Daily News Archive
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July 26,
2012 by in UnCategorized 
By Aggregated Content in on July 27, 2012
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z6909914453&z=1600249795
Schwarz Sells 1.4M SF for $10.4M Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc. closed on its $10.44 million acquisition of a 1.38 million-square-foot industrial building at 916 Baltimore Rd. in Advance, NC. Schwarz & Schwarz sold the manufacturing facility, previously occupied by RJ Reynolds. Schwarz originally acquired the property in a sale leaseback, which Reynolds decided not to renew past the original term. The main property features 24-foot clear heights, however the 13,000-volt power system in place was owned by RJ Reynolds and did not convey in the sale, forcing Ashley Furniture to work with Duke Energy to supply necessary power to
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July 26,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Internet on July 27, 2012
FurnitureCore.com, an industry portal for information and applications to improve retailer and manufacturer performances, has added Design Cliq to its applications.
Design Cliq, a patent pending Internet marketing process designed to attract and hold consumers visiting a retailers Web site through a tested series of style preference quizzes, bill its services as New Ways to New Customers.
According to Design Cliq, compared with the typical 4 percent Internet registration rate, 39 percent of consumers who start a Design Cliq quiz will register their name, e-mail address and ZIP code. Upon registration, they are then shown room photos of the retailer's products in their specific style preferences and are signed up for a long-term series of helpful home tips and personalized product information. Results show that Design Cliq registrants purchase 17 percent of the time and at an average of 29 percent more than the retailers average purchase ticket.
Fred Starr, former president and CEO of Thomasville Furniture and Natuzzi Americas, is the founder of Design Cliq.
"This is an Internet Marketing concept, which has been tested for over two years with major retailers," he said. "Were grateful to Havertys, Slumberland, Belfort Furniture, and Nebraska Furniture Mart for all their support. Combined with FurnitureCores analytics, we can now prove that Design Cliq produces sales and establishes a new, loyal customer base. Were especially pleased to see that 83% of our registrants are new customers."
"Design Cliq captures the long-discussed potential of the Internet," said Bob George, president of FurnitureCore. "We know that 73 percent of consumers visit the Internet before shopping, but until Design Cliq these likely purchasers were mainly anonymous. Now Design Cliq engages them early and continues to inspire them by understanding that their real purchase motivators are Style and Performance, not Price."
More information can be found at furniturecore.com under the Advertising tab.
July 26,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Internet on July 27, 2012
Accent furniture vendor Stein World has re-launched its Web site to provide greater functionality to both dealers and consumers.
Debuting at the Las Vegas Furniture Market, the new cutting-edge site was developed in partnership with industry supplier MicroD, and features a visually stunning interface and a robust merchandising platform.
The sites advanced capabilities are designed benefit both consumers and dealers. New lifestyle photography captures and inspires consumer visitors while a dealer locator encourages and facilitates retail shopping. Advanced dealer tools support product selection, ordering and fulfillment.
We are extremely proud of the new website and excited by its ability to market and merchandise our broad assortment of accent furnishings, lighting and mirrors, said Jack Johnson, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Stein World, Memphis, Tenn. Our new site will help inspire consumer demand for our products, drive sales and support our dealers.
The sites newly improved functionality features advanced dealer ordering capabilities including real-time updating of product availability. Consumers will appreciate new features such as room-planning tools, interactive lifestyle images and a more user-friendly product catalog.
Were very pleased to be working with Stein World as they reset their web strategies, said MicroD Senior Executive for Strategic Business DevelopmentJohne Albanese. Jack and his organization have listened to the millions of consumers who are now using the web as a primary shopping/research tool and they have taken action to be sure that Stein World is where those consumers want them to be. Its been a true honor to work with Jack and the other members of the Stein World team.
July 26,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Social Media on July 27, 2012
Furniture retail marketing firm R&A Marketing is launching a new service called Just Be Sociable with R&A Marketing.
This service includes options of complete management and execution of a retailers Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and Foursquare accounts. It also features a reputation-monitoring tool available that helps track what the online and social world are saying about a retailer.
We realized that the whole social media arena was growing at a faster pace than our clients could keep up with, said Kevin Doran, vice president and co-owner of R&A Marketing, Columbus, Ohio. Its important that we stay ahead of the game and offer the best services to our clients.
In celebration of R&As new service, it will host a social media sweepstakes: #BeSocial. Whether they want to pin, tweet or like anyone has the opportunity to enter this sweepstakes. Participants have a chance to win up to $1,000 at the one place they shop at the most. Whether it is clothes, food, charity, business services, hardware or just a generic gift card, they name it and they might win it. For every 250 people that enter, the amount of the sweepstakes giveaway gets larger.
We wanted to show people the impact of social media, said Doran. Social media is about sharing stories, experiences, photos, etc., so why not have a contest where the more you share the more you could win?
Currently, R&A Marketing manages more than 100 Facebook pages for furniture retailers across the nation. The new service, Just Be Sociable with R&A Marketing, is designed to help businesses dive into the social media world with effective, easy and fun online social networking management services.
July 26,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on July 27, 2012
Bedding protection specialist Protect-A-Bed has a new showroom at Las Vegas Furniture Market, World Market Center-B918.
The 5,100-square-foot state-of-the-art showroom, seven times larger than Protect-A-Bed's previous space, features the entire Protect-A-Bed product line-up in an interactive, consumer-friendly way. The showrooms centerpiece is the Protect-A-Bed Experience, which includes hands-on demonstrations of product benefits and features.
Our customers can experience how Protect-A-Bed products address sleep concerns, which will help them better understand why our products are essential items to carry, said James Bell, CEO. Our merchandising display units and interactive racks will also be on display to show customers how they can use these successful selling tools at their retail locations.
Protect-A-Beds innovative display units, currently featured in furniture stores across the United States, offer in-depth product information through streaming videos, product samples and demos, as well as displays information available for consumers to take with them.
Our customers are pleased with the way the unit showcases the benefits of a healthy sleep zone, Bell said. Its become a powerful tool to help retail sales associates showcase their products.
Since opening its first showroom at Vegas Market, Protect-A-Beds international footprint has expanded to include a presence in 35 countries.
An international wall features our different products and packaging in the countries where our products are sold, Bell noted.
The showroom also includes three private meeting rooms, two lounge areas for customers to relax, and a full-service bar for cocktail hours on Monday, July 30. and Tuesday, July 31, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Overall, we wanted the showroom to feature everything Protect-A-Bed has to offer in a relaxing, enjoyable and inviting environment, Bell said. We also envision it as a nice reprieve for people to escape the chaos of Market.