Daily News

From Home Furnishing Business

Weather Doesn't Dampen Mega Group Convention

March 27, 2014  by in Furniture Retailing, Industry   

Day one consisted of an intense schedule of training meetings. Product training by category and brand, workshops and reviews of advertising, web marketing, product protection sales, health and business insurance, consumer financing and more. Afternoon sessions hosted industry reviews of appliance, electronics, furniture and mattress. 

We poll our membership after each convention. By far the number one request is always for more training”, said Rick Bellows, president of the home furnishings, electronics and appliance retail buying group. “They can’t get it in their markets any longer. Our role as a group is to bring training to them at our shows”.

Missy Hodges, vice president of appliances, addressed the members on the appliance industry update. In despite to the slow MAJ industry start in January and February, down 6 percent, “Mega dealers are holding their own and exceeding the industry numbers,” said Hodges. She also hosted an interactive session on the need to plan utilizing goals, business plans and budgets.  

Jerry Honea, executive vice president, addressed the members with a presentation on industry and economic trends for furniture and mattress with special emphasis on the “Outdoor Room” and the consumer interest in this developing category. Several new vendors were introduced, including Trex, Adagio, Flair, Guildmaster and Vaughan. The session concluded with an interactive discussion on finance, accessories, and hot items and categories.

A new workshop, Mega Performance Groups, was introduced. Dozens of dealers took interest in this program. Dealers will be questioned and surveyed over the next few months to determine their level of commitment and to form like minded groups. These groups will offer dealers opportunities to share business information, financials and best practices in a confidential setting. This information will be complied for each group and presented for dealers use to measure their business against similar businesses for improved efficiencies and profitability. The groups will meet in Nashville in August at the Fall convention. 

In an interview style session, Rick Bellows chatted with two Mega Group members. Jay Russo of Good Deals Appliances in Ft. Myers, Fla.; and Lee Burns of Mattress Direct in Baton Rouge, La., shared with hundreds of members some of their unique approaches to running successful businesses. Everything from personnel, inventory control, sales and sales training was discussed.

“Members would rather learn from each other than listen to keynotes or motivational speakers,” Bellows commented.

"Mega Madness" closed out the day with a 90-minute buying frenzy. Almost 50 suppliers armed with limited offer specials manned their tables and wrote hundreds of orders.

One new highlight announced and shown was the Mega Digital Studio display and touch program. Using displays that members place strategically around their store, pictures, animations and videos running consistently offer product features and benefits for customers and salespeople alike. The Touch program allows immediate on-floor access to product or category specific sales text and assets.  With cloud-based content dealers can easily program one or multiple screens with different content provided by each manufacturer. Members can easily upload their own content as well.  Best of all, the system is easily affordable.

“We’ve studied all systems out there and feel that what we’ve chosen is the best most cost efficient and easy to use system available,” said Scott McFarland, CIO.

New versions were announced of the mobile app integrated with WebFronts retail websites help dealers combat showrooming and enhance their on line presence along with in-store tablet sales aid enhancements through the Mega RetailDeck app.

The Mega Outdoor Casual area opened new possibilities for Mega members' businesses. New vendors debuted representing product offerings in all outdoor categories such as lighting, grills, furniture, shade, fire pits, pergolas, outdoor kitchens, water features, rugs, fireplaces and outdoor heat.   

Mega's next national convention is August 22-25 at the new convention center in Nashville.

“Nashville is always our biggest convention," Bellows said. "We’re particularly excited about this one, because both the convention center itself and the Omni Hotel are brand new."