Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
October 18,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in High Point on October 19, 2011
The Guildmaster Amazing Race moves into its final few weeks with an international theme in showroom activities during October High Point Furniture Market.
Buyers who place an order at Guildmaster at Market will be entered into multiple drawings throughout the day to win travel gear such as binoculars, translators, first aid kits, travel cases and more. Episodes of The Amazing Race reality television show along with other travel videos detailing the hottest spots to visit in the biggest fashion capitals of the world also will be featured.
"The theme of The Guildmaster Amazing Race will be evident in the showroom," said Steve Crowder, CEO of GuildMaster. "This is truly a dream trip around the world for one retailer and one sales representative. We want dealers and designers to relax and unwind, and envision themselves en route to Barcelona as the possible first stop on their trip of a lifetime."
To identify the favorite cities, Guildmaster on Tour Facebook fans are invited to name their chosen cities and post photos on the Guildmaster Facebook Page. The leading cities to date are: Sydney, Barcelona, Rome, Moscow, Monaco, Bora Bora, Amsterdam, Milan, Buenos Aires, Zanzibar and the Shanhai Pass in China where part of the Great Wall is located. GuildMaster's Facebook fans are encouraged to keep those suggestions coming.
The GuildMaster Amazing Race ends Friday, Nov. 19. The rules are simple: For each $1,000 in product purchased by a retailer or sold by a sales representative, one entry is earned so that the chance to win increases with the value of the orders. The contest ends when five finalists in each group are pulled from the entries. The following week, on Nov. 25, one winner in each group will be drawn from the five finalists and GuildMaster CEO Steve Crowder will personally deliver the news to the winning retailer and sales representative. Each of the winners will receive either two tickets for a dream trip around the world visiting nine cities, or $10,000.
"Right now, the race is pretty competitive with several reps and dealers who have earned quite a few entries into the contest," Crowder said. "But, it's anybody's guess whose name will be pulled. There's still time to earn an entry--and it only takes one to win. Additional entries of course increase the odds of winning. We hope some new dealers step up and put their name into the hat during the upcoming Market to win our Amazing Race."
October 18,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Social Media on October 19, 2011
"Hidden Ways to Get Traffic to Your Furniture Store Using Social Media," a Market seminar presented for the National Home Furnishings Association aims to help home furnishings retailers grow their business by using social media marketing.
The seminar will be presented by industry veteran Mike Root, founder of Get Customers Right Now, a new media marketing company. This seminar is free for market participants on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2:30-3:30 p.m., in the NHFA Retailer Resource Center on the first floor of the Plaza Suites.
As a special addition to this seminar, social media and Internet expert Sev Ritchie of Web4Retail will join Root to present actual client success stories of furniture stores who are making money using social media solutions to promote their businesses. This seminar addresses a fundamental shift that has occurred in the marketing of home furnishings businesses. Root, a third-generation "furniture guy," and Ritchie will address the challenges retailers face to capture customer's attention and then will provide some real world solutions that are working for astute retailers across the country.
This seminar will show many of the tricks and techniques of social media that can be easily adopted for the furniture industry. "The Hidden Ways to Get Traffic to Your Furniture Store Using Social Media" has much to do with the strategy of how to integrate a variety of social medias to simply and easily attract qualified customers to your retail business when the customer is ready to do business with you. The idea is that by embracing cost effective new media solutions, personal interaction between your company and the end user becomes infinitely simpler.
Root and Ritchie will share specific strategies that are working along with low cost solutions that retailers can use easily and effectively. Where appropriate they will also offer recommendations of resources that will help save you time and money getting started.
Retailer who cannot attend the market seminar but would like to get more information can go to here and register. After market, Get Customers Right Now will send out the notes and slides of the presentation of the seminar.
October 17,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Customer Service on October 18, 2011
Jerome's Furniture has promoted Leatha Molina and Kristine Hilliard to director of consumer experience and social media manager, respectively.
Molina brings 25 years with San Diego-based Jerome's to her new role, a new position created to ensure customer satisfaction by overseeing the entire customer experience from sales to delivery. Hilliard will use her four years in Jerome's customer service to be more engaged with customers needs through various social media channels.
"A traditional customer service department is reactive, but in today's connected and fast-paced world it requires more," said Lee Goodman, president and CEO of Jerome's. "We are pushing deeper into our connections with customers to make sure we're meeting their needs, and that they feel compelled to share their positive experience with others."
Molina took the helm as director of consumer relations last year, managing the company's relationship with customers and other company departments, looking for ways to improve communications, particularly with the use of new technologies and online platforms, to complement her decades of experience in traditional customer relations. Under Molina's direction, Jerome's expanded its marketing communications through social media platforms with dedicated customer service staff who monitors and handles questions and concerns.
Molina currently spearheads communication improvement plans with three departments including delivery, customer pick-up and the call center. In the last year, Jerome's implemented a program to address interpersonal communication skills for delivery drivers. As part of this training, Molina meets with the drivers weekly to role play different situations that may occur during the course of their day. The company also implemented a structure where a personal phone call is made to the customer at the time of delivery to ensure complete satisfaction with the ordered product and service experience. During the call, customers are able to share feedback and are advised that the delivery driver is not allowed to leave the home unless there is 100 percent satisfaction. If an issue or concern arises, the company is then able to handle it immediately. This year, she plans to enhance that service measure with a new position to survey deliveries. The added measure will allow the company to track customers' experiences with its employees and garner product feedback.
"The key to my new role is ensuring that the family roots and personal customer experience that Jerome's was founded on is the standard that is upheld as we continue to grow and customers' preferences evolve," said Molina. "We receive a lot of positive feedback from our customers, and we're working hard to keep enhancing their experiences with Jerome's, such as the new Web site we're getting ready to launch that will incorporate new customer interfacing tools."
Molina cited a new program that brings the corporate office closer to the retail showroom experience.
"We just recently implemented a program where we staff our call center clerks at the outlying retail offices to assist any customer that may come into the store with a service issue," she said. "This way the customer receives immediate resolution instead of having to wait and phone the call center."
In addition, she implemented new training videos created for every type of situation an employee may encounter with tools and procedures to handle interactions with a positive outcome. In this case, again, she provides the strategies needed for employees to handle any situation that may arise with both traditional and new communications in mind.
Molina's team, now including Hilliard, has seen a consistent uptick in positive customer feedback and internal survey responses. In 2010, the company saw an increase in customers who said they would return to Jeromes for future purchases by four percent--from 96 percent to 99 percent. The company conducts regular surveys to nearly 10,000 customers each year.
As social media manager, Hilliard will be managing all online customer interactions through social media platforms such as Yelp, Facebook and Twitter.
"Customers have been counting on a quality experience with Jerome's for 57 years and my job is to bring a consistent level of support to our online communications," Hillard said. "Our team is both proactive and responsive in the same way a customer would expect their experience to be when visiting a local showroom."
October 17,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Green on October 18, 2011
Kincaid Furniture is adopting Carpenter Co.'s eco-friendly Renew cushioning for all of its upholstered products.
The new cushions will be seen in Kincaid's upholstery introductions for the October High Point Furniture Market. In addition, all existing upholstered goods will include Renew cushions effective immediately.
Renew cushions greatly reduce environmental impact, utilizing soy-based polyol in their Natural Foam Technology process. The cushions are also PBDE-free, CFC-free and recyclable.
"We have a company-wide commitment to produce furnishings that meet or exceed current and future standards for environmental stewardship," said Kincaid's president, Steve Kincaid, "Including Renew cushioning is the next step in a rigorous but satisfying process to live up to that pledge."
Kincaid has achieved both the EFEC and Sustainable By Design designations from the American Home Furnishings Alliance. These audited, ongoing processes require organizations to address and maintain environmental management programs at individual facilities and throughout their global supply chain.
Companies that have fully implemented both EFEC and Sustainable By Design can then submit individual products for evaluation and registration in a program known as Eco3Home by providing detailed health, safety and environmental measurements for each individual item. To date, Kincaid Furniture is the only company to have successfully submitted products for Eco3Home registration. Its Homecoming collection, one of the company's largest-ever introductions, now bears the Eco3Home designation, with additional collections currently in the review process for Eco3Home registration.
"The Carpenter Company has created an exceptionally comfortable and durable cushion that, aside from all its positive environmental attributes, is a great product," said Steve Beeker, Kincaid's vice president, upholstery sales and merchandising. "When you add in the eco-performance qualities, Renew is virtually unrivaled in our industry."
Beeker said the transition to the new cushioning is "happening now" at the companys facility in Taylorsville, N.C. Retailers will receive upholstery with the new cushions within two weeks.
October 17,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Retail Technology on October 18, 2011
Case goods and upholstery vendor Emerson et Cie will launch a new iPad app for sales reps during October High Point Furniture Market.
Emerson et Cie also will make the app available to designers, retailers and consumers for free through the Apple iTunes store.
The app, designed for Emerson et Cie by software engineer Ryan Bradburn of Urnicus, was originally conceived as a sales tool to helps reps more efficiently, effectively and accurately do their jobs. But company officials soon realized the application's potential as a marketing tool.
"Technology has evolved significantly in the last couple of years and people are using it in ways they haven't before," said Mark E. Smith, president of Emerson et Cie. "The new technology creates a tremendous opportunity for us to better serve our sales reps, dealers and consumers. Our goal with this app was to make it easier for people to view our line, shop our line and price our line."
The iPad app will provide dealers with an easy and fully interactive way to show their customers the full selection of products offered by Emerson et Cie and its upholstery division, Bentley Churchill. Consumers who download the app can explore the furniture line in ways traditional websites and catalogs dont allow. The user interface is interactive and intuitive.
The app includes more than 1,000 photographs of casegoods from Emerson et Cie and upholstery from its Bentley Churchill division, as well as fabric selections, trim and finish options. Zoomable photography allows users to view furniture in incredible detail.
Consumers will be able to browse the product photographs, but they won't have access to proprietary pricing and logistics information. Only reps and approved dealers will be able to access that information, using a secure login and password.
For reps, the app is designed to make their jobs easier and to eliminate errors and backorder issues that can lead to customer dissatisfaction. The app automatically syncs with Emerson et Cie's accounting and logistics systems to reflect accurate and real-time pricing and stock status.
When presenting to their customers, reps are able to sort items using a variety of filters, including stock status, price, collection and category. This enables them to easily customize their sales presentation to each customer. For instance, if a dealer needs products quickly, the rep can show only in-stock items available for immediate shipment from Emerson et Cies warehouse.
Dealer users of the app will be able to share similar information with their customers to enhance the shopping experience.
The app also has an environmental upside. Emerson et Cie will no longer be printing hundreds of sample product photos for each rep because those images will be available through the app. Reps also will be able to place orders directly through the app, eliminating the need for paper order forms. They can also easily share product photography and other details through the app via email.
Emerson et Cie is requiring its reps to purchase an iPad and use the new app for their sales presentations. Because of Apple's market leadership in tablet computers, many of the company's reps already own iPads, Smith said. The app will work on older and newer version of the iPad, and it will be updated as the computing technology evolves.
Emerson et Cie will train reps on how to use the app during its sales meeting prior to Market. Software engineer Bradburn will be on site to answer any questions and to assist with troubleshooting.
The app launch comes in conjunction with a major redesign of the Emerson et Cie and Bentley Churchill Web sites. Following the app launch at Market, Emerson et Cie plans to publicize its availability in consumer advertising in Veranda magazine.
Emerson et Cie has a history of embracing technology as a sales and marketing tool. According to the company, it was the first company to use handheld PDA scanners to place customer orders at Market.
Emerson et Cie and Bentley Churchill are based in High Point. The company distributes its line through retailers of fine furniture nationwide and showrooms in Dallas; Denver; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; High Point, N.C.; Houston; Laguna Niguel, Calif.; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Metuchen, N.J.; Minneapolis; San Francisco; Santa Ana, Calif.; and St. Louis.