Platform about design and technology in the kitchen, home, and bathroom industry
I don't know about your experience, but in the last few months, technological developments are going faster than fast. It's impossible to keep up anymore. I am referring, for example, to spectacular developments in the field of AI, Artificial Intelligence. Not only ChatGPT - even with its current still present imperfections - is already damn interesting and more practical than Google, but also an AI program like Midjourney, although also not yet perfect, is keeping the minds busy.
Why am I bringing this up here? Well, these AI developments are going to have an unlikely effect on the work of the kitchen showroom salesperson. And ultimately on the rest of the chain as well. Certainly a program like Midjourney - but there are already similar variants of this AI software in the meantime - will necessarily change the work of the ever-enthusiastic kitchen showroom salesman. In other words, this is the end of showroom conversations as we have always known them.
Well, if you have no clue at this point what 'Midjourney' is, you should definitely read on (you are, in fact, tremendously behind!). But even those who do know, I recommend staying alert. Because... the consumer is discovering all this too!
Let me briefly explain what an AI program like "Midjourney" does. After creating an account and using the chat program
Discord is in "Midjourney," you can generate your own images. You literally issue a command to create a picture or photo of ... anything you want. Fun to play with initially: "Create a picture of a marathon runner, panting and sweating, crossing the finish line at the New York marathon, cheered on by an enthusiastic crowd." And yes, within seconds you will then receive a photo or image. Almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Literally based on the commands you entered, a "picture" is created that does not exist in real life but is true to life. Incredible. And so the kitchen industry is also going to change.
Now everything - for example, during conversations in the showroom - still takes place top-down. The always smiling, cheerful, ambitious and enthusiastic showroom salesman likes to show what is for sale, gives advice, combines some possibilities and hopes to convince the orienting consumer with his personal charm. Which often succeeds.
But what happens when consumers themselves also create a Midjourney account? Well ... then the (kitchen) world will change. Design then becomes a matter of configuration 5.0. Bottom-up! Because, the consumer wants his dream kitchen. Dreams are no longer a deception because for the consumer it is then simply a matter of entering all his wishes into Midjourney. Within a few seconds of the last one, an image is generated that depicts the desired dream kitchen. With all the trimmings. Exactly as the consumer wants it. Without restrictions. The crazier the better. Nothing is impossible. The consumer prints out the picture and then will say to the showroom salesman very simply, "This is the kitchen I want. Just arrange it."
Whether the showroom salesman will still be smiling, cheerful, ambitious and enthusiastic, I don't know. I'm no psychologist or behaviorist but the effects can be guessed: the showroom salesman's profession will change because if showroom salesman A says that the AI-generated dream kitchen is not possible, there will always be a showroom salesman B, C or D, who says it can be done. And that one is going to arrange it.
So nice developments. The consumer's turn is coming. More than ever. The world is really getting a little nicer because all those consumers who previously had to listen obediently to what was possible and what was not, are now coming up with their own ideas. The conclusion? The kitchen party that can ultimately implement the ideas generated will win.
