Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Furniture First Adds Sales Reporting Tools to Software Lineup
May 10,
2017 by Larry Thomas in Industry, Internet 
Furniture First, a buying group for independent full line furniture and mattress retailers, has added a suite of sales reporting and analytic tools called “Tools 2 Win” to its software lineup.
The program was developed by Furniture First member and former board chairman of the board Jeff Winter and his brother, Jamie Winter. The brothers are the owners of Furniture Mall of Kansas, which has locations in Topeka and Overland Park.
Furniture First said the program began with a few spreadsheets and macros pulling data form the store’s point of sale (POS) system. Soon it grew to the powerhouse system that allows their team to easily make data driven decisions to continuously improve results in advertising, merchandising, buying, sales and operations. These data driven tools have helped propel the growth of Furniture Mall of Kansas over the past decade.
The Winters shared information on the data they use to make decisions and drive their success with the other members of a performance group made up entirely of Furniture First members. The enthusiastic response from other retailers convinced them to market the suite of sales analysis tools as “Tools 2 Win.”
An agreement with Furniture First followed shortly thereafter, reducing the price for members, adding members-only enhancements, and rebranding the suite to “Tools 2B First.”
Brian Dodge joined the Tools team of four engineers and now represents the program to the members of Furniture First. In addition to sales presentations, Dodge hosts weekly webinars with existing Tools clients to make sure they are getting the most out of the program.
“It’s really exciting to see how Tools 2B First can transform our members’ business and give them the ammunition they need to operate at a higher level,” said Andrew Kauffman, chief operating officer of Furniture First. “Every member who is currently using the program has seen an increase in their margin because this program allows them to truly focus on all sales trends, categories and especially best sellers in their stores. We’ve had retailers take steps to join us just so they can get access to this program.”
Furniture First’s annual symposium will take place May 15-17 at the JW Marriott in Phoenix.