Why Virtual Design Consultations Will Outlast the Pandemic

Original article posted at Business of Home by Fred Nicolaus.

There’s a long list of things we’ll all be happy to abandon once the coronavirus pandemic fades into history’s rearview mirror. Masks. Purell-chapped hands. FaceTime primping. More interesting: what we’ll keep doing after the social distancing tape marks have been ripped up and the plexiglass shields have been torn down.

One pandemic-era development with legs? Selling home goods via Zoom. In conversations with six major retailers, Business of Home found that virtual design consultation programs, in many cases hastily assembled in the chaos of mid-March, are poised to become a significant long-term growth area for brands large and small, even as (knock on wood) COVID-19 fades.