Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
March 23,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Aggregated Content in High Point on March 24, 2011
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z4356776089&z=1250249030
A home furnishings and accessories importer will move its High Point Market showroom to the former Bevan Funnell building on N. Hamilton Street in time for the fall furniture market.
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March 22,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in Furniture Retailing on March 23, 2011
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z4350901483&z=1250249029
Maine Cottage, an upscale furniture and home decorating store in Yarmouth, has suddenly closed, leaving behind unanswered questions for customers and vendors.
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March 22,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Business Strategy on March 23, 2011
Profit Management Promotions is hosting a retail workshop during the upcoming
High Point Market on how store owners can create executable business plans.
The workshop will help store owners develop action plans that tie to retailers strategic options: staying the course with their current strategies, pursuing restructurings, investing in capital improvements, business expansion, or liquidating.
The hour-long seminar will be held Monday, April 4, at 2:30 p.m. in the
NHFA Retail Resource Center located in Plaza Suites on the second floor. The workshop content dovetails with a new PMP service offering focused on providing business planning advisory support to furniture retailers.
"We continue to see an alarmingly small number of furniture retailers that develop formal business plans in order to keep pace with shifting market challenges and opportunities," said Ron Cooper, director of sales and marketing. "In fact, most companies dont do planning at all. That has to change. The economy is steadily albeit slowly regaining its footing. That means home furnishings retailers need to aggressively map out strategies to capitalize on the opportunities we believe they will see in 2011."
Entitled "If You Plan, Your Business Can Survive & Thrive!", the seminar will study the major marketplace challenges confronting furniture retailers. These include the multitude of new choices consumers have for purchasing home furnishings namely big box stores, the growing national chains, closeout stores, independent outlets, and web retailers as well as the changing attitudes of todays value-oriented consumers, who are unwilling to overpay and who are less concerned with buying products in brand name outlets.
Cooper said that many furniture retailers need to radically revamp their business models to reverse the losses they incurred over the last several years.
"Our seminar will address each of these areas," Cooper said. "Importantly, our attendees will come away with a powerful toolkit of strategies to develop action plans that will help them succeed in 2011 and beyond."
March 22,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Business Strategy on March 23, 2011
The
National Home Furnishings Association began offering free business intelligence access to its members through
FurnitureCore.com on Wednesday.
FurnitureCore.com, Atlanta-based
Impact Consulting Services' industry portal, is a Web-based knowledge and operations center designed expressly for the home furnishings industry. With this benefit, NHFA retailers can access a suite of business intelligence including industry numbers and numbers specific to their market(s). The site provides subscribers with up-to-date information about the industry and their position in it. It offers users unprecedented access to their company's facts and figures as well as data-gathering services, consumer research, organizational tools, and up-to-date industry news and insights in a unique virtual environment.
"In response to ongoing member inquiries, we have been searching for an alternative to previous years' Retailer Performance Report," said Steve DeHaan, executive vice president of NHFA. "Unlike the report, however, this member benefit will provide immediate access to the most up-to-date numbers using FurnitureCore.com. Often retailers underestimate the value of this kind of information until they're asked for it. In providing our members with this invaluable information we are enabling them to be proactive in making decisions that will improve their bottom and top line profits."
"In 2011 retailers are craving answers to two questions: 'Where does my business stand and where should it be?,'" said Impact Consulting Services President Bob George. "As a dominant hub for the home furnishings industry FurnitureCore.com is where subscribers can access the most up-to-date information about the industry and their position in it. NHFA members will be able to tap into many of the basics as part of their membership benefits and extend their access at a membership rate.
NHFA members can learn more about this program during the upcoming
High Point Furniture Market by visiting association representatives or stopping by the FurnitureCore.com booth at the NHFA Retailer Resource Center on the first floor of the Plaza Suites Building.
March 22,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Retail Technology on March 23, 2011
SuperCat Solutions has launched the eCat iPad app for sales representatives.
After a year of initial research, a six-man technical development team created the app with the goal of providing the create an interactive sales tool that quickly shows product vividly and efficiently, takes and submits orders, and checks inventories and order status. Now in its third generation with six months of proven performance among Sarreid Ltd. reps, Sarreid has sold off the eCat software to a new company, SuperCat Solutions LLC, formed in January by investors, the software designer, and the independent software development company that created the app.
"What makes eCat different is that it takes the perspective of what a sales representative needs to serve the retail dealers and write orders out in the field, and what the company needs to process orders and better manage the sales function," said Steve Thrasher, president of SuperCat and operations manager for Sarreid. "It is not just a glorified version of a print catalog. eCat automatically syncs with a web server over a secure connection to keep product, pricing and inventory information current, and to efficiently share updated information with the sales team."
The product focuses on streamlining the process from presentation through follow up account service. For example, the user can choose from three product display options, all showing both descriptive information and inventory availability: Quick View for rapid browsing of all products within categories; Presentation View with large photos and ability to 'zoom-in' to view product detail; and Detail View with extensive product information.
Customized filters enable users to show specific product groups, items available for immediate delivery, or only new items recently introduced. Within each view are multiple selection criteria including trade name, collection, room or product grouping, functional categories, string searches for similar products, and Smart Stacks of specific product groupings.
As the sales representative works with a buyer, items can be placed in an order cart with special features such as a "Maybe List" and a review feature that allows the buyer to look at thumbnail photos of the order for final decisions and editing. The user may choose to suppress all pricing, specify standard pricing set by the vendor, or access special custom pricing levels also determined by the vendor. eCat also provides information about minimum orders or products which must be ordered in multiples or as sets.
"We spent a year talking with sales reps and studying how they work before writing the first line of software code," Thrasher said. "Essentially, we've taken the step by step details of the sales process from introduction through delivery and put it at the fingertips of the sales person as they work with the dealer. The app has been created through the eyes of management as a nuts and bolts approach to transforming each step into a digital transaction that ultimately provides the sales representative as well as the buyer with everything they need from us to make a decision and place the order."
A one-hour "shirt sleeves" luncheon and demonstration of eCat has been scheduled at the String & Splinter Club in High Point at noon, Tuesday, March 29. For more information or to RSVP contact Anne Wear at 336.884.8700 or by e-mail.