July 31,
2007 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on August 2007
Ikea of Conshohocken, Pa., announced Tuesday that it has named company veteran Michael la Cour as store manager of the location it is opening this fall in Orlando, Fla., which will be its 33rd store in the United States. A second store is opening this fall in the Broward County city of Sunrise and a third Florida store will open in Tampa in 2009.
A native of Denmark, la Cour was most recently working in Vietnam as the company’s deputy manager responsible for procuring Ikea product suppliers from throughout Southeast Asia. He joined Ikea seven years ago and led the purchasing of supplies for production of Ikea products in Indonesia for four years. He’s one of 350 workers hired for the Orlando store.
“Ikea recognizes the strong customer base for us in Central Florida, so I am pleased about the opportunity to provide these customers with a store of their own,” la Cour said.
There are more than 255 Ikea stores in 35 countries, and new stores are being planned in Brooklyn, N.Y., Charlotte, N.C., Somerville, Mass.; and West Chester, Ohio.
July 31,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Las Vegas on August 2007
Dana Andrew, Babs Blair, Tim Branscome and Michelle Monteferrante were all named vice presidents of World Market Center in Las Vegas Tuesday.
Andrew was promoted from director of marketing and public relations to vice president of marketing and public relations. Blair, previously director of leasing, will now function as vice president of leasing. Branscome was promoted to vice president of international from director of international business development. Monteferrante, previously director of trade show operations, will now serve as vice president of show operations.
In her new post, Andrew’s broad responsibilities include overseeing branding, marketing and advertising strategies in both in the United States and abroad for the Las Vegas Markets, Las Vegas Design Center and future campus build out; managing all public relations, including media, industry and retail relations programs; and supervising publishing, Web and sponsorship activities. Andrew’s award-winning communications background has included serving as public relations director at several top Las Vegas ad agencies, where she managed campaigns for some of Nevada’s largest corporations and political issues for more than 10 years before joining World Market Center since its inception in 1999.
Blair, who has played an instrumental role in the successful and rapid lease-up of the project, will continue to oversee a 10-person team responsible for leasing activities of new phases, and will contribute to strategic design and planning for future buildings and markets. Before joining World Market Center in 2001, was director of leasing at the Showplace facility in High Point. She also has served as co-leasing director for Dallas Market Center for five years, and general manager and leasing director for the Tupelo Furniture Market.
Branscome has effectively developed strategic partnerships with major European trade fairs, international trade associations and foreign governments. He also has played an integral role in bringing companies who do not currently have U.S. showrooms to World Market Center, enabling its development as a global forum connecting buyers and sellers from around the world. Branscome will continue to be based at the company’s European office in London where he will direct World Market Center’s international business development utilizing his extensive contacts throughout Europe and Asia. Branscome’s 20-year industry background includes serving as international trade director for the State of North Carolina Department of Commerce.
In her new position, Monteferrante will be responsible for planning, logistics and implementation of all operations related to the home furnishings markets. She will also work closely with the management team to oversee the launch and operations of new events and industry segments. Monteferrante came to World Market Center after serving as national sales manager – Las Vegas for The Freeman Companies, one of the largest general services contractors to the trade show industry, specializing in producing large scale expositions and conventions.
“This key group of managers and their respective teams has played a critical role in the unprecedented growth and realization of World Market Center as the world’s destination for home furnishings,” said Jack Kashani and Shawn Samson, co-managing partners of World Market Center. “These well deserved promotions are reflective of the professional commitments these individuals have made as leaders, and their successful efforts to ensure World Market Center is the home furnishings industry’s destination internationally.”
“World Market Center is privileged to have an amazing team executing the vision of our founders and partners,” said Harvey Dondero, chief executive officer of World Market Center. “World Market Center’s goal is to continue to raise the bar by bringing greater value to the experience of both exhibitors and buyers and to set a new standard for trade show and market model for the home furnishings industry.”
July 31,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on August 2007
Lexington Home Brands Executive Sales Consultant Steve Wilson died Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 58.
Wilson was a well-known and highly respected figure in the home furnishings industry, where he worked in sales and management positions for more than 30 years. His experience included serving as president and CEO of Durham Furniture, vice president of sales for Stanley, national sales manager for Highland House, and sales representative positions at Lexington, Universal and Rowe. Wilson also had retail experience with Evans Furniture in Richmond, Va.
“Steve Wilson was an amazing man and an incredibly important part of Lexington Home Brands,” said Phil Haney, president and CEO of Lexington Home Brands, Thomasville, N.C. “His influence on our company cannot be stressed enough. Steve knew everyone in the furniture industry and had the respect of them all. Not only was he the consummate professional, he was an amazing person and a true gentleman. He will be deeply missed.”
“Steve served as a generous mentor for me during my sales career,” says Jim Burke, senior vice president of Sales. “I know I’m not the only executive in this industry that benefited from his experience and generosity. But I also learned so much from him, as many of us did, about how to make the most of your life, not just your career. Steve’s philosophy was that life should be lived to the fullest and that you should have fun every day of your life.”
Wilson’s close friend and colleague Doug Hartzog, Lexington’s vice president of sales, said, “This is a sad day for Steve’s family and friends and for anyone who had the honor of knowing him. Steve was a good friend to so many of us and we are very saddened by his loss. Our hearts go out to his sons Beau and Ben.”
A viewing will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 2, at Sechrest Funeral Service, 1301 E. Lexington Ave., High Point. The funeral is planned for 11 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 3, at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church, 1225 Chestnut Drive, High Point, N.C.
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.
July 30,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on July 2007
Gallery Furniture is expanding its use of Web cameras for both security purposes and assisting customers with online shopping, according to an announcement Monday by True Sentry of Winston-Salem, N.C., which has provided the retailer’s TrueLook IP network camera system for seven years.
The company’s 100,000-square-foot showroom recently added cameras and implemented additional security features. As an example of the system’s security capabilities, George Branch, Gallery’s IT Lead, said the system captured images of employees improperly giving televisions to individuals at the store. With the images the system captured, Gallery was able to turn over proof of the improper exchanges to authorities.
The system also enables shoppers to view furniture throughout the store using 30 separate cameras that can zoom in on item tags to display price and item numbers for use in placing orders with a call to the retailer. The system’s LiveCARD feature enables customers to send a snapshot of any item to any e-mail address. The recipient can then click on the image to get an up-close look of a video image of the product.
More than 266,145 unique users viewed the Webcams during 2006. Store managers also make use of the system to ensure that customers are being assisted promptly.
”TrueSentry has (definitely) saved us thousands of dollars in merchandise and easily allows us to turn video over to proper authorities to help track down thefts,” Branch said. “TrueLook and TrueSentry provide us with many uses to help increase our business and improve productivity.”