September 30,
2008 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 2008
There is one number, other than my age, that I feel like I have tracked my entire life. Truth is, it’s probably not my whole life; I can only remember back to about 8th grade. But I do remember what I weighed then, and it was too much to fit into the cool pair of pink chinos that I wanted to wear. It was then that my tracking, and evaluating, and judging based on a number began.
From that point on, I think I can tell you with a confidence level of 95 percent what I have weighed during any point during my life. Getting on the scale and “measuring” what it says has just been a way of life.
If things are going well with the diet and exercise program, it’s a pleasure to step on that little machine. If things aren’t, well then, guess what? Maybe I’ll save myself a good morning slap on the face and just skip it.
There are, of course, rules for making the numbers look their best. Always weigh first thing in the morning, at the same time, and on an empty stomach. Weigh before you shower, as your body soaks up moisture in the shower. OBVIOUSLY before you put on lotion. If you need to trim your nails, you can cut yourself a little bit of slack. Take your glasses and jewelry off. Naked is a given.
If you need an excuse, it’s easy enough to violate one of these rules so you have an out. Weigh in the middle of the afternoon—after two meals and 12 cups of coffee. Your brain will tell you that is worth about five pounds. Similarly, a pair of pajamas can easily be seen as weighing about three pounds if that’s what you need the math to work out to be. There are days I wonder just how weight-penalized I am for having long hair. Maybe a short ‘do would finally get me to my goal weight. OR you can skip stepping on the scale all together. That, my friends,
is a sign that you are getting ready to careen out of control. Ignoring the bad news usually just makes it worse.
This issue is all about numbers retailers use as benchmarks to run their business.
The scale, the tape measure, and the body fat calipers if you will.
How are you measuring your success? Are you building in excuses for your set of numbers?
The economy is a big one. You guys know that one, so I won’t bore you with all the gory details. Weather—good or bad—is frequently thrown in as a qualifier along with written order reports. “One time only’s” often gloss over an unpalatable number at the end of the page. All these things are justified to be sure, but the number is still the number.
There are excuses you can make, and stories you can tell yourself to feel better, or, you can always just quit watching numbers you don’t like—but either way, eventually your pants don’t fit. That’s the blessing and the curse of a concrete thing such as a number. There’s really not much wiggle room in it. It reflects the truth.
Ignore it at your own peril.
Because I know, from many, many years of experience, the more you get on the scale, the better you do. And, no matter how much you want it to be so, your fingernails don’t weigh 10 pounds.
Think about it.
September 30,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 2008
There’s no shortage of independent furniture retailers wondering what it will take to achieve a positive bottom line at their store—especially in the face of recent economic tumult that’s added an extra insult to the twin injuries of dwindling sales for many, and increased costs of doing business for all.
Some retailers find support, if not salvation, through furniture store performance groups, where they gather with non-
competing peers sharing similar business models to exchange ideas, swap best practices and conduct shared financial analysis, rating their stores relative to others in the same boat.
Performance groups emerged from the auto industry, where competing companies got together to develop performance standards each could use to measure themselves relative to the industry as a whole.
While a small percentage of store owners participate in such groups, those who do are enthusiastic about their benefits.
Freedom Furniture & Electronics has participated in a performance group through Profitability Consulting Group for eight years. Link Melley, CEO and president of the 10-store Norfolk, Va.-based credit-oriented chain, is convinced such groups are one of the most important things a retailer can do for his or her business.
“The central issue is that you build business models for the worst possible times to take advantage of every possible opportunity,” he said. “You have a plan in place.”
Getting access to other retailer’s best practices, he said, is vital to having a complete business plan: “What we’ve noticed is that some of our newer members—and some older ones—have a hole or two or three. You not only don’t maximize your profits today, you don’t protect in the long term against market downswings.”
Performance groups grant access to the business plans of other retailers for store owners to apply to their business and make changes—if they’re willing, Melley said.
“Implementing change is tough enough when things are moving smoothly, so making changes in difficult times is a supreme challenge,” he noted.
FACING THE CHALLENGE Giff Gates, owner of Grants Pass, Ore.-based Gates Home Furnishings, used his group with Impact Consulting to take on that challenge.
“Especially in a time like now, you can spot your weaknesses and strengths” through comparing numbers with other members, he said. For example, the performance group helped Gates get a handle on “non-handling” employees—that is, those staffers who aren’t selling.
“I never would have known how overstaffed and inefficient I was,” he said. “For years we were so profitable, it didn’t matter. ... I get this spreadsheet that shows, line item by line item, every indicator you can think of on a financial statement.”
Steve Forberg, CEO of Decorium in Toronto, got the idea for a monthly “dashboard” report with information on everything from sales and inventory levels to service performance and other operational issues on a single page from his performance group, also through Impact Consulting.
While meetings let each member measure their business against non-competing peers, Forberg said the real value lies in the ongoing relationships members develop: “We’re swapping a lot of e-mails between meetings. If I’m working on a flier, I can call 13 other guys and get some feedback.”
Decorium has participated in its group almost 10 years.
Stephen Kidder is principal of Williston, Vt.-based PK Management, which operates three Vermont stores: Vermont Furniture Galleries, Superstore Furniture in Williston, and Total Home Center in St. Alban’s.
His company’s been in a performance group counting around 10 stores from across the U.S. for 15 years. Like other groups, Kidder’s meets a couple of times a year in person at different members’ stores.
“As a result of this group interaction, we have developed daily, weekly and monthly reporting tied to key metrics that allow us a quick overview of the key areas of operational management,” Kidder said.
While periodic face-to-face meetings are where the group examines its aggregate number and rates performance, those gatherings aren’t the end of the interaction. A lot of e-mailing and phone calling takes place on a very regular basis.
“We let one another know what’s working in our stores, product, vendors, ads,” Forberg said. “If someone has a good week or a good campaign, we share it.”
ANSWERING QUESTIONS Are you having trouble finding good ideas for advertising? Do you know what marketing or categories bring positive results for other retailers? Are you tired of ordering goods at Market that don’t pan out saleswise? Do you have business questions that are never answered—or even asked—in seminars or conferences?
Those are some questions Phyllis Zaepfel asks potential members of the performance groups she facilitates as VP of Profitgroups, the performance group division of Colorado Springs-based furniture retail software vendor Profitsystems (group membership includes retailers who aren’t software customers). Profitgroups consists of five performance groups totaling around 50 retailers.
Those include store owners from Thomasville and Mega Group’s Countrywide retail network in Canada, and three groups of independent retailers, sorted by volume and number of stores. Zaepfel said members become a board of advisors for their colleagues’ businesses: “When I talk to people in our groups, they’re doing remarkably well—considering what you hear about furniture retailing right now.”
Ron Huddleston facilitates groups for Impact Consulting. He prefers to keep a low profile about such networks since he believes they’re “not about the facilitator, they’re about the members,” but shared his thoughts on their benefit to retailers: “I know of members who’ve substantially changed their approach to their business and their procedures. Groups become working entities, another step in their efforts to enhance their business and have a positive bottom-line impact.”
“They can have the minds of 15 people, 15 different market approaches,” Huddleston said. “They’ve broadened their scope and the scale of their thinking.”
John Egger, CEO of Profitability Consulting Group, identified two big benefits, one qualitative and one quantitative, of performance group membership: “One, you get support from fellow members for any problems you might be having. You have 20 eyes on an issue vs. just your own.”
Most importantly, shared metrics give retailers a better opportunity to respond quickly to where their business is going.
“We’ve drilled down the metrics so consistently that any trends are obvious in the numbers,” Egger said. “A lot of retailers work on gut feel, and some are pretty good at it. But with shared metrics, there’s no guessing. You know what’s going on. Those numbers are the key to performance groups. If you see a trend, you can examine your operation to find out where and why it’s happening, and how to adjust.”
WORKING THE NETWORK PCG performance groups include gatherings of retailers with similar business models or shared traits such as credit operations, La-Z-Boy stores and retailers who are members of the same buying group. Each group has 10 to 20 members.
“The idea is to get similar operations,” Egger said. “You don’t want to put a mom-and-pop in with multi-store, central warehouse retailers.”
Huddleston noted that store operators working in large national or regional chains can find information-exchange and networking opportunities within their own company. “Most independent retailers don’t have that sort of resource for feedback in their store,” he said.
The information exchange doesn’t stop with the meetings: “Once you’re in a performance group, you’ll find the members are continuously talking to one another between meetings,” Huddleston said. “They have a confidentiality agreement, so they can discuss some very private and important issues.”
Egger agrees that ongoing contacts and feedback are an important aspect of performance group membership. “They really become close—sometimes good friends,” he said.
September 30,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on October 2008
After almost eight years, Charlie Eitel is stepping down as chairman and CEO of Simmons Bedding Company and is handing the leadership reins to Steve Fendrich, who became president and chief operating officer in January. Eitel will assume the role of vice chairman of the board of directors.
Fendrich will oversee all aspects of Simmons’ operations, and he will report to a newly formed executive committee composed of David Jones, Joseph Messner and Scott Schoen.
Last year, Eitel was elected chairman of the International Sleep Products Association. In that role, he has led a marketing initiative that could result in top mattress producers jointly funding a consumer awareness campaign extolling the benefits of purchasing a new mattress. The effort to a step forward in August with the hiring of the Leo Burnett ad agency to draw up a preliminary campaign. At that time, officials said the industry must agree on an equitable funding mechanism before moving ahead.
In an announcement Tuesday of his move to a new role at Simmons, Eitel said, “During my tenure, I have seen this great company expand its position as the mattress industry leader in innovation and quality through the continued development of key brands. ... I look forward to my new role as vice chairman of the board of directors, helping Steve and his leadership team continue to promote our products to Simmons’ customers around the world.”
Fendrich said, “I am excited by the opportunities ahead of us at Simmons. ... Simmons will continue to be an industry leader, shaping the mattress landscape with next-generation technologies for better sleep.”
September 30,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on October 2008
In a new report Wednesday, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission states that 180 Americans were killed by falling furniture, TVs and appliances during a six-year period. About 80 percent of those cases involve children under 10, most frequently involving televisions or televisions in combination with furniture as children climb on or pull themselves up on heavily laden TV stands, bookcases, dressers, desks, chests and other furniture or appliances.
To prevent tip-over hazards, the CPSC recommends that residents verify that furniture items are stable and, for added security, anchor items such as TV stands to a wall using appropriate brackets or screws. To avoid temptations, don’t put toys or remote controls on top of TVs or furniture that kids might try to climb. Also, push the TV as far back as possible from the front of its stand to prevent tipping.
September 30,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 2008
The Intellectual Property Group at the law firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC has launched Womble Carlyle Furniture Law Blog. The blog dissects legal issues affecting the furniture industry with a keen focus on intellectual property matters.
From new case filings and decisions to legislative activities, the Furniture Law Blog covers the often insular furniture industry from a unique angle that only a select few have experienced.
The blog can be found at womblefurniturelaw.blogspot.com
“The furniture law blog sheds a light on the intellectual property and patent issues that impact the furniture industry,” said Jack B. Hicks, a patent attorney at Womble Carlyle’s Winston-Salem, N.C., office who works extensively in the home furnishings industry. “We wanted to provided a concise and easily read blog that examines legal issues in this very tightly focused industry.”
Jake Wharton, another attorney highly experienced in furniture protection issues, will be a frequent contributor.
Founded in 1876, Womble Carlyle operates in six states and the District of Columbia with more than 500 attorneys in 11 offices located in Atlanta; Greenville, S.C.; Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, and Winston-Salem, N.C.; Washington, D.C.; Tysons Corner, Va.; Baltimore; and Wilmington, Del.