商销售产品的品牌来说尤其重要，因为他们可能永远无法掌控最终的交易。”

Yamini Chinnuswamy是《海峡时报》的记者。她负责报道生活方式新闻和专题报道，重点关注流行文化和设计。