The Hybrid Showroom

For manufacturers, the showroom has traditionally been a physical destination. It is a place where architects and designers can see materials, compare finishes, understand applications and begin imagining how products might work within their own projects.

That physical experience remains incredibly valuable. However, the way products are discovered and specified has expanded.

Today, the manufacturer showroom also exists online. From websites and social platforms to digital product libraries and manufacturer-approved BIM files, specifiers now expect to engage with products across multiple physical and digital environments. The manufacturers creating the strongest connections are not choosing between these spaces, they are bringing them together.

Creating More Ways to Experience a Brand

Members of the Bimstore marketing team recently listened to Victoria Hodgson from EGGER UK discuss the thinking behind EGGER London, their new Clerkenwell showroom.

Located within one of London’s most established design districts, the showroom gives designers and specifiers an opportunity to engage directly with EGGER’s products.

The space has been created as a destination for creative exploration. Visitors can experience different formats, see products used within real-world settings and better understand the possibilities available to them.

This type of environment provides something that cannot be fully replicated on a screen. It allows specifiers to see scale, assess texture, compare colours and experience how materials respond to their surroundings.

It also creates an opportunity for manufacturers to communicate more than product information. A physical showroom can express the personality of a brand, demonstrate its expertise and build stronger relationships with the people making design and specification decisions.

Specification Rarely Begins in One Place

There is no longer one standard route to specification.

A designer may first encounter a manufacturer through a social post, a recommendation, an online search or a product used within another project.They may then visit the manufacturer’s website, browse its product range, download technical information or access BIM files before arranging to see the product in person.

For others, the process happens in reverse. A product may be discovered at a showroom, exhibition or industry event before being revisited digitally during the development of a live project.

This is particularly important as a new generation of architects and designers enters the industry. Emerging specifiers are accustomed to moving between physical and digital experiences. They expect information to be accessible and easy to use, wherever they first encounter a product.

A compelling showroom may inspire an initial idea, but the supporting digital information is what allows that idea to progress into a design.

From Product Inspiration to Project Information

Physical showrooms are powerful environments for inspiration and education. Digital product libraries provide the information needed to carry that inspiration into the design process.

For manufacturers, this means ensuring products are not only visually appealing and well presented, but also digitally accessible and ready to be considered within live projects.

High-quality BIM content gives architects and specifiers the ability to explore a product beyond its appearance from anywhere in the world. Manufacturer-approved BIM files can provide the dimensions, performance information and technical data required to assess whether a product is suitable for a project.

They can also allow products to be incorporated directly into the digital workflows where design decisions are increasingly made.

A designer may experience a surface within a showroom, understand its aesthetic qualities and then access the corresponding digital information when they return to their project. Alternatively, they may discover a product through a BIM library before visiting a showroom to experience the material in person.

Both interactions support the same objective: giving the specifier greater confidence in the product and making it easier to progress from interest to application.

The Value of a Consistent Experience 

Whether a specifier encounters a manufacturer physically or digitally, the experience should feel connected.

The identity presented within a showroom should be recognisable across the manufacturer’s website, social presence, technical literature and BIM content. Product names, imagery, information and messaging should remain consistent at every stage.

This consistency helps build familiarity and trust. It also prevents the digital experience from becoming disconnected from the quality of the physical product. A carefully considered showroom can create an important first impression, but that impression may quickly be weakened if the product is difficult to find online or if the supporting information is incomplete.

Extending the Showroom Beyond Its Walls

Manufacturers across the built environment continue to invest in spaces that allow products to be experienced in meaningful ways.

Showrooms can host material libraries, product demonstrations, workshops, conversations and events. They provide opportunities for manufacturers to educate audiences and understand how their products are being considered by the market.

EGGER UK is not the only manufacturer on Bimstore using Clerkenwell to bring its brand and products closer to the design community.

Gresham Office Furniture, known for its high-quality office seating solutions, celebrated 50 years of British manufacturing at Clerkenwell in 2026. Its showroom pairs a calm, contemporary aesthetic and neutral colour palette with vibrant touches throughout, allowing visitors to experience the personality of the brand alongside its furniture.

Building product manufacturer wienerberger also used its physical presence at Clerkenwell to encourage a wider industry conversation. Its digital mosaic installation, titled ‘The People Behind Safer Buildings’, invited architects and specifiers to share their personal perspectives on building safety and compliance.

These spaces can therefore offer more than a product display. They can become places for conversation, education and shared ideas, giving audiences another way to understand both the products and the values behind a manufacturer.

Events held within showrooms can also connect physical products with the digital design process. At Clerkenwell in 2025, Bimstore joined Mount Lighting for a panel discussion titled ‘Beyond the Blueprint: 3D Design & BIM in Practice’. The discussion explored how designers conceptualise and create spaces with the support of digital tools such as BIM.

Through online product information, BIM content, editorial features and digital campaigns, manufacturers can reach specifiers who may never be able to visit a particular showroom. This is especially important for brands serving national and international markets.

A physical showroom may be based in London, Sydney or another major design destination, but its influence does not need to end there. The ideas, products and technical information represented within that space can be made accessible to a much wider audience online.

Digital presence therefore does not replace the showroom. It increases its reach.

Supporting the Next Generation of Specification

The relationship between manufacturers and specifiers is becoming increasingly connected.

Architects and designers want opportunities to learn about products, understand their applications and access reliable information without unnecessary barriers. Manufacturers need ways to communicate their expertise while ensuring their products remain visible throughout an increasingly digital design process.

Physical and digital showrooms respond to different parts of this need. One creates opportunities for experience and conversation. The other provides rich technical information and continued visibility within the tools and platforms used by modern design teams.Together, they create a more complete specification journey.

Connecting Physical Products with Digital Projects

Bimstore helps manufacturers extend their product presence into the digital design environment.

Through manufacturer-approved, Revit-ready BIM files, specifiers can access the product information they need and incorporate selected products into live project models. Manufacturers can present their ranges to an active global community while maintaining control over the quality and accuracy of their digital content.

A showroom can help a designer imagine what is possible. BIM content can help them explore how that possibility could work in practice. For manufacturers investing in physical spaces, digital content should form part of the same offer. Websites, social media, product libraries and design software each serve a different purpose, but they should all provide a connected view of the brand and its products.

Physical and digital showrooms work best when they support one another. Together, they give designers more ways to discover products and a clear route from initial interest to specification.

Explore the Bimstore Virtual Showroom