Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
October 10,
2012 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 2012
Offering that something extra is key to success at RC Willey, which celebrates is 80th anniversary in business this year.
I personally have been here for 26 of those years, said Vice President of Marketing Clark Yospe. Coming from a retail marketing background, when I started at RC Willey as head of the advertising department, I was interested in the little extras that were given to the customers at time of purchase.
The CEO at that time, Bill Child, explained to me that over the years he always liked to include a little gift that could be presented by the salesperson after the sale and before the customer left the store.
Furniture retailers competing for business with the the likes of Costco and Wal-Mart need something that makes them unique.
Here at RC Willey we call these tiebreakers, giving a reason to come here as opposed to the big box discounters, Yospe said. We see that one of the ways to compete is by offering the service a customer cannot get elsewhere while still being competitive on price.
It also means an extra, little gift or extra to RC Willeys customers and how that makes the retailer special.
This little extra escalated years ago from a lemonade pitcher with glasses when on a Super Saturday in the mid 80s RC Willey offered a 13-inch color TV for just $88 with a new purchase of $599, Yospe said. This offer today may be impossible to repeat if you even wanted to. I am not even sure that anyone makes a 13-inch TV anymore, and I am sure nobody would want one for $88 with purchase.
Back then, though, showing the TV and price large on a full-page newspaper ad, along with telling consumers of the retailers storewide sale, gave the two RC Willey stores their first million-dollar Saturday.
At RC Willey we continue to look for things that customers perceive as a high value, items that we could offer at a discount or free with a new purchase, Yospe said. The cost of what we lost on each item determines what the minimum purchase price is to qualify.
Past examples include a DVD Player packaged with a newly released popular DVD, both for just $10 with any new purchase over $299.
As we have progressed we have sent buyers to China to shop and purchase items that we use exclusively as premiums with purchases, Yospe said. Just to name a few, there (have) been cruiser bikes, large doll houses, air hockey tables, dishes and pan sets, luggage, Blu-Ray players, theatre-type popcorn poppers, flat panel TVs, rocking horses that sing, giant piano key mats (like the one in the movie Big). And there have been many, many more. At Christmas time we try to offer a major premium each week the three weeks prior to Christmas.
Does giving that extra really work, or does what the store loses selling extras at these low prices inspire customers to spend more?
The answer to those questions is yes, Yospe said. We see it working, and now customers are expecting that RC Willey will offer something special for big events. Because we buy direct from the factories in China, our costs are kept at a minimum. But one of the biggest benefits for RC Willey is the consumer sees a value they cant find anywhere else, which leaves them with the impression that we are a price leader.
October 10,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 2012
When recession struck the U.S. economy a couple of years back, furniture retailers were among the first businesses to feel its impact.
As with other stores, Southern California retailer von Hemert Interiors faced the worst business environment since the Great Depression. With so much out of its control, the three-store, Costa Mesa-based company looked to the things it could do something about and found out that at times, attitude is everything.
When asked what strategies von Hemert Interiors used to cope, CFO Kelly von Hemert took a step back to explain how the organization moved away from recession-driven denial, shock, panic and paralysis.
We chose to take an inside-out approach, she said. In my view, you cant experience a recovery without feeling it first. All three of our stores are located near or on Highway 1, which connects with the soul of the Pacific Ocean. During this recession, we found both solitude and inspiration by looking to the ocean for answers. In my office, I have pinned to an inspiration board The Surfers Code by Shaun Tomson.
As a company we soon began to seek clarity and accept that things have changed forever, she continued. And if we were going to survive, we might find the answers again by looking to the ocean.
Along with The Surfers Code, the book Deep Dive by Rich Horwath was another font of inspiration.
His book helped us create a strategy design using what he calls the Seven Salient Aspects, von Hemert said.
Those are:
¢ Purposethe reason you exist in the
marketplace
¢ Valuethe primary type of value you provide (best product, cost, solution)
¢ Contextthe description of the current
situation
¢ Whothe customer groups you are targeting
¢ Whatthe offerings you are providing to customers
¢ Howthe distinct capabilities the company possesses to create value for customers
¢ Advantagethe differentiated value you
provide to customers
That look inside, taking a deep mental breath, helped von Hemert identify success critical factors in dealing with a down economy.
From there we asked ourselves, what are the key insights, where will we focus our resources, and how will we achieve an advantage in the marketplace?, von Hemert said. We took those answers and built a serious strategic planning map that led us to three critical success goals: strengthen our sales team, gain more market share, and enhance our product mix.
A first step was to identify ways von Hemerts high-end customer had changed.
She no longer was willing to make a purchasing mistake, because the cost was too great, von Hemert said. She wasnt as interested in the products that we showed but more interested in how we connected with her on an emotional level. In a nutshell, it really came down to how we wanted to communicate to make her needs and dreams come true. We took that knowledge and refreshed the idea of communicating more effectively.
The company conducted a presentation using strong visuals, quotes and information based on John C. Maxwells book, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently.
A quote that that sticks out in my mind is that People will not always remember what you said. They will not always remember what you did. But they will always remember how you made them feel, said von Hemert.
The second step was a move to gain market share by getting closer to the customer.
We leveraged technology by investing in
iPads and iPhones to give our customers instant gratification, von Hemert said. We promoted ourselves by using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, blogging and Pinterest to stay relevant and alert our customers of upcoming events. We ramped up our e-mail, direct mailers, e-blasts and Web site presence to introduce ourselves and promote our sale periods with our customer base. We created a buzz by getting bloggers, local newspapers and magazines to write about events and grand re-openings that we hosted during the recession.
October 10,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 2012
Conventional wisdom on how to sell beds to consumers goes something like this:
¢ Sell to women; men dont make buying decisions about mattresses.
¢ Sell on price above all else.
¢ Never, ever mention what goes on in the bedroom besides sleep.
A discussion of mattress marketing strategies held at the Summer Las Vegas Market challenged those ideas, as a panel of bedding industry veterans offered fresh takes on such thoughts.
Interestingly, the panel was evenly split among the sexes, with Leggett & Platt Segment Vice President of Marketing Mark Quinn and Wright Global Graphics Chief Marketing Office Don Wright representing the male side, and Innovative Mattress Solutions CEO Kim Knopf and Comfort Solutions Senior Vice President of Marketing Cindy Williams of providing a female perspective.
The Other Thing We Do In Bed
Kicking off the session, moderator Julie Rosien, WithIt president and SocialNorth social media strategist, teased the elephant in the roomthe topic on everyones mind that some were reluctant to addressthe use of sex in marketing beds, or, as she put it in reference to the steamy bestseller, the whole 50 Shades conversation.
In Quinns view, the bedding industrys avoidance of using sex to market its products is a grievous error.
If you take any consumer productshoes, food, travel, cars, clothing, makeup, cologneevery category in the consumer products group uses sex to sell their product, Quinn said. Think about itevery single one of them. So then you have to ask yourself the question: Why? Because it sells product. So what kind of morons are we in this industryif anybody could own intimacy for sex, or talk about the fact that intimacy can in fact be better or enhanced or impacted by the product that you sell? And we choose not to say anything about it.
If you are a marketer from outside of our industry, and you look inside this industry, youd think How is it possible that no one in the mattress industry ever talks about intimacy? It is bizarre to me. ¦ Intimacy is awesome ¦ its a big part of life. So how is it that were not having the discussion?
Quinn said he realized this discussion has to be handled delicately, especially at the retail level.
Heres the trick, he said. Be careful how you have the conversation. You cant turn your sales associates loose and say, this bed is so much better for getting it on. So for Sealy, they led with it as a headline (Whatever you do in bed, Sealy supports it.) I dont know that I would do that. ¦ If I was a bedding manufacturer, I would absolutely have it as part of my Web site. You can have a discussion online.
Knopf echoed Quinns statements about the handling of this topic on the sales floor, saying I think from our perspective, on the retail floor, weve really tried to steer away from those conversations because it can be very awkward. Thats just been our philosophy for 30 years, so when Sealy had those commercials we opted not to run the real risqué one.
Gender Bias?
The panel also challenged the bedding industrys typical skewing of its marketing efforts toward women.
My concern is that weve gone so far with the female audienceI get that, we need to listen to her, because women make a majority of decisions in the household, Quinn said. The weird thing about beds is that guys use them too. People in marketing want to talk about her. I get that. ¦ But we ignore the male opinion. If we continue to keep them out of the discussion, we keep them out of the shopping experience. We dont think about things that are relevant to men, like technology ¦ Get a guy in your store and start talking to him about technology in the bed, youve got him. You give him a remote control to play with, he may just be the guy who makes the decision on the productand he might make a high-price decision. Its not about he and she as much as it is about sleep.
Wright, whose firm specializes in designing graphics for bedding industry promotions and point-of-sale, offered his perspective on the role of gender in the industrys visual imagery. A lot of the graphics, he said, 80 percent of the time, its a woman sleeping on the product. Its not a guy. You get couples sometimes. ¦ I think that the common language is, youre selling sleep. I think we all have the same issues.
Williams advised bedding retailers to use great sensitivity in their dealings with female consumers: Some women are more comfortable having a woman wait on them, especially if they have to lay down on a mattress, because sometimes its a real compromising position.
Focus on Sleep
A common point made by the panelists was a need in the industry to continue to emphasize sleep and comfortbenefits everyone can appreciaterather than price.
The (bedding) products today really are catering to some of the issues people face at night, Knopf said, i.e., all this technology around the gel. Body temperature is a huge issue in terms of how fast people go to sleep and whether they sleep all night long. ¦ Motion separation, if you get woken up by your partner. ¦ I think that todays products have been engineered to address a lot of those issues. HFB
October 9,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Business Strategy on October 10, 2012
Upholstered furniture supplier Simon Li Furniture is planning a 323,000-square-foot expansion of its factory and warehouse in Jiashan.
The expansion is expected to be complete by September 2013.
With this expansion, the total production and warehouse foot print will be about 840,000 square feet, with a production capacity of around 1,000 containers a month.
"Since the initial factory in Shanghai opened in 1999, Simon Li Furniture set a prudent and steady growth strategy to gain market share in the European and U.S. markets," said Simon Lichtenberg, CEO.
After the initial factory in Shanghai reached full capacity, the second facility in Jiashan was opened in 2006. Due to increased demand, the decision was made to implement a phase two expansion of the Jiashan facility.
In the U.S., the Simon Li product line consists of leather upholstery with target pricing of $799 to $1,999 for stationary, and leather motion to retail at $1,399 to $1,799.
Simon Li Furniture is a division of Trayton Furniture, a worldwide resource of leather stationary, motion and accent upholstery.
October 9,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on October 10, 2012
The Interior Lifestyle China is changing its venue and the date for its market next year to accommodate additional exhibitors.
The market will be held Sept. 25-27 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre.
Organized by Messe Frankfurt Co., the show has outgrown its former space.
"The change of venue for our 2013 show will further consolidate Interior Lifestyle China's position as China's leading lifestyle industry show," said Evan Sha, general manager Messe Frankfurt (Shanghai) Co. "In fact during the past six years, the number of overseas exhibitors and brands participating in the show has increased from less than 30 percent in the first edition to more than 70 percent in 2012. This growth reflects the huge potential of the Chinese retail market for lifestyle products and high-end consumer goods and is one of the reasons Interior Lifestyle China continues to attract key international brands."
The date change allows the show to run concurrently with Paperworld China, a stationery consumer goods market.
The current 2012 show was the largest in the market's history with 248 exhibitors from 15 countries and regions.