Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
August 26,
2012 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on August 27, 2012
Luxury bedding vendor Pure LatexBliss has launched "Learn and Earn," an online training and awards program for retail sales associates.
This initiative was built in collaboration with the award-winning Incentive Team, based in Atlanta and known for creating state-of-the-art training and incentive programs.
Pure LatexBliss has created a series of short videos designed to educate retail sales associates on key messaging, branding and product benefits, which the RSAs can access through an online portal. After completing a quiz on the content covered in the presentation, RSAs collect points, which are deposited into members accounts that can be redeemed for prizes, including cruises, electronics and jewelry in the Pure LatexBliss awards mall, which contains a selection of more than 800 items. Participants can also earn bonus points for signing up for the program and sharing tips about selling Pure LatexBliss products with other online learners.
The program has been in beta test for the past six months where participants have earned televisions, travel cards, Bose Headsets, Dooney & Bourke Purses, Tag Heur Watches, Pure LatexBliss mattresses and more.
Our retail sales associates are the backbone of our company and we wanted to create a better way to train them. The Learn and Earn program is a fun, interactive, rewarding program where everyone wins, said Pure LatexBliss President Kurt Ling. We believe online videos are a great format for learning and think giving iPads and iPods away are the donuts and coffee of this generation.
August 26,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Advertising on August 27, 2012
Upholstered furniture vendor Décor-Rest has hired home furnishings marketing communications firm the Daly Group to re-energize its U.S. presence.
Décor-Rest is taking assertive actions to capture specific demographic opportunities in the U.S. marketplace, said Christina Marzilli, COO of Toronto-based Décor Rest. The time is right. The competitive landscape has shifted in our favor with the Canadian/U.S. dollar in an equal exchange rate and our logistic ability to deliver custom upholstery in two weeks from Toronto, has all lead to our decision to confidently plot a course to aggressively build on our U.S. business.
Décor Rest, which celebrated 40 years in business this year, is listed as one of the top manufacturers in Canada. A family owned business, led by co-founders Angelo Marzilli Sr. and Christina Marzilli is a very hands-on operation. Son, Angelo Jr. is taking a strong leadership role in sales, logistics and production for the company.
We chose the Daly Group because they are hands-on like us and they will develop a very distinctive and unique marketing and merchandising plan for our specific manufacturing capabilities. They are experts at communicating a home furnishings companys strengths and for finding clever and affordable ways to maximizing marketing budgets, said Christina Marzilli. We were impressed by their other clients marketing strategies and the leveraging of their budgets.
Along with retaining the Daly Group, Décor Rest will hire a dedicated sales organization to handle the U.S. market, creating U.S. specific retail programs supported by consumer advertising to reach targeted consumers and drive traffic into the retailers.
We believe supporting the retailer with a strong brand awareness campaign is paramount to the success of our U.S. business. American consumers are ever-brand conscious and take the time to educating themselves on major purchases, said Marzilli. Our trend setting neighbors to the south will have a positive effect on the Canadian marketplace.
Décor-Rest shows at High Point Furniture Market at 208 Jacobs Place.
August 23,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Casual Dining on August 24, 2012
Casual dining vendor John Thomas Furniture has named Bryan Sprinkles and promoted Jamie Brendle to new sales and marketing positions to support the growth of the company's Select line of custom dining options.
Sprinkles, formerly sales and marketing manager of John Thomas Furniture, has been named national sales manager for the Whitewood Inds. division. Sprinkles will focus on expanding John Thomas Furniture's nationwide retail distribution network. Sprinkles joined Whitewood in a sales and marketing role in 2006.
Brendle, who joined Whitewoodww in 2010 as marketing coordinator, has been promoted to marketing administrator for John Thomas Furniture and Whitewood. In her new position, she will serve as project manager for all of John Thomas' marketing initiatives, including catalogs, videos and the company's recently enhanced Web site.
"In recent years, as our Select program has expanded, my energies have been increasingly focused on sales," Sprinkles said. "At the same time, we've been offering more and more marketing support to retailers. It was time to split up these two functions so they each receive our full attention."
The new management structure will enable Sprinkles to better support retailers on the sales side with product development, training and other services, he said.
In her new role, Brendle will be able to focus more time on developing creative merchandising and point-of-purchase materials "to help stores better promote our products and capture more consumer attention," Sprinkles said.
John Thomas introduced the Select casual dining program in 2005. Select offers 36 paint or stain options on a variety of solid-wood products available for delivery in four to six weeks.
"Select has become the core part of our business in the past few years, and we see great potential to grow it even more going forward," Sprinkles said. "Our goal is to continue enhancing the program through fresh products, finishes, and fabrics with our independent retailers and continue developing new opportunities with Top 100 stores and major buying groups."
August 23,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Mattresses on August 24, 2012
E.S. Kluft & Co., maker of Aireloom and Kluft brand mattresses, has signed a long-term lease for nearly 99,000 square feet of new state-of-the-art production space in Hazle Township, Pa.
The company has already begun to recruit 50 new employees and expects to start production in mid October. Kluft expects to double the number of jobs during the initial term of its lease.
The Kluft and Aireloom brands are unique. High-quality retailers have asked us to grow our production capacity in the East Coast region. This new site will be a state-of-the-art production and distribution center that mirrors our West Coast facility, enabling us to produce our full line of products for the first time on the East Coast, said E. S. Kluft & Company President and CEO Earl Kluft. Hazle Township is a great community with a wonderful workforce. We are excited about this new opportunity.
Kluft has outgrown the former Park Place mattress facility in Denver, Pa., it took control of last year. Because of the age of that plant, it made more sense to find a newer location.
We needed a place where East Coast buyers and sales associates could see our ultra-luxurious American-made beds at a visually appealing location. Our new facility sits majestically on a grassy rolling hill overlooking a highly travelled highway and also provides us room to grow as it is part of a 22-acre site, said Kluft.
Mericle Vice President Jim Hilsher coordinated the lease transaction with commercial real estate broker Vincent Ranalli of the Wayne, Pa., office of CB Richard Ellis. Hilsher said he expects E.S. Kluft & Company to move into the front section of the building by early fall and start operations shortly thereafter.
Our construction crews will be moving quickly to build out office space, add lighting and increase electrical power to support Klufts manufacturing processes, said Hilsher. Kluft looked at numerous buildings in eastern Pennsylvania. We are pleased our building is the right fit for the company and its manufacturing jobs.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
August 23,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Internet on August 24, 2012
Online furniture retailer StrataShops has a spot on the 2012 Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing U.S. private companies in the United States.
Stratashops, Elkhart, Ind., is parent company for eight e-commerce furniture Web sites, including outdoor wicker furniture leader WickerCentral.com and patio furniture Web site TheLivingQuarters.com.
StrataShops is honored to be included on such a prestigious list of companies, said John Webber, Founder and Owner of StrataShops. StrataShops has seen incredible growth over the last four years and that trend is set to continue right here in Elkhart, Indiana.
The Elkhart, IN, area has been economically challenged in recent years. Unemployment rates soared in 2009 to over 15 percent, a national high. Presently, the number has subsided to just above 10 percent. The figure is still well above the national average.
Our customers stretch from New York to Alaska, Webber added. Each sale we receive has not only helped us reach this achievement, but has also helped stream those dollars down into our local economy.
StrataShops has attributed the growth to exceptional customer service, selling quality national brands and a strong team member atmosphere. StrataShops expects to achieve future growth in the fourth quarter with the addition of artificial Christmas trees website ChristmasEveTrees.com.
Each year, Inc. Magazine releases its 500 list ranking the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. The list results are based on the percentage of revenue growth from 2008 to 2011. For the complete list, visit here.