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3rd Annual National Home Furnishings Month a Success
November 10,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on November 11, 2011
The third annual National Home Furnishings Month, sponsored by
International Market Centers, broke records after expanding this years industrywide retail campaign to a large American demographic: renters.
More sweepstakes entries, more dealer participation and more Is It Home Yet? fans marked this years campaign results.
The month-long Is It Home Yet? promotion, which ended Sept. 30, added a new twist to the consumer-targeted promotion by expanding the grand prize, which previously only offered mortgage payments for one year, to now include rent to the offer.
By increasing its participation base to renters, and executing a more targeted social and Internet campaign, IMC called it the most successful National Home Furnishing Month to date, drawing nearly 118,000 entries, an 11 percent increase compared to last years campaign.
The official site drew 128,814 unique visitors and 316,780 page views.
The program was designed to drive sales to participating retailers and offer consumers advice on home décor. Since inception, the campaign has been offered as a complimentary service to retailers. This years campaign attracted 15 percent more stores than last year.
The Is It Home Yet? Facebook fan base in 2011 increased to 51,396 at the conclusion of the campaign, a 20 percent growth in Likes over last years campaign. The campaign also received an above average click-through rate on web-based media this year. Out of all the consumers who entered the sweepstakes, 45 percent said that when shopping for furnishings they would mostly seek expert advice and information in stores and 32 percent said they would use the Internet.
For the third year in a row, the National Home Furnishings Month delivered a powerful punch of excitement and engagement for retailers and consumers, said Bob Maricich, chief executive officer of International Market Centers. By expanding the sweepstakes to include renters as well as homeownerscoupled with greater retail partnerships and marketing supportparticipating stores reached an unprecedented number of followers and new shoppers through a united message and compelling sweepstakes offer.
The average American adult spends between 25 and 40 percent of their income on housing. Maricich said the sweepstakes aims to lighten the load for a family, and at the same time, stimulate interest in other facets of the home, namely purchases of furnishings during the ever-important fourth quarter.
In addition to a motivated consumer audience, participating stores have found National Home Furnishings Month to be addititive to their fall sales numbers, said Maricich.
The dealers said this was a great tool that they used as an ice breaker over the Labor Day Weekend, said Kerry Lebensburger, president of
Ashley Furniture. Consumers loved the opportunity to join in the sweepstakes, and it was a great promotion to have over this historically important weekend.
Isidro Ramos at
Ramos Furniture used the promotion as a new marketing tool for his store.
I was very excited to be part of the event to gain more traffic, thus allowing the consumer to learn about our great deals on quality furniture," he said.
Reed Crawford of Mckeesport, Pa., received the grand prize, and will collect $24,000 cash in one lump sum or $2,000 paid out every month for 12 months.
My wife and I currently have a mortgage, but due to recent financial woes, were about to move to a rental, said Crawford. This prize money means so much to us. Well be able to get a head start on renting, with our security deposit and first months rent, and well use it to help pay for the move. We plan to also buy new furnishings for our new home, too.