October 27,
2008 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on October 2008
A federal judge has ordered Art Van Furniture to remove a proposed truck design from its Web site that depicts an unwrapped chocolate bar revealing a sofa, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The truck design is one of 10 that the Warren, Mich.-based retailer had posted for consumer response, but chocolate giant Hershey Co. filed a lawsuit claiming trademark infringement. The judge ruled that while the two companies are in different businesses, any reduction of confusion among consumers is in the public interest.
“We have so many great designs to use. That was just a fun one. We’ll move forward without it,” company spokeswoman Chris Morrisroe said in the report.
October 27,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on October 2008
After closing 315 stores over the past year, Plano, Texas-based Rent-A-Center announced Monday that net earnings increased 16.2 percent to $29.4 million during its third quarter.
Total revenues for Rent-A-Center, which has 3,045 company stores, decreased by about $900,000 to $708.8 million, but same-store sales increased 3.4 percent. Officials said earnings were negatively affected by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
“We met our guidance for same store sales, revenues and, when giving consideration for the impact of the hurricanes, diluted earnings per share,” said Mark Speese, chairman and CEO. “While we believe the economic environment creates opportunities for potential customers whose available credit is diminished or eliminated, it is creating challenges for our existing customers. Therefore, we believe the current severity of the financial crisis and its effect on the economy has resulted in a softening in our business, and as a result we have reduced our outlook for the fourth quarter,” he said adding that the company now expects full-year revenues to be slightly below 2007 levels.
October 27,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Retail Technology on October 2008
Retail automation vendor Storis Management Systems, Mt. Arlington, N.J., announced on Monday the release of its newly enhanced Vision R8.6 software system.
The new version includes numerous business transforming enhancements to current products such as a completely redesigned financial applications, and new features including “Multi-Lingual” capability, Quick Launch Menu Bar, Menu Builder, and Line Item Delivery, in addition to revamped Merchandise Reservations and Forms Designer programs.
New R8.6 enhancements include:
• Accounts Payables: redesigned to provide retailers with a fully integrated, real-time payables processing solution. Feature-flexible options allow both small and large organizations to process invoices en masse or via the quick payment option. Expenditures can be paid using customized checks created in Forms Designer or posted against a credit card.
• General Ledger: enhanced with advanced file structure improvements that allow all Storis products to be completely integrated in real-time within one centralized database, without the need for a download or transmission interface. Additionally, the data access FGII tool, has been updated to support all General Ledger data on the Storis host server with spreadsheet logic to facilitate the presentation of both financial and comparative user-defined analytics; and a selection of three powerful accounting solutions: Storis’ General Ledger & Accounts Payable accounting system, XML Third Party Accounting system interfacing, or Intuit/QuickBooks integration.
• “Multi-Lingual” User Experience: offers the ability to customize a retailer’s experience with regards to multi-lingual translating. R8.6’s intuitive process allows users to quickly import translated text into screen presentations and files in English, Spanish, French, and others. Retailers can present translated screens throughout specific areas within the application.
• Quick Launch Icons: This new feature improves productivity and customer satisfaction by providing employees with quick, easy access to Storis processes. Each individual user on the system can establish their own customized, dynamically interactive icon pane of their favorite or most relevant programs, simply via a drag-and-drop mouse click.
• Menu Builder: a completely redesigned menu building feature, fully integrated with the Storis application. A system administrator can create tailored menu trees either from scratch or from copies of existing menus. Navigation through the entire listing of Storis’ programs has been enhanced with filtering capabilities that make it possible to establish a user or group of users in just a few minutes.
• Line Item Delivery: For those retailers who derive a substantial amount of business from contractors and design consultants, Storis added the ability to assign multiple delivery dates to sales orders, allowing for individual multi-quantity merchandise items to have several delivery dates assigned.
• Merchandise Reservations: expanded methodology to allow Estimated, Scheduled, ASAP Status, and Customer Will Call orders to reserve merchandise. Retailers can implement several different sets of business rules to control overstocked quantities while ensuring customers’ promised delivery dates are met.
• Forms Designer: enhanced features to allow retailers to create their own customized floor tags, bar code labels for inventory, and POS scanning, self-service tags, and more.
Storis, an IBM Business Partner, provides retail operations packages and service to more than 350 big-ticket retailers.
October 27,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Case Goods on October 2008
Williams-Sonoma, San Francisco, has made a commitment to supporting responsible management of the world’s most threatened forests by joining the World Wildlife Fund’s Global Forest & Trade Network, the organization announced Monday.
Williams-Sonoma, the parent company of Pottery Barn, West Elm and Williams-Sonoma Home, has pledged to increase the proportion of wood products in its supply chain that originate from credibly certified forests and phase out unknown wood sources for its brands. Members of the WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network have annual forest products sales of nearly $53 billion a year and employ more than 2.7 million people. According to the organization, deforestation accounts for nearly 30 percent of all global carbon emissions.
“Retailers and consumers both have a role to play in saving the forests and the people and animals depending on them. Knowing and caring about the source of wood products is an important first step,” said WWF President and CEO Carter Roberts. “With this agreement, Williams-Sonoma is demonstrating leadership and a strong commitment to responsible business practices that we hope will serve as an example that other companies follow.”
Within one year, Williams-Sonoma will complete an assessment of the wood used in its furniture to determine its origin and whether the wood is from well-managed forests. Once the assessment is completed and within five years, Williams-Sonoma has committed to obtain wood from known sources that are responsibly managed and ensure that important environmental and social values are protected, officials stated in the announcement.
October 27,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Delivery on October 2008
Design Within Reach, San Francisco, has implemented the Retail.net solution from Tomax, Salt Lake City, Utah. The technology is designed to streamline processes to support in-store, online and catalog customers.
Design Within Reach, which specializes in modern furniture and home furnishings, operates 68 stores and also sells via the Internet and catalogs. It recently opened two pilot stores under the DWR: Tools for Living banner. Prior to launching with Retail.net, Design Within Reach selected Tomax technology to support its client service, cash management and inventory processes.