Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
July 31,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Internet on August 1, 2011
Home Furnishings Independents Association and online retail giant CSN Stores have partnered to offer CSN's "Get It Near Me" program at an exclusive price to HFIA members.
Designed to drive customer traffic into stores, "Get It Near Me" utilizes CSN's Internet ad platform to promote participating retailers to the site's 11 million monthly shoppers.
Online customers on any of CSN's product-specific, furnishings sites will be able to locate and view retail showrooms within the shopper's geographic area by clicking on HFIA member advertisements. No contracts or minimum commitments are required of stores to participate. In addition, the program includes free account support, educational seminars on Web strategy and a rebate for HFIA members who use the program.
"Few independent home furnishings dealers will have the resources, money or staff, to create the kind of Internet traffic the CSN sites enjoy," said Mary Frye, president of HFIA. "However, "Get It Near Me" is an affordable way to drive more traffic from the Internet to the local retailer's site and to their store."
"Given CSN's tremendous traffic, I wanted to capture those leads into our store," said Seth Weisblatt, Sam's Appliances & Furniture, Fort Worth, Texas. "I've been tracking it with Google Analytics. We've definitely gotten some traffic from it. It's been good."
Based in Boston, Mass., CSN Stores, an HFIA member, is the second-largest online retailer of home goods in the United States and offers more than 3 million items from 5,000 brands. CSN Stores LLC is a $380 million-plus, privately held company serving customers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany. CSN's Web sites include: AllModern.com, Luggage.com, Cookware.com and BedroomFurniture.com.
For more information about HFIA and "Get It Near Me," visit the association's Web site; or contact Mary Frye by phone at 800.942.4663 or e-mail.
July 31,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Retail Technology on August 1, 2011
Technology solution vendor Furniture Wizard has launched its iFurnitureSM web content management system and Inventory UpdaterSM tool.
The new iFurnitureSM web content management system will give retailers the ability to easily create and update a customized website to extend their reach beyond the retail floor, providing powerful point-of-sale and inventory management tools built specifically for the home furnishings industry.
"Retailers work hard to keep their sales floor fresh and up to date, but often ignore the look and feel of their website or leave it up to third-party vendors who populate the site with items they have never carried," said Martin Fischbein, founder and president of Furniture Wizard. "With iFurniture, retailers can use the same care and inspiration to administer and update their website as they do to merchandise their stores."
The addition of iFurniture's Web content management functionality will create a full-circle Web site solution designed for furniture retailers.
"Our talented graphic designers will design a gorgeous Web site that reflects the image of each individual store," said Fischbein. "Then, the iFurniture system will allow you to easily and intelligently control it by updating not only the content, but the images displayed on your home page. It also gives you the ability to easily create content for a Facebook site."
iFurniture features total integration between an iFurniture-generated Web site and the functionality of the Furniture Wizard system--a combination designed toincrease both your customer base and your sales. For example, when your Web customer submits their "wish list" on your Web site, the list is immediately sent to the Furniture Wizard system, which generates a "thank you" e-mail and lets the customer know that they will soon be contacted by a store representative. At the same time, store personnel receive an email and text alert about the customer's desire to purchase.
Inventory Updater will give furniture retailers instant access to up-to-date inventory information from Ashley Furniture.
"For retailers, keeping up with manufacturers' constantly changing inventory and pricing can be a real challenge," said Fischbein. "Furniture Wizard's new inventory management tool provides real-time access to Ashley data==freeing up retailers to do what they do best, sell furniture."
Typically, a retailer would have to log in to Ashley's Web site to check stock availability and submit orders. Furniture Wizard users have been able to use the system to check warehouse stock and place orders for some time. The new Inventory Updater tool will eliminate the time-consuming task of dealing with new product additions, dropped products and price changes. It also will automate the downloading of full-color photos for new products.
"With instant access to up-to-date manufacturer data, you can immediately sell items not on your showroom floor," Fischbein noted. "And the new system allows you to check the current and future availability of multiple items instantly, saving time and speeding up the point-of-sale process."
July 31,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on August 1, 2011
Jessica Phillips Penn has joined high-end contemporary furnishings vendor
Phillips Collection to head sales including key account and hospitality management.
Daughter of owners Mark and Julie Phillips, Penn brings sales and marketing insight and experience from her previous positions at
Discovery Channel and Craft Marketing. She also has a Master's degree from
Columbia University.
She will be based in New York City.
July 31,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on August 1, 2011
High-fashion ready-to-assemble furniture vendor
Euro Style has appointed José Luis Navarro sales director, Mexico.
"We are delighted with our new sales offices in Mexico," said Euro Style President Trig Liljestrand. "José Luis Navarro has already produced amazing results."
Euro Style is showing this week at
Las Vegas Furniture Market on the sixth floor of Building B in
World Market Center.
July 31,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Green on August 1, 2011
The American Home Furnishings Alliance is accepting entries for the 2011 Sage Award for environmental leadership among home furnishings and bedding companies.
Now in its fourth year, 2001 entries are sought from companies that have not only reduced the environmental impact of their operations, but also are on a pathway of continual improvement.
The 2011 winner and up to two finalists will be announced during the October 22-27 High Point Furniture Market. All three companies then will be featured in their own spotlight video designed to capture the spirit of their efforts to balance people, planet and profits.
The 2011 winner and finalists will be honored and their spotlight videos featured at the home furnishings industry's 2012 Sustainability Summit (date and location to be announced), sponsored by AHFA.
Sage Award entrants are asked to complete a detailed questionnaire that explains their sustainable business practices and documents their environmental accomplishments. The questionnaire also asks applicants to provide specific examples of community involvement or other forms of social responsibility and requests information that demonstrates that the company is financially secure.
The Sage Award program is open to all manufacturers, retailers and suppliers to the home furnishings and bedding industries. The 2011 entry form can be found here. Entries are submitted electronically.
There is no cost to enter the Sage Awards. Entries must be received via e-mail by midnight Eastern Standard Time on Friday, Sept. 2.
In addition to an overview of the Sage Award criteria and the official entry form, the Sage Award Web site features videos spotlighting last year's Sage Award winner, Zenda Leather, and finalists Flexsteel Ind. and TLS by Design, as well as the 2009 and 2008 winners and finalists.
In addition to the spotlight video, the winner receives a $2,500 check to be donated to the non-profit environmental effort or charity of the recipients choice, along with a custom-designed Sage Award plaque. The winner and both finalists also receive complimentary registrations to the 2012 Sustainability Summit.
"There are three great reasons for companies to enter the Sage Awards," said Patricia Bowling, vice president of communications for AHFA. "First, it's an opportunity to raise the bar of environmental stewardship and activism within our industry. By sharing the challenges and accomplishments they have experienced along their environmental journey, entrants help other companies in their quest toward more sustainable operations."
The second reason to enter is the opportunity to receive well-deserved recognition for environmental accomplishments. Boling said: "Implementing sustainable practices throughout a home furnishings or bedding company is never a one-man or one-woman show. It takes commitment, involvement, enthusiasm and persistence at every level, and winning the Sage Award is a great way for your entire workforce to enjoy recognition for their efforts."
Finally, Sage Award winners receive $2,500 they can use to "pay it forward," she added. 2009 winner Copeland Furniture chose to add another $2,500 to the amount, so $1,000 could be contributed to five different organizations in Vermont, among them a conservation commission and a food pantry. The 2010 winner, Zenda Leather, split its award between a family guidance center in Hickory, N.C., and a U.S.-based non-profit that helps underprivileged mothers and children in Uruguay, where the company is based.
The Sage Award program and the Sustainability Summit are co-sponsored by Cargill's BiOH polyols business unit. Companies that enter the Sage Awards do not need to be members of AHFA nor users of Cargill's BiOH polyols.