Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Flexsteel Offers Retailers New Technology
July 16,
2013 by Home Furnishings Business in Industry, Retail Technology 
Furniture supplier Flexsteel Inds. (NASDAQ: FLXS) has added Backroom to its Web site to allow its retail partners and sales representatives to submit orders electronically, check shipping status, download printed materials and more.
A previous in-house software program, Flexsteel Order Link, offered some of the benefits of the Backroom, but the new Web site offers more flexibility and more features.
Flexsteel made a major investment in new laptops and Bluetooth scanners for nearly 50 sales representatives across the country, in addition to the development of the custom programming for the new Web site. Sales representatives are currently visiting retailers in the field to demonstrate the features of the Backroom and train sales associates.
"Our investment in technology is sure to pay off," said Lee Fautsch , senior vice president of sales for home furnishings. "The Backroom Web site is revolutionary in scope and convenience. It's a game-changer when it comes to our sales and customer service. Our retailers can access everything Flexsteel, easily and quickly - what they need is quite literally at their fingertips."
Fautsch went to say that retailers can track information on any of the company's products.
"Anything they could do before by calling, faxing or emailing a salesperson or sales support staffer, they can find instantly through the Backroom," Fautsch said.
Flexsteel's entire collection of fabric and leather swatches has been scanned into the system so retailers can pull up every available color and pattern.
The Backroom can be customized by retailers to meet individual store needs; for example, sub-accounts can be created for multiple users and dealers can control who has full access or partial access to the information. Retailers can use a pricing configuration tool to determine pricing in any scenario. The Web site is able to meet all needs for Flexsteel retailers.
"We've developed a powerful Web site that can be customized for any of our 1,200 retailers across the country," said Justin Mills , director of advertising. "They can use the full complement of features to their advantage on their terms. At Flexsteel, we embrace technology to serve our retailers and meet our corporate objectives. The Backroom is a perfect example. And it won't stop here, we will continue to build on this technology to be a leader in the industry."