Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
July 31,
2007 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on August 2007
Circle Furniture is local people, selling local furniture: five stores, two outlets and a warehouse. The Tubman family, which has been running the business since Isadore Tubman started selling to Harvard boys back in the 1950s, recently opened its second outlet, and aspires to build the chain into a regional powerhouse. But as Circle Furniture grows, the Tubmans insist, it must remain true to itself.
“We are what we are,” said CEO Richard Tubman, a laid-back businessman who doesn’t much like titles.
And what they are is very New England. Tubman, his wife and his brother—the triumvirate in charge—are all natives of Massachusetts. They went to local colleges, pay special attention to local charities, and hire people whose accents are pure Boston. But their love for the area is most evident on the showroom floors. Most of the case goods they sell are made in New England. And each year, they work harder to keep it that way. As Asian manufacturers command a larger proportion of the market, it gets increasingly difficult to stock stores with “Made In New England” merchandise, Tubman said. But he and his family know their customers appreciate the local label, so they keep searching for the best homegrown products they can find.
“Those manufacturers have a quality story that you don’t get elsewhere,” Tubman said. “I don’t want to disparage manufacturers in other parts of the country and in Asia. But the stuff you get here is a quality you just don’t see everywhere. When you see a dresser where the wood grain is continuous from one drawer to the next, you know somebody thought about that. They didn’t just pick a bunch of drawers from a stack of them.”
So the Tubmans are always on the lookout, searching the back roads of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire for craftspeople who may not get much attention from bigger chains. “We used to joke that any vendor that has ‘Vermont’ in the title, we would buy,” said Tubman. Among their vendors: Vermont Tubbs, Vermont Furniture Designs, Vermont Precision Woodworks and Maine Cottage.
Customers who appreciate the “Made in New England” label also tend to appreciate Circle Furniture’s emphasis on green merchandise. Tubman and his family are avid skiers, bikers and hikers, and the third Tubman brother is a geophysicist, so the interest in the earth runs in the family. Many consumers may not seek out sustainable woods, but they notice when a piece is certified by The Forest Stewardship Council, and seem to feel good about the purchase, Tubman said. And the focus on green at Circle Furniture goes beyond wood.
As the company’s Web site proclaims: “While you are looking at the fine earth-friendly wood products, you’ll have to see our collection of revolutionary, bio-based upholstery. The cushions are made of soy-based foam and other sustainable components and offer an enhanced level of comfort. With water-based finishes and recyclable materials, these products are truly eco-friendly!”
But Tubman knows that most customers’ interest in buying environmentally friendly products is dependent on cost. “Everybody cares about the environment, at a certain price,” Tubman said. It’s the same thing with buying local. He figures that for a 10 percent premium, most people won’t pause before buying green or local. But when prices climb higher, he knows he’ll lose customers to the discounters.
Growing Up in Furniture
For a family that cares so much about who makes their inventory and how they make it, you might think the business started with a single carpenter, painstakingly carving table legs. To the best of Richard Tubman’s memory, however, it started with a trucking business.
When the boys at Harvard (it was all boys then) would clear out of their off-campus apartments each summer, Tubman’s grandfather, Isadore Tubman, would truck away what they left behind. Sometimes they left behind furniture—furniture someone else could use. So at nearby Putnam Circle (now known as Putnam Square), Isadore Tubman opened Circle Furniture. Isadore’s grandson, Richard Tubman, remembers the day the sign was painted: “New and Used Furniture Bought and Sold.” He also remembers his parents—Robert and Frieda Tubman—working long hours in the shop.
“That was my day care center,” he said. “I used to love hanging around the store.”
The most fun days were when the family bought a truckload of furniture at an estate sale. “We bought the whole house,” Tubman remembered. Still, the young man foresaw a different career for himself, perhaps as an astronaut.
As it turned out, Tubman went to the University of Massachusetts, studied zoology and there met his wife—Peggy Burns—a month before graduation. After college there were his “ski bum” years in Colorado, and then the return home where he opened a computer store. After he sold the store, in 1984, he and his parents discussed the possibility that he might want to enter the family business as they moved toward retirement. Older brother Harold Tubman, now president of Circle Furniture, was already working for the firm. Richard Tubman and Peggy Burns, who had worked in the computer store with him, decided that Circle Furniture would be their future too.
Slow and Steady
Growth was strong but gradual. From the Cambridge store, near the heart of Boston, came a second in the 1970s, in the city’s burgeoning western suburbs. The Tubmans opened a third Circle Furniture in the 1980s in Acton, about 20 miles northwest of Boston. A few years later, the Hanover store opened south of the city, to be followed by the Danvers store, due north.
In the past few weeks, the company celebrated the opening of its second outlet, close to Circle Furniture’s roots and Harvard College. It’s the smallest store, at 3,000 square feet. The busiest and biggest store, at 11,000 square feet, is also in Cambridge—a relocation of the original store opened by Tubman’s grandfather.
Dancing Online
So Circle Furniture circles Boston, relying on the area’s affluent and well-educated market. Unlike so many others in the industry, the company, which saw more than $14 million is sales in 2006, is enjoying a modicum of growth this year. It plans to build on that growth with an advertising campaign, a mix of print and broadcast, but also by capitalizing on its Internet strategy.
No, the Tubman’s don’t expect to see meaningful Internet sales anytime soon. But they have more hopes for the Internet than many others in the industry. That’s based on the increasing number of customers coming into Circle Furniture and remarking on an item they saw on the company’s comprehensive Web site.
“My perception of the Internet is that people are educating themselves on it. They come into our stores and say ‘I saw this or that on your Web site,’” said Tubman. “I think people are shopping online. They may not be buying online.”
The Web site, circlefurniture.com, showcases much of the store’s offerings, but also offers tools that attract new customers, such as an interactive room planner which allows them to e-mail ideas and questions to a designer. The site also invites customers to join the stores’ “Inner Circle,” a buyers program that gives advanced notice of sales and new products.
“We love our Web site,” Tubman said.
A Circle of Growth
The Web site, Circle’s growth, and its involvement in so many local charities caught the National Home Furnishings Association’s eye. The firm was nominated for “Retailer of the Year” twice in the past few years. But if anything stands out on the application for the award, it’s the company’s relationship with its employees. Several have been with Circle Furniture for more than 20 years, a testament, Tubman said, to the keen interest the family takes in employees’ professional development and happiness on the job.
Among the more original of Circle Furniture’s programs is an employee-only Intranet, through which they can share ideas, thoughts and family photos. And it’s up to employees at Circle Furniture to choose the company’s “Vendor of the Year,” who is thrown a party by the firm to which all employees are invited. Recent winning vendors include American Leather and College Woodworks. Then there’s the more than 50-year-old internship program, which has nurtured students from the Boston area’s many colleges and universities who are interested in the industry. And just-plain-fun outings—taking the entire warehouse and delivery team to a go-cart racing park, for example—are important morale boosters.
Employees are also rewarded for community service, with the Tubmans setting the example. It’s hard to find a Boston-area charity the company hasn’t supported in one way or another. They have regularly donated furniture to local libraries and the Ronald McDonald House, as well as survivors of Hurricane Katrina who have relocated to the Boston area. Circle Furniture has both a sailing team and cycling team that raises thousands of dollars for local children’s charities. Harold Tubman has been recognized in particular for his work with the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Boston Public Library, among other groups and institutions.
And it is Harold Tubman who may have created the link that will carry Circle Furniture into the future on the shoulders of a fourth generation of Tubmans. His daughter Jessica, 25, is the company’s director of communications, managing the Web site and internal communications, and making sure all the stores have correct pricing information. She is leaving Circle Furniture this summer to pursue her MBA. But there is hope among family members that she will return one day.
“It would be spectacular,” said Richard Tubman, her uncle. “She seems to have a passion for it.” HFB
July 31,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Customer Service on August 2007
Before ever picking up an order pad and greeting a customer, today’s newest furniture sales associates will embark on a training program that lasts anywhere from a week to six weeks. Or, in the case of one major regional chain with a much more formalized “on-boarding process,” training—in combination with selling—stretches out over six months.
What varies even more than the length of training from one furniture retailer to the next are the types of lessons those new hires receive. At a few large furniture chains, new hires will spend up to two weeks in a classroom with scores of fellow trainees. In single stores that hire people one at a time, the lessons come mainly by working one-on-one with a sales manager or store owner, and then absorbing what a succession of sales reps can teach during visits to the store.
One major change over the past year or so is the availability of computer-based training that’s being deployed in both single-store operations and major regional chains seeking to better prepare and assess furniture salespeople during their first days on the job—and throughout their careers.
Big and Little
Reflecting the wide variety of approaches are the 21-store City Furniture chain in the Miami area and the two-store Hatch Furniture operation in Yankton, S.D. At City, training at what it calls its Center of Excellence starts with two weeks of classroom lessons. At that stage, new associates begin selling furniture, but are guided by an experienced mentor and must continue formal instruction in a series of half-day “Level 2” courses in a classroom over the next six months.
At the much smaller Hatch Furniture, associates begin selling after a week or two of training with the sales manager, owner and visiting reps. Like at many stores, longtime Hatch sales associates also attend occasional sales sessions with reps and recently began using a computer-based training program that Manager Jennifer Eickhoff said is sharpening the skills of all sales associates, including 20-year vets.
At the four-store HW Home, Boulder, Colo., Co-Owner Ron Werner said the chain’s training process has grown steadily to the current six weeks in the eight years since the first store was established. “They will not sell at all in those six weeks,” Werner said. “Furniture is not like apparel, where you can teach someone how to ring the cash register and put them on the floor. Furniture is much more technical. There are design skills, an understanding of construction and materials, making sure things fit in scale and melding all of those elements together. That doesn’t happen overnight.”
‘Skill Practices’
At City Furniture, Director of Learning Janet Wincko said the initial two-week training period covers everything from approaching customers to presenting products and using the computer invoicing system. “We don’t just keep them in the classroom,” she said. “If we’re talking about upholstery or case goods, we do some in-class instruction and then we take them out on the (store’s) sales floor to show them the features and benefits live.”
At City’s large store on the campus of its headquarters near Miami, associates also spend time each day in role-play exercises called skill practices. New associates demonstrate product knowledge or work on how to approach and qualify a customer.
Typical of smaller retailers, Claudia LeClair, the owner of the high-end Fiesta Home Furnishings in Scottsdale, Ariz., also has a two-week training period. While it’s less formalized than at some larger retailers, LeClair works to ensure each sales associate gets a broad perspective, including spending time in the company’s warehouse and customer service office. “There’s a lot of rep training. (New salespeople) also shadow our better salespeople for a couple of days. We carry probably 30 major lines, so it takes time for them to train” on each one, said LeClair, who also operates a more contemporary Brix Home store.
Training: A Never-Ending Process
At Atlanta-based Havertys, classroom training ranges from a week to 10 days, depending on whether the associate has prior selling experience. From that point, new hires work closely with a manager and a designated trainer dedicated to their store, but Chief People Officer Allan DeNiro said the 120-store chain sees training as a never-ending process for new and existing employees alike. “We are in a mode of almost constant delivery of new curriculum for both product and selling skills. It’s what we do. (Training) is not an event held only on certain dates or times or for only certain people,” he said in a written response to questions posed by a reporter.
At City, associates who complete the two weeks of classroom training are then matched with a mentor as they begin selling in a City store or one of the company’s six Ashley HomeStores. A unique feature of the City program is that over the next few months, new associates take half-day “Level 2” courses on topics ranging from financing to mattresses. “We keep the (initial) Level 1 training pretty basic, and then we do more and more advanced training over the course of their second to fourth or fifth months,” Wincko said. “It’s more of an on-the-job training where they get Level 2 training in the classroom, but get tested and do skill practices back in their store with the general manager. It’s a blended learning approach.”
Because the Level 2 classes take new associates off the sales floor for a portion of the day, City is working on a bonus system where associates who complete their coursework—including tests and skill practices—will receive a bonus and become eligible for the company’s monthly sales-based bonus system. Vice President of Human Resources Curt Nichols added, “It’s also understood that training is part of our culture and any short-term sacrifice (involving commissions) is outweighed by the long-term benefits” of training.
Reducing Turnover
He said training helps retailers reduce employee turnover. Across the retail industry, annual turnover approaches 80 percent, but at City the figure for sales associates is far lower, averaging about 30 percent.
Without providing specific figures, Havertys’ DeNiro said, the relationship between training and retention centers around the company’s “investment” in its associates. “If we can produce a training product that clearly demonstrates our willingness to invest in the growth and development of the sales associate, they, too, are likely to become ‘invested’ in the longer-term outcome,” he added.
The Computer as Instructor
Increasingly, computer-based training is becoming a key part of the initial and continuing education of sales associates—and other workers—at City Furniture and other retailers across the industry.
Hatch Furniture, for example, began using a system from the Furniture Training Company, North Logan, Utah, two months ago. Associates take up to 36 courses—each of which can be completed in about 20 minutes—on a Web-connected PC to strengthen their knowledge of elements like case goods, upholstery, rugs and mattresses. Each lesson ends with a test, and managers can track each associate’s results as they progress through the course. “I absolutely love it,” said Manager Jennifer Eickhoff. “In the past, I’ve given associates material to read with the hope everybody is doing it, but (with computer-based training) I can track it step by step. I have one (woman) here who has been with for over 20 years, and there were a number of things where she and I both said, ‘Gosh, I didn’t know that!’”
In the first two months, most of the retailer’s associates had completed all 36 lessons. In each case, associates who pass all of the computerized tests receive a certificate and a pin. In late June, she was preparing to send a press release supplied by the Furniture Training Company to local newspapers to “let our customers know that our associates are certified in product knowledge.”
According to Furniture Training Co., other retailers using the system include Wickes Furniture, Chicago’s Roomplace and R.C. Willey. In late June, Furniture Training Co. released a second program called SalesForce—Selling With Service, with lessons focused on topics such as greeting customers, overcoming objections and presenting room solutions. Eickhoff said she is eager to try the SalesForce module, and said it will likely used as an addition to the company’s current regimen rather than a replacement for any part of it.
City Furniture recently implemented what Wincko calls a computerized training management system from Learn.com that the retailer is using to convert what had been pencil-and-paper tests to computerized tests that can be graded and processed automatically.
Computer Tests Boost Sales
Nichols said one promising early initiative with the computerized training system delivered a lesson on inner-spring mattresses to 450 sales associates earlier this year. The lesson covered “new product introductions and features and benefits, and we gave (associates) a test as well. We had very high scores, and we also saw significant increases in inner-spring (mattress) sales. We’re now driving at a much higher volume on inner-spring mattress sales, and everything on the learning side was driven through computer-based training.”
He said an additional benefit on computer-based training is it will allow City flexibility in delivering lessons without bringing as many associates to classrooms in Tamarac. He said that’s especially important as fast-growing City expands beyond its base in the Miami area.
At Havertys, DeNiro said the company also has a computer-based training initiative. He said the chain produces its own lessons for associates to learn at computer workstations instead of purchasing more generalized lessons from outside vendors.
The Person-to-Person Approach
Of course, many retailers prefer a person-to-person approach to training. At HW Home, product lessons are delivered by managers working in tandem with reps. Werner said new associates go through a number of exercises when learning a new line, including spending a day identifying every piece from a certain manufacturer in one of HW Home’s 7,000-square-foot stores. “The next day, we’re going to teach them to use the price book and then have them price out each one of those items the way we show it (with various fabric or finish options). We want them to be a master of the price book” and avoid mistakes that could scuttle a sale.
Since HW Home’s experienced salespeople and managers are heavily involved in training new hires, the lessons are reinforced again and again. ‘’We’re re-educating our people at the same time, since they’re going through the basics” with each training session.
At Denver-based American Furniture Warehouse, CEO Jake Jabs (the subject of the “Table Talk” feature on page 82) said new associates in AFW’s two-week training program gain the most valuable experiences through activities like riding along on a delivery truck. He said real-world experiences like trying to squeeze a king-size mattress into a narrow basement entrance stay with associates when they soon graduate to writing orders and will need to keep in mind the importance of alerting customers that delivery crews need to be aware of potentially troublesome issues.
Identifying Career Salespeople
If there’s a single issue that seems to confront virtually all retailers, it’s the frustration of seeing a new associate leave after investing weeks worth of training in that person. “I terminated someone Sunday who did not do well in training or the additional 10 days of (remedial) training we set up for her,” Werner said. “I think she could be a great salesperson (somewhere), but she just wasn’t getting the details, and we couldn’t risk that she’d spend too long ringing up a sale or would price a special order wrong. We spent six weeks paying her, training her, but we had to make that decision.”
In Arizona, LeClair said La Fiesta’s sales manager has seen several salespeople leave soon after the training process. It’s reached the point where LeClair is looking into a profiling software she learned about through the Western Home Furnishings Association. It promises to help her avoid personality types who may not be suited to retail sales. “We invest so much time in training, and so do our reps, so we hope we can use a system to narrow down a little bit who it is who we should be hiring.”
In Yale, Mich., McMillin’s Furniture Owner Chuck McMillin said he’s learned through years of experience to identify the type of associates who are liable to become long-time employees. First of all, his current staff of three are all women, because furniture purchase decisions are made almost entirely by women. “What’s most important is demeanor, enthusiasm and being able to ask for the sale. There are some salespeople who just talk and talk, but the best salespeople know how to listen,” he said. “It’s really not that complicated. ... We look for people who love what they’re doing. They enjoy putting colors and fabrics together, and they’re very involved with customers. They’re not off sitting in a bullpen somewhere waiting for an ‘up.’”
He said new associates generally receive about a week’s worth of training. To screen candidates more fully, McMillins has made initial lessons on its point-of-sale system part of its interviewing process. “We can watch to see if they get that ‘deer in the headlights’ look or if they’re fairly savvy about computer systems.”
Jabs said American Furniture Warehouse has moved to a two- or three-stage interview process in which hiring managers take pains to point out how much training will be involved, because Jabs said his company wants to weed out applicants who don’t view selling furniture as a long-term career.
City Furniture, which expects to hire 150 sales associates this year, selects applicants from a wide variety of backgrounds, but tends to avoid those with furniture-selling experience. “We think it’s easier and more cost-effective to train someone (new to sales) than to re-train someone who might think they have it all figured out already,” Curtis said.
July 31,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on August 2007
Despite headlines to the contrary, employees/managers/owners in the home furnishings industry are generally quite satisfied with their jobs. Based on a Home Furnishings Business survey conducted in May, three-quarters of the respondents reported that they were somewhat or very satisfied with their jobs. This compares quite well with a 2006 University of Chicago survey that reported furniture/home furnishings salespersons were ranked among the bottom of U.S. occupations when it came to job satisfaction.
Happiest were owners/CEOs/COOs, with 38 percent saying they were very satisfied. Twenty-nine percent of sales reps were equally satisfied, followed by sales personnel (27 percent) and trailing the pack were store managers/operations personnel with a “very satisfied” rating of just 19 percent.
Just 3 percent of all those surveyed reported that they were not satisfied at all with their jobs. Breaking the response down by job category, the least satisfied were sales personnel, with 5 percent falling into the “not satisfied at all” grouping with owners/CEOs/COOs just behind with 3 percent. No store managers/operations personnel or sales reps reported that level of dismay with their jobs.
Virtually all of those surveyed reported they were full-time employees.
Over half of all respondents had been in their current position for more than 10 years, with the newbies (12 or fewer months on the job) representing a meager 5 percent of the particpants. Nineteen percent had job experience of five to 10 years, with the balance split between those with two to three years of service and four to five years of job history.
Two-thirds of the top brass (owners/CEOs/COOs) had been on the job for more than 10 years, and the same number of sales reps had served an equally long time in the trenches. Not far behind, three-fifths of sales personnel, including sales managers, had at least a decade of job experience. Just under half of store managers/operations employees reported that length of service, but they’re catching up fast—30 percent of their number have between five and 10 years of service, substantially more than any other job category.
Who’s Selling, Who’s Not
Just 10 percent of those surveyed said that none of their time was taken up by non-selling tasks. Skewing the overall response are the sales reps, 56 percent of whom reported that all of their time was spent on their selling efforts.
Excluding sales reps, respondents reported across the board that non-selling tasks took up more than 25 percent of their time. Overall, 53 percent stated that more than one-quarter of their work time was spent doing something other than selling, with 60 percent of both owners/CEOs/COOs and store managers/operations personnel hitting the one-quarter mark-plus. Just under half of salespeople saw at least one out of every four hours devoted to something other than selling.
Overall, 80 percent of respondents said that more than 10 percent of their time was spent on non-sales tasks, with 90 percent of owners/CEOs/COOs, 88 percent of store managers/operations employees and 80 percent of sales employees agreeing.
Holding out are the sales reps. 88 percent of them reported spending 5 percent or less of their time on non-selling tasks.
Dealing with Customer Gripes
Most survey respondents felt that they were a strong part of the selling process when it came to resolving customer complaints post-sale. There are very few things more frustrating than having an unhappy customer vent and to not be able to do anything to resolve her complaint.
Collectively, just 13 percent of survey participants said that they had no authority to resolve customer complaints after the sale was concluded because that was not part of their jobs. Nearly two-thirds reported that they had a great deal of authority to resolve complaints, with 16 percent stating they had some authority, with the balance admitting they had little authority to fix things.
Not surprisingly, 87 percent of owners/CEOs/COOs were top tier when it came to handling and resolving complaints, with only 4 percent saying they had no authority to resolve post-sale gripes. More than half of store manager/operations employees, sales personnel and sales reps stated they had a great deal of authority to handle complaints. Most participants said they had some or a great deal of authority to resolve post-sale complaints: 90 percent of owner/CEOs/COOs, 84 percent of store managers/operations personnel, 78 percent of sales personnel and 88 percent of sales reps.
Only sales reps reported that resolving complaints wasn’t part of their jobs.
The Best Part of the Job is ...
The good news to the home furnishings industry is, after excluding salary and benefits, the best-liked part of industry jobs is working with customers. About half of all respondents reported customers were their favorite job duty, with 66 percent of sales reps agreeing. One-third of store managers/operations personnel said so, with 62 percent of sales personnel joining in.
Number two on the most-favored part of the job was the variety of tasks respondents faced. Two-fifths of respondents liked the change of duties inherent in their jobs, with half of all store managers/operations employees choosing this option over working with customers. Also receiving favorable scores were the available product and product options.
Training fell to the bottom of the list for most respondents, with the lone exception being sales reps, with 22 percent reporting that this was a favored part of the job. This makes a lot of sense, since reps are often responsible for demonstrating product features and options to store salespeople. Just 4 percent of all respondents reported training as a favorite part of their job, with no store managers/operations personnel agreeing, once again perhaps due to a limited role in this area.
Overall, survey respondents indicated a lot of satisfaction in the parts of their jobs that required one-on-one contact with others, particularly customers. This also included their co-workers and management, although co-workers outscored management by four percentage points! Only a collective 6 percent said a resolving customer service issues was one of the things they liked to do best. Job location and hours both received double-digit responses, 15 percent and 13 percent, respectively.
And the Worst Part is ...
Ouch! The least-liked part of the job for the participants (excluding salary and benefits) was dealing with customer service issues. Despite having a great deal of authority (63 percent of respondents) to resolve problems, two-fifths of all respondents disliked this task. Over half of owners/CEOs/COOs chose this as their number one beef, with 42 percent of store managers/operations personnel agreeing. About one-third of sales personnel and sales reps voted this way, too.
The number one complaint of sales reps were their hours, with nearly three-quarters placing this at the top of their least-liked part of the job, with paperwork taking second place, with 38 percent of sales reps choosing it.
Hours involved in the job was also a top tier gripe for owners/CEOs/COOs, store managers/operations employees and salespeople. About two-fifths of each group stated their hours were among their least-like parts of their jobs. Similarly, paperwork was disliked across the board.
Don’t ask about product problems—one third of all the participants cited this as a major irritant of their job. 39 percent of owners/CEOs/COOs and an equal number of store managers/operations personnel agreed. Only one-fifth of sales employees joined in, with just under one-third of sales reps voting this as a least-liked characteristic.
While no delivery personnel responded to the survey, they get pretty high marks from their co-workers. Just about one-quarter of all respondents said delivery problems were among the least-liked attributes of their jobs, with those on the front lines—store managers/operations employees—booting that response up to 32 percent. Just 18 percent of sales reps choose delivery problems as one of their least-liked parts of the job.
Managers everywhere can heave a sigh of relief—overall, fewer than 5 percent of respondents didn’t like their co-workers. Product and product options, along with job location, scored the same response. All three of these topics scored well in the “liked best” part of the survey, with overall responses of 21 percent, 32 percent and 15 percent for co-workers, product and product options and job location, respectively.
Who What When
In May, Home Furnishings Business
conducted a wide ranging survey of job satisfaction and related issues in the home furnishings industry. The survey was originated, conducted and compiled by Research Editor Janice Chamberlain and Marketing Manager Cheryl McGovern, under the guidance of Editor In Chief Sheila Long O’Mara.
Nearly 400 responses to the survey were received. Of those responses, 37 percent were from owners/CEOs/COOs, 33 percent were from sales persons and sales managers, store managers/operations personnel represented 13 percent, sales representatives accounted for 10 percent and the balance was from buyers and other personnel.
Companies represented included retailers (52 percent), manufacturers/importers/vendors (22 percent), suppliers (9 percent), combined/integrated companies (11 percent) and other companies (6 percent).
More than three-quarters of all respondents choose to answer the open-ended question: “If there was one thing you could change about your job, what would it be?” Responses are in the article on page 60. HFB
July 31,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on August 2007
The Consumer Confidence Index shot up 7.3 points in July, following a dip in June, reaching 112.6, catapulting the Index to its highest reading in nearly six years. The Index reached 114 in August of 2001.
The Present Situation Index also ballooned up, to 139.2 from 129.9 in June and the Expectations Index increased to 94.8 from 88.8.
Also showing improvement were consumers’ home purchasing plans. Exceeding June results, 3.1 percent of consumers in July expected to buy a home in the next six months, up from a revised 2.9 percent in June. In July, 7.2 percent of consumers planned an auto purchase in the next six months, up from 6 percent in June while 31.5 percent expected to buy a major appliance, off from 35.3 percent last month.
“An improvement in business conditions and the job market has lifted consumers’ spirits in July,” said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board’s Consumer Research Center. “The President Situation Index is also at a near six-year high (August, 2001). Looking ahead, consumers are more upbeat about short-term economic prospects, mainly the result of a decline in the number of pessimists, not an increase in the number of optimists. This rebound in confidence suggests economic activity may gather a little momentum in the coming months.”
The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The cutoff date for July’s preliminary results was July 24.
July 31,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on August 2007
Denver Mattress Co., a division of Furniture Row, announced recently that its Web site, denvermattress.com, now offers delivery to California, which gives the retailer full coverage across the continental United States.
Described as one of the nation’s largest mattress retailers and manufacturers, Denver Mattress announced the launch of its e-commerce site in April. Last week, it announced it will now deliver throughout California by utilizing its store in Yuma, Ariz, as a shipment hub. According to Furniture Row’s Web site, the company’s more than 330 stores in more than 30 states do not currently include any locations in California.
According to its recent announcement, the e-commerce site’s mattresses include prices that can be up to 50 percent lower than those of competitors. The site emphasizes the company’s own, private-label Doctors Choice mattresses.