October 25,
2010 by in UnCategorized 
By Aggregated Content in Business Strategy on October 26, 2010
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r3508786576&f=10761
Luxury retailers may focus on apparel at their outlet stores, but Nordstrom is offering a limited assortment of home furnishings on the website it has
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October 25,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Financial Reports on October 26, 2010
Atlanta-based Aaron's, Inc.
(NYSE: AAN) reported net earnings of $26.2 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, a 6 percent increase compared to $24.6 million reported in the same quarter last year.
Sales for the quarter climbed 9 percent to $452.2 million compared to $415.3 million in the same quarter last year.
Net earnings for the first nine months were $87.6 million compared to $87.5 million for the first nine months of last year. Sales for the nine-month period were up 7 percent to $1.392 billion, compared to $1.307 billion for the same period of 2009.
"We are pleased that our third quarter results were in line with our expectations," said Robert C. Loudermilk, Jr., president and CEO. "Same store revenue and customer growth continue to be strong, and we are on track with our 2010 new store opening plans. In this tough economic environment, we have performed very well, providing basic home furnishings that are desired and needed by our customers. We feel that our positive business trends will continue during the remainder of 2010 and look forward for another excellent year in 2011."
As previously announced, the company began ceasing the operations of its Aaron's Office Furniture division in June. During the third quarter, Aaron's closed two Aaron's Office Furniture stores and has two remaining stores that will remain open in 2011 to liquidate merchandise.
The entire earnings release can be found on the Aaron's Web site.
October 25,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on October 26, 2010
Home furnishings retail giant Ikea will more than double its number of furniture stores in China by 2015, the Boston Globe reported Sunday.
Ikea currently has eight stores in China, but will add $300 million to a partially company-owned mall developer's $1.2 billion investment to increase that total to 18. Ikea also has three stores in Hong Kong.
Euromonitor estimates that China's market for home furnishings will grow to $28 billion this year. Euromonitor also says Ikea has around 7 percent of that market.
October 25,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Social Media on October 26, 2010
Julia Rosien has left eco-friendly bedding vendor Natura World to form SocialNorth.com, a social media optimization consultancy for the home furnishings industry.
During her two-year tenure with Natura World, Rosien launched three Web sites that saw unprecedented traffic growth and brand awareness for the company. She also put Natura on Facebook and Twitter, where the company has thousands of followers on each site. She also leveraged an extensive network of independent and mom bloggers who shared their experiences with the company on their blogs and all their individual social networks.
With SocialNorth.com, Rosien will consult on companies' online efforts to:
* Show companies where they're losing traffic to competitors and point them to the biggest wins right out of the gate.
* Launch social media platforms based on keyword research and search engine optimization best practices.
* Offer training sessions to bring expertise in-house so social media and SEO wins continue into the future.
* Share linking strategies, content generation and keyword research that optimize findability online, now and in the future.
Rosien believes success for companies happens when they invest in developing content, smart web strategies and growing online communities.
"Yamaha said it best in an online conversation with someone from their community--If you're going to get naked, you better be buff," she said. "There are so many people claiming to be social media experts because they've mastered Facebook or Twitter, but they really don't have the experience or track record of success. Sitting at home in your pj's twittering does not always translate into a strategic, workable plan."
At Natura World, Rosien's Safe Sleep viral marketing campaign saw Natura's online traffic to Natura increase by 75 percent; and page views by 180 percent. Facebook traffic alone swelled by 1000 percent.
Rosien said companies seek to use social media to reduce their marketing budgets by getting involved at a grassroots level and growing a community of believers that shares a brand.
"Creating an online community is like going to a gym--you aren't going to see results if you only visit once a month, but if you're there every day, things start to happen," she said. "And going every day takes strategy, discipline and the right person leading the charge."
Prior to joining Natura, Rosien began her career as a freelance journalist, contributing to national publications such as The Boston Globe, Chicago Sun and Women's Health Magazine. She served as the senior editor (and managed a stable of 75 freelancers) for the second largest pregnancy magazine in the U.S. before it closed its doors in 2006. From there she took on a team of travel writers and pioneered the online space for social networking opportunities. She quickly saw quantifiable results that can be difficult to collect in the traditional marketing world.
Rosien managed a community that saw more than 2 million visitors monthly. She saw all manners of behavior online--some of it not very attractive--and learned the how to navigate through the social networking landscape long before the rest of the world realized its existence.
Rosien gives Natura full kudos for pioneering social media for the bedding industry.
"When I was hired, no one else in the industry was doing it, and Ralph Rossdeutscher created the position for me," she said. "Ralph took a big risk that social media was going to take off (this was only 2009, remember) and they reaped the rewards of being the first--and I believe, most powerful--out of the gate."
Rosien is a regular speaker at industry events, a member of the Better Sleep Council and a vice president for WithIt.
October 25,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on October 26, 2010
Full-line bedding vendor Glideaway Sleep Products has named bed-frame industry veteran Michael Stowe national sales manager.
Stowe oversees a recently expanded national sales force and will focus on growing St. Louis-based Glideaway's integrated mattress and sleep accessories product lines.
He takes over the post from Rick Snider, who is assuming a new leadership role in the company focusing on key accounts and product merchandising.
Stowe joined Glideaway from W. Silver in Texas, where as national sales manager he helped grow the steel mill's business in 38 states and Mexico, including supplying raw materials to Glideaway.
"We've always been impressed with Michael's knowledge of the bedding industry and believe he will be a strong addition to the Glideaway team," said Ron Fredman, Glideaway's executive vice president of sales. "He brings a unique perspective to the company as he is already familiar with the competitive landscape as well as Glideaways executive team. This inside knowledge will offer Michael a great opportunity to expand his portfolio to include mattresses and increase sales in our two core businesses--steel and sleep products."
"Ive known Ron and Carmi Fredman since 2003 and have watched with great respect as Glideaway expanded from its roots in bed frames to broad based sleep products," Stowe said. "This company is known for providing customers high quality merchandise at cost effective prices. I am looking forward to working with a larger team and providing our customers with a more diverse suite of sleep products and solutions."
"As we continue to expand our business portfolio with many of the Top 100 retailers in the U.S. we needed a special team to address the added training, service and merchandising needs these customers require," Fredman added. "No one better understands how to meet and exceed these requirements than Rick."