January 2013—Brand Advocates by RetailerNOW

LAS VEGAS MARKET

JANUARY 2013

INSIGHTS FOR TODAY’S HOME FURNISHINGS PROFESSIONAL

c a n I fi n d

he m

HABITAT

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Brand Advocates are more than 2.5x more likely to use social media to expand their circles.

BEHAVIORS Brand Advocates are prolific content creators—they write and share more than 2x as many online communications about brands.

MOTIVATIONS

more likely to discuss household purchases

Brand Advocates genuinely enjoy sharing product information and they are always looking for new things to share.

75%

MORE LIKELY to share a great experience about a purchase

50%

Frequently visit social networks to meet NEW people

MORE LIKELY to influence a purchase

Defining Your Brand

BRANDVERTISING a k e s th e m

NHFA

National Home Furnishings Association

WHFA

Western Home Furnishings Association

www.RetailerNOWmag.com

MORE ON EVERY LEVEL

Las Vegas Market January 28–February 1, 2013 TO DAY ’S TOTA L M A R K E T P L AC E www.LasVegasMarket.com

Reimagined. Reenergized. Reinvented. This is the new Las Vegas Market — join us. Winter 2013 brings you a more inspired buying experience filled with:

More new lines to make your store stand out

More introductions to excite your customers

More emerging trends to freshen your offerings

More exciting home furnishings, accessories and décor resources than ever!

To learn more and register: www.LasVegasMarket.com

We’ve Moved! New AtlANtA Showroom

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INSIDE featuresNOW 14.

Brandvertising Defining Your Brand

18.

My Brand vs. Manufacturer Brand

22.

Four Major Consumer Segments

24.

10 Reasons to Invest in Mobile

28.

Email Marketing

33.

Las Vegas Market Highlights

See p.2 for more features 

yourVOICE

10.

Retailer2Retailer

11.

Roving Reporter

26.

Fresh Perspectives—

29.

Collecting Email Addresses

69.

What’s Selling NOW

Brand Entanglement

count onIT Now We’re Talking

06.

Conversations with your Presidents

08.

Editor’s Letter

12.

TechNOW—Inbox

46.

Membership Marketplace

See p.2 for more 

on the cover

14 BRANDVERTISING

Thank you to BzzAgent.com for providing our cover infographic. To see the full infographic on Brand Advocates, visit www.retailerNOWmag.com

www.retailerNOWmag.com J A N U A R Y | 2 0 1 3

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Nectarine

Linen

Grayed Jade

Emerald

Monaco Blue

Dusk Blue

Poppy Red

Tidal Foam

2013 Spring Pantone Colors! featuresNOW 50.

Leveling the Playing Field

54.

Q&A with Eco-Chic Designer

57.

Bricks to Clicks

58.

Social Moves in 2013

Read last monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s issue at: RetailerNOWmag.com

JANUARY | 2013

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count onIT 53.

Product Focus

Bedding

63.

The Scoop

67.

Quick-Fire Marketing

70.

Industry Calendar

72.

The Now List

Product Placement Advertising

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thePlayers RetailerNOW

What we are so passionate about. . .

To have the courage to pursue purposeful dialogues that challenge conventional thinking, to engage and entertain our readers by delivering content that creates a fervent following ready to change the landscape of our industry. RetailerNOW is the magazine for today’s home furnishings professional. Developed for a specialized community, RetailerNOW brings a unique editorial focus on progressive and relevant issues concerning the home furnishings industry in the retailer’s voice, with a focus on issues impacting retailers NOW.

Q: What is your New Year’s Resolution?

Melissa Dressler Editor melissa@retailerNOWmag.com

Lisa Tilley Art Director lisa@retailerNOWmag.com

To run with a goal, and qualify for the Boston Marathon. —Lisa

Larry Carroll Account Manager larry@retailerNOWmag.com

Tim Timmons Associate Publisher tim@retailerNOWmag.com

Cindi Williams Business Development cindi@retailerNOWmag.com

Contact Information:

Mailing – Advertising

Andrew Tepperman, Tepperman’s Carol Bell, Contents Interiors Donny Hinton, Colortyme Marty Cramer, Cramer’s Home Furnishings Rick Howard, Sklar Furnishings Travis Garrish, Forma Furniture

3910 Tinsley Drive #101

2013 National Home Furnishings Association Officers

500 Giuseppe Ct., Suite 6 Roseville CA 95678

Cherie Rose, President, The Rose Collection, CA Marc Schewel, Chairman, Schewel Furniture, VA Rick Howard, President Elect & Treasurer, FL John Wells III, Sr. Vice President, Wells Home Furnishings, WV Donny Hinton, Sr. Vice President, Colortyme, SC

High Point NC 27265 Online: retailerNOWmag.com Phone: Editorial: (800) 422-3778 Advertising: (800) 888-9590 Social: facebook.com/retailerNOW

Twitter.com/retailerNOW Pinterest.com/retailerNOW

2013 Western Home Furnishings Association Officers Live one day at a time and not take myself too seriously. —Tom

Subscription: $70/year

Valerie Watters, President, Valerie’s Furniture & Accents, AZ Chris Sanders, Exec. Committee Chair, Everton Mattress Factory, ID Lael Thompson, President Elect, Broyhill Home Collections, CO Chuck Kill, Vice President, Bedmart, AZ Tom Slater, Treasurer, Slater’s Home Furnishings, CA Mark Navarra, Secretary, Jerome’s, CA

Southern Home Furnishings Association President:

Retailer Now, ISSN# 2166-5249 is published monthly (except March and December) by the Western Home Furnishings Association, 500 Giuseppe Court, Ste 6, Roseville, CA 95678. Application to Mail at the Periodicals Postage Prices is Pending at Roseville, CA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: please address changes to: RetailerNOW, The Western Home Furnishings Association, 500 Giuseppe Court, Ste 6, Roseville CA 95678. If you would like to stop receiving RetailerNOW, please send an email to unsubscribe@retailerNOWmag.com. If you would like to only receive an electronic version of RetailerNOW, please send an email to gogreen@retailerNOWmag.com. © 2012 National and Western Home Furnishings Associations. Published by the National Home Furnishings Association and Western Home Furnishings Association. Material herein may not be reproduced, copied or reprinted without prior written consent of the publisher. Acceptance of advertising or indication of sponsorship does not imply endorsement of publisher or National and Western Home Furnishings Associations. The views expressed in this publication may not reflect those of the publisher, editor or National Home Furniture Association, Western Home Furnishings Association and Western Retail Services Corp. Content herein is for general information only; readers are encouraged to consult their own attorney, accountant, tax expert and other professionals for specific advice before taking any action.

Britt Sams, President, Sams Furniture, NC

Southeastern Home Furnishings Association President:

Wogan S. Badcock III, President, W.S. Badcock Corporation, FL

For a complete Board of Director listing, visit retailerNOWmag.com NHFA Staff Steve DeHaan, NHFA Executive Vice President • (800) 888-9590 x6124 Karin Mayfield, Sr. Director of Membership • (800) 888-9590 x6154 Jordan Boyst, Member Services Rep • (800) 888-9590 x6132 Dianne Therry, Member Services Rep • (800) 888-9590 x6167

WHFA Staff Sharron Bradley, WHFA Executive Director • (916) 960-0345 Karpice Crawford, Membership Director • (916) 960-0346 Mike Hill, Member Services Rep • (916) 960-0263 Eric Malone, Member Services Rep • (916) 960-0291

NHFA

National Home Furnishings Association

To have a more balanced life. Spend more time with my beautiful wife and daughter. —Donny

Editorial Collaborators:

Mailing – Editorial:

JANUARY | 2013

www.retailerNOWmag.com

WHFA

Western Home Furnishings Association

SEHFA SHFA

South Eastern Home Furnishings Association

Southern Home Furnishings Association

New England Chapter

GE Capital

WE’RE NOT JUST BANKERS, WE’RE BUILDERS. At GE Capital, we’re not just bankers, we’re builders. With 80 years of experience you can count on us to be there for you and your customers. Of course we bring great financing options, but we also bring you real expertise to help you grow store traffic and sales. Randy Stewart, Relationship Manager at GE Capital delivers proven industry expertise to Grand Home Furnishings. Randy Lundy, Sr. VP, CFO at Grand Home Furnishings knows that it’s the people at GE that make the difference. With GE Capital you can be sure people like Randy Stewart are ready to help you build your business every day. Stop just banking. And start building. gogecapital.com

Randy Lundy Sr. VP, CFO, Grand Home Furnishings

Randy Stewart Relationship Manager, GE Capital

Presidents Message

CONVERSATIONS

Cherie Rose The Rose Collection Los Gatos, CA NHFA President

Valerie Watters Valerie’s Furniture & Accents Cave Creek, AZ WHFA President

Cherie: It is a New Year, with new presidents, so why not

a new format for the President's letter!

Valerie: Yes, Cherie and I are making history and shaking things up. We are throwing out the old “President Letters” and bringing you into the conversation of what’s happening in the industry! Cherie: We are two women-owned businesses working

together to build a better Association and stronger industry. We are excited to share our passion utilizing an interactive format and blog that will further build our relationship with all of you! Valerie: Cherie and I have committed to blogging this year (I swear I will get better at technology!). We want you to read it and send us comments to keep us on our toes. One thing that does keep me on my toes is maintaining our company brand. One of the most important things I learned while studying to open my own business was about branding, and the significance of creating the character or personality of what the store is going to be early on— I have stuck to it for over 23 years! Cherie: Every successful business needs branding to

differentiate (show your uniqueness, a trendsetter, custom capabilities), entertain (give your audience a reason to pay attention), and engage (through platforms, programs, messages and experiences).

JANUARY | 2013

Valerie: To appeal to today’s consumer, your brand must not only be recognizable in advertising with your logo and message, but carry through all aspects such as the feel of the showroom, the smells and music. When they go to your website are they getting the same impression? Cherie: We've carried our brand throughout the store.

Because I am a small retailer with lots of BIG store competition, I changed the name and branding of my store. I am now called The Cherie Rose Collection and all of my products are private labeled into collections named after varieties of roses. For example, Henredon is called, "Wild Rose". Valerie: Even small things like private labeling makes your brand stand out! Be sure to hop onto www.retailerNOWmag. com and share your ideas about branding on our blog.

Cherie: We want to know what is important to you and

include you in the conversation. Things are changing in the industry, the next generation is coming in and the way we connect with our customers is different. Instead of being afraid of the change, let's embrace it and share our ideas to create a thriving industry, together!

Visit www.retailerNOWmag.com to join our conversation!

www.retailerNOWmag.com

Editor’s Message

Tender Shoots

Alloy

Monaco Blue

Poppy Red

from the editor Mel's 2013 Pantone Color Picks

The Disney Brand

From a very young age, I have been a Disney fan. It probably started around the age of four, when my mom decorated my entire room in Minnie Mouse—from the bedding to the ceiling fan, it was all “Totally Minnie” (hey, it was the 80s). I also took my first trip to Disneyland that year, and have since been back more times than I can count! Growing up in Northern California, we always had amusement parks that were closer, and cheaper, but none of them lived up to the Disney experience. Everything in Disneyland (and Disney World) is about creating an experience—whether you are pretending to be in a fantasy, visiting the future, or just enjoying Main Street USA. Every aspect of the parks, from the queues (lines), to the Cast Members (staff), and the cleanliness, is carefully thought out to build this experience, and enhance the Disney brand.

The cleanliness of the park has always been a joke for my family and I. On many of our trips, we would see someone drop a piece of popcorn, and seconds later a Cast Member would sweep it up. Poof! It was gone like magic (I sure wish that happened in my home!). Then years ago my mom and I visited and something was wrong. The place was dirty. The bathrooms were unkempt. Trash was spilling out of the trashcans and popcorn was all over the ground. In our eyes, the brand was tarnished. This wasn’t Melissa Dressler Editor, RetailerNOW the same pristine place that used to be magical—instead it seemed like the other dirty amusement parks we visited that were just eager to cash in on our money. After that trip, my mom and I decided to take a break from the Disney experience. The brand wasn’t the same. They had strayed away from the small details that had separated them from the competition. I didn't want to spend that much money for just an “average” experience. I finally went back a few years later, and was pleasantly surprised to see that Disney had found its “self” again. The Cast Members were back and cleaning up the one piece of dropped popcorn. The park looked fresh and clean. It was the experience I remember from my childhood, and it lived up to my expectations. Is your store meeting your customer’s expectations? Have you looked at every single detail (including the cleanliness of your bathrooms) and thought about how this might reflect on your brand? I encourage all of you to read through this magazine and take a deep look at your store, through your customer’s eyes. You might be surprised at what you see.

(916) 960-0385

Melissa@retailerNOWmag.com @retailerNOW

What I’m Loving One of my 2013 furniture purchases is going to be a new sofa (do not get me started on my current one!), so I have been looking at many different styles! I really love the new Bonn sectional by Nathan Anthony. It has a chic contemporary look that also looks cozy for any home. The unique leg design even creates an illusion that the entire piece is suspended in the air. This Bonn sectional was also an ASFD Pinnacle Awards Finalist. Follow other products I love on my blog and on Pinterest. Blog: www.retailerNOWmag.com www.pinterest.com/retailerNOW 8

JANUARY | 2013

www.retailerNOWmag.com

Is the Way You’ve Done Things in the Past Stopping You from Being Profitable Today?

Problem Solved. Our roots go back to 1897 when we were furniture retailers just like you. That’s why we know what it takes to be successful in this industry. When we started, an order was placed by shaking hands and inventory was tracked through ledger account books. Today, customers can purchase from unlimited sources. The only way you can earn their business is by standing out from the crowd. That’s why we developed the industry’s only Total Retail Success System. We help retailers like you solve your critical business issues and generate greater profitability.

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software | consulting | performance groups | freight savings | e-solutions

800.888.5565 www.profitsystems.com

Your Voice

Retailer Retailer Qď ˝ What advertising medium will you focus the most energy on in 2013? We are re-directing a lot of our advertising dollars to social media. We have invested in a new website through FurnitureDealer.net and have enhanced our Facebook presence by partnering with R&A Marketing. Also through R&A Marketing we have added Twitter, Foursquare, Pinterest and we will soon be blogging. By partnering with professionals who do this for a living it allows us to stay on top of the fast moving world of social media. It also allows us to do what we do best, and that is to take care of our customers. Our website and social media marketing have just begun, and we are already seeing positive results. We saw an immediate reaction to our new website. It is all new to us, but what makes it exciting is knowing you have an expert just a phone call or an email away. Social media allows us to become even more creative. Constant Contact has also been a great tool. Customers respond very well to our email blasts. One of our most popular events is Wine & Design. This event is held once a month after the store closes. It is posted on all of our social media outlets as well as Constant Contact. Each event has a theme about design and customers love it. This is just one example of how social media can work for you too.

Chris Cooley, Michael Alan Distinctive Home Furnishings, Lake Havasu, AZ

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Your Voice

Roving Reporter | NICK GATES, Gates Home Furnishings, Grants Pass, OR

See us at Conference Nick Gates, Alex Macias, Amy Albert & Lael Thompson participating in a panel discussion at the Furniture Today conference.

IT’S

2013, do you know where your Millennials are? At the Furniture Today Leadership Conference the sights were set on where are the Millennials, and what we are going to do with them. This was the first FT Leadership Conference I have attended, but I was immediately impressed at the caliber of minds in the room. From a retailer starting out in the business, any opportunity to talk with and learn from others like Pedro Capo, Chad Spencer and Satya Tiwari is an honor in itself. However, the most amazing thing about this trip was that all eyes were on the new wave of retailers in the business. Besides the fact that Next Generation-NOW (NGN) was featured at the conference, the attitude of the attendees was projected towards the future and those bringing new life to the industry. The NGN group made great connections but met many that assumed you had to be “young” to be a part of it.

This conference just continues to prove to us why NGN is not just for youngsters—NGN needs mentors, teachers and supporters that have years of experience in the industry. We need the previous generation to impart their knowledge on us so that we can begin to turn this industry onto a course of growth and innovation. This is a call to everyone in the industry: the best way to get this next generation on its feet is by getting them involved. If you have a son or daughter, niece or nephew, grandchild or great-grandchild showing any interest in this business, send them to events like this one. The only way this industry is going to achieve the ideas set forth at this conference is to begin the process of grafting in our next generation at markets, meetings and conferences. We have a great, diverse, people-oriented industry. Simply show them what this industry is like outside of your front door and the rest will come.

Interested in becoming a part of NGN? Visit www.ngnow.org

www.retailerNOWmag.com J A N U A R Y | 2 0 1 3

Tech

TechNOW Hot Sites

Retailers are you using any exciting new tech sites? 800.422.3778

Visit these hot sites for new ideas, money-saving info, products and fun!

So Pinteresting

DON'T MISS AN ISSUE! RENEW ONLINE NOW www.retailerNOWmag.com

Pinterest for Business Pinterest has introduced Business Accounts! Already a fav social media site for many businesses, Pinterest has taken things a step further by offering business pages. If you are already a user, you can easily switch your account from personal to business. Simply visit business.pinterest.com and click “Convert Your Existing Account”. Don’t have an account? Visit business.pinterest.com and get started today. Why Switch?

The new business pages allow businesses to tell their own story, build a community and drive traffic to their site. Businesses can verify their website with a few simple pieces of code—making your website visible on your profile and search results. Also, it makes it easier to set up an account (no more having to use ABC as your first name and Furniture as your last name). Lastly, having a business Pinterest page opens you up to the new features that will one day be released (lots going around the rumor mill… including the ability to sell directly through Pinterest!). Get Your Customers Involved

Set up a group board and invite your followers. Make a board for them to pin their winter décor inspiration or favorite room designs. This not only allows you to see what your customer loves, but it is a fun way to connect and make them feel a part of your store and online community. RetailerNOW recently launched its own community-driven board called “Fashion for the Home” where we, and our followers, share the furniture we love. Interested in joining the fun? Email Melissa@retailerNOWmag.com for an invite.

Cool Apps

RunKeeper (free) iOS & Android

Easily store your receipts and Shoeboxed will organize them for you. Then generate and email expense reports in seconds. Instantly send your extracted data to QuickBooks, Wave Accounting, Xero, Excel, FreshBooks Outright or dozens of other tools. Great tool for Market trips.

It’s the New Year and we are sure many of you made a resolution to get in better shape. Here is a fitness app to help you along the way! RunKeeper tracks your miles, speed, elevation and more through your phone’s GPS. You can run, walk, bike or hike and have RunKeeper tracking the entire time.

JANUARY | 2013

@RetailerNOW: Apple to start manufacturing Mac computers in US http://ow.ly/fSUFs #MadeinUSA @tkpleslie: That is exciting @ RetailerNOW that for the 1st time in history of our industry it’s 2 women leading WHFA and NHFA! cc @WithIt!!

Inbox Email from our Readers

Shoeboxed Receipt Tracker (free)

iOS & Android

Top Tweets:

www.retailerNOWmag.com

Just got the best magazine in the mail! I am in love with pages 30-31! Thank you very much for the opportunity to walk about High Point and showcase it through my eyes using your Instagram account! You all ROCK! Dana Helms, SocialNorth

#hpmkt

Kevin O'Brien Studio Moroccan Velvet Pillow Designer: Kevin Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brien

Find Your Inspiration at highpointmarket.org

find us everywhere

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336.869.1000 | info@highpointmarket.org

Brandvertising

By Bill Napier

I have to admit this is a really boring headline! It’s been used so often that probably no one even reads articles with headlines like this. I hope in this case that is not true, because I’m going to give away some great ideas to help your business define your brand and marketing strategy so you can be more relevant to today’s consumer. I’ve been working with companies for over 30 years, developing marketing plans, advertising messages and helping them define their brand. Believe me; it’s not as easy as you think, because a brand is not what you think it is. It’s what everyone else, especially your stakeholders, believes it is. Most company owners define what their brand is or what they, the owners, think it should be. Then they communicate this to their employees and probably never really know if their perception is in fact reality. In actuality, the owner’s vision is probably wrong more often than not. Here’s why: The company hasn’t done the hard and tedious work necessary to really understand what the “stakeholders” of the company think. What’s a stakeholder you ask? Well consider these entities as stakeholders: • Owners • Salespeople • Customer Service Employees • Warehouse Employees • Delivery Employees • And everyone else in the business not listed above

I remember a company my agency worked with back in the 90s. They were in the printing and packaging business reporting approximately $30 million in sales. The primary founders/owners had passed away and left the business to their three sons. When we went to work for them, all three brothers wanted to run the show and needless to say, there was some chaos. They all told me their different visions of their “brand”—yep, all different and in their minds, each was correct. Rather than argue with them, we went undercover in an experiment that led to the process I’m writing about and what RetailerNOW and Napier Marketing Group will share with you online via download to help you define the brand and the necessary steps you should take to get real with the Brand’s Reality.

JANUARY | 2012

I personally went to work in the shipping and receiving department for several days. I believed that these people would reveal to me “the truth” as to what they thought about the company and the company’s brand. My hunch was correct, because they were honest… brutally honest. Essentially, they thought the new management was a bunch of Silver Spoon Morons that had no experience and worse… they talked down to the employees, showed no respect and so much more. However, we also found out that these same employees loved their managers and supervisors, respected the sales management and salespeople and worked hard to show it to those individuals When we went in with our S.W.O.T analysis (StrengthsWeaknesses-Opportunities-Threats); the first area we addressed was Threats. The biggest threat, the owners. Our solution: All the owners should go play golf and get out of the way until they learn the business and earn the respect of ALL their stakeholders. They should turn over the day-today operations to their managers and supervisors and focus on the vision and future mission of the company. With that said, let’s talk about the process we developed that may help the company truly define what the brand is, and what needs to be done to achieve that Holy Grail of Brand Equity. The following are the basic steps necessary to fully understand the who, what and where the brand is and how to make the necessary changes to complete the vision. Every employee needs to fill out this questionnaire. It should be done anonymously so that the stakeholders can be candid and honest about what they believe your company and brand stands for, or doesn’t stand for. This may take each employee 1-2 hours to complete, and even longer to tabulate the results into an action plan. That’s the hard part, charting every answer from each stakeholder, because that is the only way you’ll begin to actually visualize the truth about your brand’s platform The information in this article will serve as a quick outline that will help you define your brand, the marketing messaging and your sales proposition. The complete outline can be downloaded on RetailerNOW’s website, www.retailerNOWmag.com, in a PDF and as a Word document so you can customize the questions as you like.

www.retailerNOWmag.com

Brandvertising

STEP ONE Goals This area asks your employees to, in their own words, describe your business. It also asks them to define what they think the goals of the company are, or should be. Obviously you want everyone to have the same goals as you, but you may be very surprised with the outcome. There are a lot of questions in this section. Measurable goals are critical and without measurable goals you cannot continually improve.

STEP TWO Audience Profile: You probably think you know who your audience is, right? My question is, what research have you done, and based off that information, have you tailored your business vision and mission towards that audience? Here we ask some fairly basic questions, but the answers require you to do some research. Who is your target customer? What are their demographics/ethnicity and psychographics? How do they shop, what do they shop for, what are their wants, needs and desires, interests and lifestyles? Where do they live? How do these consumers want to be communicated with and so much more. I’ll wager that your customer of 10 years ago is NOT your customer of today, and because of that, your vision of your brand may be becoming irrelevant. Perception/Tone/Guidelines:

This section is especially interesting when all the stakeholders complete this area. I’ve found more often than not, that perception again is not reality. If this happens with your company, you really need to rethink how you communicate to your stakeholders first, before you communicate with the consumer. There are several questions in this area that will elicit many different answers from the responders. Why? Because you probably have not done the “basics” when it comes to developing your brand, much less building it. Competitive Positioning:

This is an area where you can find out what your assets and liabilities are when it comes to your “frontline people” who are the Brand Emissaries for your business. If they don’t know the answers to these simple questions, you have a problem because these people are the first encounters your consumer has with your store and your brand.

How you are different from your competition? Please describe the key factors which you believe will make your company/products a success?

How is your company different from your competition? What elements of your products/services “specifically” set you apart from your competition? What areas of your current positioning, advertising, people, website, etc., are successful and why? S.W.O.T Analysis Everyone hates this exercise, because it requires sincere “soul searching”. Everyone needs to be brutally honest in answering these questions, for you cannot have an actionable Brand Strategy if you don’t address your shortcomings and failures first. Remember, anyone can make a sexy commercial, great ads and in-store sales materials, but it all fails if you do not deliver on the “promise”, and that is what a brand is… Your Promise!

(When you download the document off the RetailerNOW website, we give you many questions to ask and soul search under each category below).

 Strengths  Weaknesses  Opportunities  Threats Defining Your Brand continued on p.16

www.retailerNOWmag.com

Brandvertising

Visit retailerNOWmag.com/brandvertising to download the complete branding exercise.

Targeted Message:

Summary

State a single-minded word or phrase that will appropriately describe your expectations once the assignment is completed.

Personally, I don’t think many retailers in our business care about their brand—I wrote R.I.P—The Death of Brands As We Know It in the August issue of this magazine. We’ve replaced products with price, brand positioning with cheap, and passion with sameness. Essentially we’ve “commoditized everything” and made the shopping experience all about “the deal”, at the expense of the experience. Oh, that company I mentioned at the beginning of the article? We worked with them for over a year with the processes we developed and outlined here. Today their sales are in excess of $110 million and the owners are thriving… as are their employees and stakeholders. Call or email me and I’ll show you what we did for them and how as a focused team, they helped redefine their business in a commoditized industry.

Communication Strategy For Your Brand: How do you believe your brand should be positioned to convince your target audience of your relevance? Here we have five distinct questions that will give you insights as to what your employees think and feel about your brand. You’ll be surprised at how many great ideas can come from this section.

Staffing and Training Here is an area that is critical for your business and for ensuring that you set the standards by which your competition competes. Yep, knowledge is power and superior knowledge can infect an individual with passion on a particular subject. I’m surprised with what little training is done both at the retail level and by the manufacturers. Here we outline some questions, and we ask the employees to rank the good, bad and ugly.

Bill is a specialist in creating, guiding and deploying successful marketing B2B & B2C solutions integrating traditional marketing strategies with the web and social media. He has worked in the home furnishings industry for over 12 years, as the chief marketing officer for some of the industry’s largest manufacturers and creating some of the largest promotions ever launched within the industry. Comments? Questions? Contact Bill Napier, Napier Marketing Group, Inc., billnapier@napiermkt.com, (608) 539-3005, www.social4retail.com.

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Brandvertising

Do I Manufacture My Brand… Or Brand the Manufacturer? By Doug Knorr

ne of the questions I get asked as I meet with furniture retailers around the country is, “Should I create my own store brand or should I build my brand on the strength of a manufacturer’s brand?” First, we need to understand what a brand is and what a brand is not. A brand is not something you conjure up. It’s not powerful TV commercials, glossy ads or a jingle. It’s not employing clever social media activities. It’s not an award-winning service department. Rather, it’s about all these touch points working together and making consumers feel really good about every interaction with your brand. You see, “a brand is not a thing… it is an experience!” Your brand is the “sum” of all the experiences of your store, its presentation, its products and your staff including your delivery team. Consider this, why does a person drive a BMW or Mercedes Benz? I promise you it is not just to commute. A person drives a BMW or Mercedes to be recognized as someone who has attained a certain level of affluence or stature. It’s about “Passive Experience—Active Expression!” People use brands to say something about themselves! I remember when a high-end furniture retailer, Klingman’s of Michigan, was in its prime. They retailed to the entire state and people would come from hundreds of miles and even pay more for the same item they could have purchased from a store closer to home, in order to purchase from Klingman’s. Why? Because they wanted the public recognition and experience of having a Klingman’s truck in their driveway!

You see, the power of a brand is always based upon the experience of the consumer more than it is about the item itself! To create a unique brand experience, you need to consider a term that was penned by a past Starbucks executive, “Brand Environmentalism!” Brand environmentalism is when your unique brand promise is felt at every level of your company and experienced at every point of contact by your customer. For example when you think about Disneyland or Disney World, what keyword comes to mind? Well, if you ask one of my kids or grandchildren they will tell you without hesitation—it’s about “fun”! Imagine if you went to a Disney property and you did not experience fun. What would you think? I believe you would say the brand lied! Now listen closely… building your store brand is no different. You must build your brand upon the promise of an experience that you can deliver every customer 365 days a year without fail. I love this quote by Maya Angelou, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will not forget how you made them feel.” Now that we have determined that a brand is not a thing, but rather an experience, one would think that the next step to building a brand would be to determine what experience you want to promise the customer every time they visit your store. However, we still need to address one additional aspect of building a brand before we can discuss the pros and cons of manufacturing your brand or branding the manufacturer. Before you can make a decision about the preferred experience you want to provide your customer, you must first analyze your business, the competition and the consumer demographics of your market. This analysis will require that you take an honest look at your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT). Once the SWOT process is completed, you will have a clear understanding of the direction you need to take to build your point of differentiation and brand promise message.

“Brand Environmentalism!” Brand environmentalism is when your unique brand promise is felt at every level of your company and experienced at every point of contact by your customer.

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, 18

Brandvertising

of organizational leaders believe they deliver a superior customer experience, only 8% of customers agreed. Now we are ready to answer the question, “Should a retailer be the brand or should the retailer build his brand upon the strength of a manufacturer?” Of course this discussion will exclude retailers that have manufacture brand stores like La-Z-Boy, Z Galleries, Ashley HomeStores, etc. That being said, the most important brand is always the unique brand promise the retailer can control. Building a store brand on a manufacturer means the retailer abdicates control of the overall brand and the destiny of the retailer’s business. Although a retailer’s merchandising may be a major element of their brand, being the home of a particular manufacturing brand says nothing about the overall store experience. What if the manufacturer decides to redefine their “noncompete” criteria or the manufacturer management team changes and suddenly decides to discontinue what was a popular item in a retailer’s store, cut corners in quality construction to lower costs, or merges with another manufacturer?

We passionately embrace the philosophy that it is the products that the retailer carries on the floor that defend and support the retailer’s brand. It is the sum of the products, presentation, performance and staff that create the unique experience that builds a successful retail brand. With that said, let me amplify this position. A few years ago I was asked to build a new branding initiative for a retailer in the middle states. For many years this retailer had built their reputation and complete identity on “Brand X” (one of America’s best brands which will remain anonymous). Here is what happened: The manufacturer’s management and philosophy changed. They redefined distribution and within two months, this retailer lost their competitive uniqueness. Their brand position, which was based on relative exclusivity with this manufacturer’s product, was lost. There are many examples of retailers who have chosen to build their brand on the strength of a manufacturer’s product, only to see market conditions change, a brand

weaken or the consumer change their focus to a “new” type of product. The point is this: manufacturer brands have an important duty to support the retailer’s brand, but they should never replace or overshadow the retailer’s brand! Now, let’s discuss further the value of the manufacturer’s brand supporting the retailer’s position and its ability to add extra value to the retailer’s brand. Britt Beemer of America’s Research Group has continually stated that, “there is tremendous value in using a well-respected furniture brand and offering it at a very aggressive price point to build a strong position of price leadership in a category.” We have seen how adding a well-known brand can attract a whole new set of consumers into a retailer’s store. For example in the Midwest, adding solid wood Amish products will have a strong appeal to those who appreciate solid wood construction and handcrafted furniture. We have seen how a medium-high or highend furniture retailer can change their traditional and maybe non-contemporary persona by adding a product like Stressless by Ekornes which offers an entirely new look and feel to the floor. In closing, there is no real advantage for general retailers to build their company brand around a single manufacturer. In fact, there is great potential liability in doing so. I would also like to add a warning as I end this article. The global business consulting firm Bain & Company discovered that, while 80 percent of organizational leaders believe they deliver a superior customer experience, only 8 percent of customers agreed. Continued 

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats

but people will not forget how you made them feel.”—Maya Angelou

“Any fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith and perseverance to create a brand!”

So what separates those 8 percent from the rest? According to Bain’s James Allen, in his writings on “The Three Ds of Customer Experience,” these organizations pursue three imperatives simultaneously. These organizations: • Design the right offers and experiences for the right customer. • Commit (organizationally and cross functionally) to deliver them. • Develop their capabilities to please customers again and again.

David Ogilvy, arguably the father of modern advertising, once stated: “Within every brand is a product, but not every product is a brand.” I believe this still rings true today. Building your store’s brand will be the hardest and yet most rewarding thing you can do. I will leave you with one final quote from Mr. Ogilvy which says, “Any fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith and perseverance to create a brand!” © Copyright 2013, Knorr Marketing Douglas Knorr, known as a “retail marketing activist” is president of Knorr Marketing (www. knorrmarketing.com), a full-service marketing and advertising agency specializing in the home furnishings industry. The agency provides strategic planning, creative production, public relations, sales promotions, website development, digital media solutions including social media and media buying. Headquartered in the resort community of Traverse City, Michigan, the firm serves clients throughout the United States.

est.1944

Western Home Furnishings Association

he study by The Incyte Group identifies four unique market segments that are most likely to look to customer communities when making purchasing decisions. From high-earning young professional women to tech-savvy men who share the latest gadget information with online community members, find out how to identify these representative personas from each segment* and leverage your social media strategy to connect with each in a meaningful way.

16% BEST REPRESENTED BY:

TRAITS:

Males age:

• Early adopters. • Seek out and have strong social ties with like-minded techies.

HOW CAN YOU NURTURE A RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM • Offer insider information or an exclusive free trial.

HOW MANY IN THE U.S. POPULATION? These young, tech-savvy men are highly likely to be an advocate for your brand. Enable easy social sharing, and watch as your good name spreads among fellow Techies.

14% BEST REPRESENTED BY:

TRAITS:

Women, often mothers age

• Responsible for household shopping. • Value-driven buyers.

HOW CAN YOU NURTURE A RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM HOW MANY IN THE U.S. POPULATION?

• Incentivize with online badges and other intangible rewards. • Leverage their desire to be perceived as helpful.

These mamas are eager to participate in an online community to research topics, share their knowledge, and receive offers and promotions. Incentivize them with coupons, and they will bring tremendous value to your community and brand. 22

JANUARY | 2013

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Consumers Fashionistas: 26% Knights: 9% Techies: 16% Mamas: 14% Everyone Else: 35%

BEST REPRESENTED BY:

TRAITS:

Female professionals age:

• Have discretionary income and no children to spend it on. • Desire a deep, meaningful relationship with brands. • More than willing to provide feedback and advocate for a product or service they like. • Present on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+

HOW CAN YOU NURTURE A RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM

HOW MANY IN THE U.S. POPULATION?

• Provide special offers and promotions. • Create active online communities with strong social linkages, so they can easily share with their fellow Fashionistas. These individuals are interesting to marketers because of their purchasing power and sheer segment size. And they are eponentially more powerful because of their social connnections and propensity to share information.

BEST REPRESENTED BY:

TRAITS:

Male professionals age:

• Educated and in the know about the latest gadgets. • Tech-savvy and helpful. • Join online communities to share product expertise with fellow consumers. • Active on social networks.

HOW MANY IN THE U.S. POPULATION?

HOW CAN YOU NURTURE A RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM • Incentivize with online badges and other intangible rewards. • Leverage their desire to be perceived as helpful.

Knights offer generous support that can be valuable resource to other customers. In addition, Knights are in-demand professionally, and they command high salaries. Their purchasing power is greater than their relative segment size alone. See page 71 for more information

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Mobile

Mobile shoppers looking to buy quickly, “on the go”. By Brian Dick

Mobile

s 2013 arrives, it’s time to get serious about mobile marketing. A growing tide of research reveals what many local retailers and national brands may already know (and are profiting from today):

XX Tech-savvy shoppers using smartphones are researching “on the go” and are in-market and ready to buy. YY Mobile Internet use will surpass computers by 2014. ZZ A majority (85 percent) of U.S. adults have a cell phone; 45 percent have a smartphone. qq Most people look at their smartphone about 150 times a day. rr 25 percent of U.S. Internet users say they are “mobile-only” and rarely go online via computer. ss Mobile devices accounted for 14.3 percent of all Black Friday online shopping traffic in 2011. tt In 2012, retailers expected to see 32 percent of all Black Friday purchases to be made using a mobile device. uu Other retail segments are catching up fast: In a recent automotive research study, nearly one-third of all Web queries using keywords with clear purchase intent came from mobile devices. vv Tablet users spend more time than phone users conducting purchase research, reading reviews and tracking down special offers before they buy. ww The mobile cost per conversion is usually lower than a comparable standard search ad.

Retailers must prioritize website upgrades and create specialized digital marketing campaigns to take advantage of accelerating mobile trends.

“Last year at this time, mobile and tablet shopping began to reach critical mass,” said Ethan Cohen, CEO of Easy2 Technologies in a recent press release. “Since then, we have seen tablet sales explode and smartphone penetration continue its steady increase. Mobile shopping activity grew 49 percent [between August and November 2012].” It’s not much of a stretch to say that retailers with the most robust, sustained sales growth in 2013 will focus their online marketing budget on a trio of digital tactics:

1. Mobile Marketing Move more marketing dollars into mobile-specific campaigns. Doing so will ensure that you’re showing up in top positions across all Internet-capable devices with properly worded and formatted ads to convert the maximum number of purchase-ready users. Be purposeful when designing mobile-optimized website content and landing pages. Mobile buyer behavior and expectations vary greatly from desktop users. Think one goal per landing page. Focus on the single result or conversion you wish to achieve.

2. Localized Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Running ads on Google, Bing and Yahoo! is still the most effective way of converting online searches with purchase intent into phone calls, website clicks and foot traffic. Work with a partner who utilizes the latest technology to ensure that you’re deeply penetrating local markets and getting the largest share of digital voice possible.

3. Co-Branded Display Advertising This tactic most effectively boosts national brand and local store awareness on contextually relevant websites. Brands should work with a vendor who has deep experience targeting desktop and mobile users with effective banner assets that leverage the calls to action and overall imagery suitable to both platforms. Brian Dick is Director of Business Development, Home Goods and Services at Netsertive (netsertive.com), a fast-growing online marketing technology firm that drives maximum sales opportunities to national brands and local retailers through the power of Internet advertising. You can reach Brian at: bdick@netsertive.com

Sources: xAd-Telmetrics “Mobile Path to Purchase Study” 2012, Mary Meeker, Morgan Stanley 2012, AlistairHill, On Device Research 2012, Compete, Polk and Google Buy Flow Study 2012, Qualcomm CEO 2012, IBM Smarter Commerce Initiative 2011, eMarketer 2012, Pew Internet Survey Sept. 2012

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of Brand Entanglement By Seth Weisblatt, Samâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Furniture

Fresh Perspectives

When we started advertising on Google in 2008, I was balancing an ad budget between cable, radio, newspaper, the Yellow Pages and tabloids. The famous quote about, “Half your advertising works, I just don’t know which half” couldn’t have been more true! The power of digital marketing became clear—instantly measurable results for each ad-dollar spent. As other contracts expired, more of our advertising money went to Google. Today the trends are changing again—it is not enough to simply have a great website and a great Pay Per Click ad campaign. Google calls the “how” of the online-decision process “Zero Moment of Truth”. Google it and read their research—it’s very convincing! With traditional media being transformed, it’s time for a serious look at all of our advertising budgets. Over 20 percent of newspaper subscriptions are now digital. In 2012, over 30 percent of network

prime-time shows were consumed via a DVR with commercial-skipping technology. Today, buying decisions are being influenced everywhere. Smartphone penetration is roughly 50 percent in the United States. Think about that for a moment—half of Americans are using their phones for listening to music, communicating (texting), downloading apps and looking for furniture. When a customer thinks about needing a new sofa, she no longer goes to Google only—she is Liking, Tweeting, Plussing, Pinning, Texting, Skyping, Blogging, and then maybe she will Google it. This is the concept of Brand Entanglement: being relevant and found everywhere your customer is. Entanglement is all about listening to customers and providing answers when, where and how they need and want it. When a customer is on Facebook asking their friends where to buy a sofa—we should be there promoting our solution. For the customer working three jobs and has a

Entanglement is all about listening to customers and providing answers when, where and how they need and want it. When a customer is on Facebook asking their friends where to buy a sofa—we should be there promoting our solution. family to support, we need better websites to help her shop when it’s the right time for her. We need to adopt behaviors that react to the changes of our customers.

How to become more Relevant: CapGemni released a report in July 2012 finding that customers define retail relevancy by “getting the core functionality like price, product specifications and delivery information right before they will be open to engage”. Relevancy is about creating a customer-first strategy. The effort here is to use your website (digital media) to bring customers through the doors. Ensuring there are real customer-provided reviews on Google, Yelp and Facebook is very important. Provide your contact information in a quick and noticeable place for customers to find it. Ensure delivery information is easily found on your website. Try installing in-store kiosks (or use iPads!) allowing customers to browse your website catalog—you can show more options in a way customers are more comfortable (shelve your printed catalogs!) This tough economy will be here for a while, separate from the competition, entangle with your customers and be profitable!

Sources: Digital Shopper Relevancy Report by Cap Gemini, DVR

Penetration Raising Eyebrows, Deloitte Entanglement Model, The Top US Newspapers for March 2012.

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Marketing

EMAIL Marketing

Is email marketing one of your main marketing tools today? Here’s some stats to see how you stack up to others, and what your customer is getting on a daily basis. The average email user receives 147 messages every day, and spends more than 2 ½ hours on email a day.

2.5 Hours a day spent on EMAIL

6 a.m. has the highest CTR of any hour (click through rate)

Best Time of the Day for Email Promotions (times are relative to time zone)

Email usage declined by 34% among U.S. 18-24-year-olds in 2011.

Average Open Rate for email blasts: 19.9% Average Click Rate for email blasts: 5.4% Average Retail Open Rate: 17.1% Average Retail Click Through Rate (CTR): 3.1%

3.1% Retail Average

How do you stack up?

7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Recipients are more likely to respond to consumer promotions when they get off of work and are relaxing on their own time. 23% of emails were opened during this period. 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. The second best time to send out consumer promotions as people are beginning their workday.

5.4% Average

19.9% Average

100%

17.1% Retail Average

18-25 year olds send more texts—on average 133 text messages per week—almost double any other age group.

NOTE TO SELF: Worst times to send out email promotions: 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. to noon.

Are you keeping your customers engaged? Average Unsubscribe Rate: 0.27% Average Retail Unsubscribe Rate: 0.15%

Sources: 2012 Silverpop Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study, Hubspot’s The Science of Email Marketing, Boomerang for Gmail, Kissmetrics 28

JANUARY | 2013

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Marketing

What unique and creative tools have you used to collect customer email addresses?

hile there are several ways to collect emails through paid lists, we’ve tried to extend our customer service policies to our email collections and be as above reproach as possible. One of the most effective ways we get emails is through a Money Tree giveaway we host every year for our annual private sale. Customers are mailed invitations including a coupon requesting their name and email address for other promotional offers throughout the year. This coupon allows them one try at picking an envelope from our Money Tree that contains a different denomination of cash (but everyone gets at least $2). At the end of the sale we compile the emails and add them to our database. We also do in-house financing as our primary function and have the same opt-in message on all of our credit applications. This has been a less glamorous approach but allows an honest way to grow our list without increasing our spam score.

IMAGES V. TEXT

65% prefer emails that contain mostly images vs. 35% who prefer mostly text.

Jordan Barrick, Quality Furniture, Mesquite, TX

e have a sign with pens and pre-made email slips by our front counter so customers can sign up if they wish to get early word of big sales and super deals on clearance items. We also ask customers how they would like to be contacted in the future if there are ever any problems, and some choose email. We also sell consignment furniture, so when a customer emails pictures of their goods, we add them to our email list.

John Griffith, Griffith Furniture, Bellingham, WA

SATURDAY

Saturday has the highest CTR at over 9% (Sunday is second just under 9%

80% of customers are reading email on mobile devices. Only 1% of these people will reopen an email on a desktop. NOTE TO SELF: Make mobile-friendly emails.

tarting about five years ago, we would set up a raffle in-store where a customer would provide their email with a chance of winning an item (e.g. a TV). Today, our main focus is at the point of sale. Since we do a lot of in-house financing, it’s a great opportunity for us to capture emails when a customer is finalizing the transaction. The key has been in providing the customer with a compelling reason to give us their email. Since we don’t send out statements, we focused more on special promotions they would receive. Our opt-out is very low when we do e-blasts. We also capture emails at point of service. Consumers today want convenience. Instead of sending a technician to their homes to do an inspection on an item, more customers are taking photos and emailing them in. This, in turn, provides more email addresses. Consumers can also sign up on our website to receive special promotions. We just upgraded our ERP system and one of the features we’ll be implementing is the ability for a customer to tap into our database to access their personal account, specific order and delivery information. This will provide additional email addresses.

Andrew Tepperman, Tepperman’s Furniture, Ontario, Canada

e have used a “give-a-way”—an item that can be used for promotional purpose on the small side and a week trip to Key West on the big side at an International Market.

Tami Newton, Palm Springs Rattan & Garden Classics, Largo, FL

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Market Preview

Special Advertising Section

Merchandising

Omnia Phone: (909) 393-4400 Fax (909) 393-4401 Founding Member: Sustainable Furnishings Council Website: www.omnialeather.com Website: www.americanelegancefurniture.com Las Vegas Showrooms A-256 & A-242

Omnia

A classic design, with a tooled leather accent, the Tucson evokes the beauty and class found in better designs. Our Designer Leather Program allows the consumer to Personalize Comfort when choosing where to place an exotic leather on a sofa or sectional (shown). For example: picture framed back pillows or front arm panels, the choice is theirs when purchasing Omnia. Made in America.

Cresent Fine Furniture

Waverly is a contemporary lifestyle design crafted in solid Acacia with a wire brushed finish. Waverly features minimalist bronze bar pulls that provide a striking contrast to the rich Lava finish. The low profile Platform Bed features two solid Acacia floating panels framed by 4-inch canted Acacia posts for a relaxed profile. The bed is also available with a storage rail that can be used individually or in pairs. The cases feature clean lines with floating tops, beveled posts and a looped end frame with open space at the bottomâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;subtle detailing that lighten the overall look. Full extension, ball bearing, side mounted drawer guides support the English dovetailed solid wood drawers, which close over blind parting rails to keep the look clean and contemporary. Other modern conveniences such as cedar lined drawers and a powered nightstand round out the features.

Cresent Fine Furniture Phone: (615) 975-4862 â&#x20AC;˘ Fax (615) 452-0098 Website: www.cresent.com Las Vegas Showroom: Building B-554

JANUARY | 2013

www.retailerNOWmag.com

Special Advertising Section

Market Preview

Legends

Simply Amish

The MäRyan Dining Room collection is one of many styles of handcrafted furniture made by Simply Amish. This photo shows Quartersawn White Oak, but is also available in: Cherry, Character Cherry, Hard Maple, Oak, Soft Maple, and Walnut. Stop by our Las Vegas showroom to see our complete offering.

Simply Amish PO Box 67, Arcalo, IL 6910 Phone: (217) 962-0277 Website: www.simplyamish.com Las Vegas Showroom: B-558

Arason Enterprises, Inc. P.O. Box 3274, Annapolis, MD 21403 Phone: (410) 703-4412 Fax (410) 280-3388 Website: www.fu-chest.com Las Vegas Showrooms: C-1565 with Specialty Sleep Association

The Cambridge bedroom group collection from Legends Furniture features a Queen Sleigh Bed with under storage, a nightstand, chest, a dresser/mirror and a fireplace with media center. The bed is available in King and California King.

Legends Furniture 10300 W. Buckeye Rd Tolleson, AZ 85353 Phone: (623) 931-6500 Website: www.buylegends.com Las Vegas Showroom: Building A-604,606

Arason Enterprises

See the patented, newly introduced Flip Top “Creden-ZzZ” style Cabinet Bed. It is only 39 inches high, but the flip top gives sleepers plenty of headroom. No need to move items from the top, just push them to the back to open. A roomy storage drawer holds pillows and bedding and a tri-fold, 60 x 80 inch queen-size, memory foam mattress tucks neatly inside. There are three styles and four finishes to choose from. The original Creden-ZzZ in coffee finish features brushed aluminum bar hardware for a clean transitional look. The traditional style in Pekoe finish, a warm brown with amber hues, comes with brass hardware, and the cottage style comes in distressed white and rubbed black with pewter hardware. Closed: W 64 x H 39 x D 23.5 inches, opens to 83 inches.

www.retailerNOWmag.com J A N U A R Y | 2 0 1 3

INDEPENDENT FURNITURE RETAILER

PROFITABILITY + SECOND CHANCE + QUALITY OF LIFE

PROFIT MANAGEMENT PROMOTIONS

Market Highlight

All Retailers Welcome

The Retailer Resource Center Buyer’s Club • Seminars • Resource Marketplace

C-496

it all

here s t r

NOT A MEMBER? Save up to $300 when you join during the Las Vegas Market. Come see us in the RRC C-496 and let us show you how.

Your ASSOCIATION Western Home Furnishings Association • www.WHFA.org • 800-422-3778 National Home Furnishings Association • www.NHFA.org • 800-888-9590

Bringing together the Next Generation of Home Furnishings Professionals Tech Savvy & Tuned in—working

Join the group. Join the discussion.

together to develop its next group of industry leaders, Next Generation-NOW provides professional development, networking and hosted forums to give a voice to the unique needs of young furniture professionals. Benefactor Sponsor:

• How to grow your business • Connect with and learn from successful retailers • Utilizing technology in business www.ngnow.org | social.ngnow.org Next Generation-NOW is a hosted community of the National & Western Home Furnishings Associations.

onnect

Retailer Panel Discussion

NGN Bash @ the One-Six Club

NGN Networking

Multiple Generations = Many Opportunities Monday, January 28 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. RRC C-496

Tuesday, January 29 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. The One-Six Club Top of Building B Music – Drinks – Fun

Open every day The Social Spot RRC, C-496

With so many generations in the industry today and many retailers working together with family members, how do they find the balance needed to learn from each other, be open to a different perspective and ultimately grow their business?

facebook.com/NextGenNow

RRC RETAILER

RESOURCE CENTER Western Home Furnishings Association

Need a home base at Market? The Social Spot inside the Retailer Resource Center is the place for NGN members to huddle up with peers, check out new technology or just check out, period!

Michael and Butch Faber of Royal Furniture and Trey, Jonathan & Ivan Smith of Ivan Smith Furniture will be on hand to candidly share their challenges and successes when working in a multigenerational family business. Listen to how they keep their relationships strong while pushing the envelope to stay agile and relevant in today’s changing marketplace. Facilitated by: Alex Macias, Del Sol Furniture, Phoenix, AZ

Join us for breakfast at 8:00 a.m.

Market Highlight

Location C-496

MONDAY JANUARY 28

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 30

9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Multiple Generations =

9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Mattress Sales Training: Preparing for

Today’s Empowered Shoppers

Gerry Morris, Inner Spring

Many Opportunities

NGN Panel Discussion

10:30 - 11:30 a.m. The Seven Deadly Sins of Salespeople 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. Anatomy of a Salesperson

Philip M. Gutsell, GutSELL & Associates

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. Proven Mobile Marketing Success

2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Crystal Vilkaitis, Crystal Media

What Were You Thinking?

Brad Huisken, IAS Training

3:30 - 4:30 p.m.

Maximize Profit AND Sales

John Egger, Profitability Consulting Group

Joe Milevsky, JRM Sales & Management

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. How Delivery Follow Ups Increase Business

Kevin Truett, Speedy Delivery, LLC

2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Advertise BIG...Use Your Trucks!

Joe Lapekas & Jordon White, TruckSkin, LLC

3:30 - 4:30 p.m.

Merchandising to Show Your Customers How to Use Your Product

Bob Moorman, JRM Sales & Management

TUESDAY JANUARY 29 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. WHFA Board Meeting

THURSDAY JANUARY 31

10:30 -11:30 a.m. Prepare Your Website for

with an Effective Web Presence

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NHFA

National Home Furnishings Association

WHFA

Western Home Furnishings Association

Retailers East of the Rocky Mountains, call (800) 888-9590 SEHFA SHFAwww.nhfa.org

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JANUARY | 2013

Southern Home Furnishings Association

Retailers in the 12 Western states, call (800) 422-3778 www.whfa.org

www.retailerNOWmag.com

NHFA

National Home Furnishings Association

WHFA

Western Home Furnishings Association

SEHFA

South Eastern Home Furnishings Association

The WHFA has benefitted us in countless ways over the term of our 36-year membership. We value all that it has to offer: the relationships, connections and of course, the exceptional products and services they offer their members. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Dave Masin, Masins Furniture, Bellevue, WA I believe that having a unified voice for our industry is important. NHFA provides that voice loud and clear. I am proud to be a member of NHFA. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Shane Spiller, Spiller Furniture, Tuscaloosa, AL

Join or renew your Association membership today and start enjoying the benefits of belonging. Whether you are looking for great financing rates, first class education or a community of peers, your Association provides it all.

(800) 888-9590 (800) 422-3778 NHFA WHFA NHFA

National Home Furnishings Association

NHFA

National Home Furnishings Association

WHFA

Western Home Furnishings Association

WHFA

Western Home Furnishings Association

SEHFA SHFA

South Eastern Home Furnishings Association

Southern Home Furnishings Association

SEHF

South Eastern Home Furnishings

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Online

Leveling the Playing Field Beating Showrooming, Selling Online, and Saving the Brick-and-Mortar By Meghan Wier

Furniture retailers are faced with an obvious reality: consumers are buying online in record numbers. Even items once thought of as “not eCommerceable” are being sold to customers and shipped to their doors every day. Online shopping is now an attractive and viable option for the majority of Americans. Two major things have happened which make online home-furnishings sales possible: 1) Consumers are more comfortable buying big-ticket items and specialty online and 2) Consumers have gotten really good at “showrooming”. Why Online?  Convenience —With many more single-parent or

dual-income households in the U.S., shopping for home furnishings now often happens in the evening, or during the precious few weekend hours that are available in between soccer practice, visits to grandma and other family obligations. Online shopping offers a virtual storefront open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and consumers can easily visit dozens of “stores” in a single sitting, without having to use any gasoline, pack up the kids, or even change out of their pajamas. It is easy to see why shopping online is just more convenient.

Confidence in the Purchase —Consumers can  feel confident buying online because they have the option to choose sellers with great online reviews from others who have bought online before them. Many companies with websites have a strong reputation for great customer service such as Zappos.com. Many sites feature strong reviews, such as Amazon.com. But the big e-tailers don’t own the market on great reviews and customer service! Small business can benefit from the same great opportunities online. Google Local, Yelp, Angie’s List and Merchant Circle all collect reviews for businesses. In addition, online shoppers have become savvy when it comes to entering credit card and personal information on websites, seeking out sites with obvious security features, return policies, package tracking software and other assurances that what they buy will arrive on time and in perfect condition.

 Selection —Shopping online allows a consumer to see a multitude of options in a short amount of time with very little effort. This is especially important to customers who are looking for either that very specific item, or who feel the need to browse many choices.  Pricing Deal —The average consumer will forgo convenience for a significant price break. Online stores often provide lower prices than brick-and-mortar stores because of lower overhead costs, no sales taxes (in some states) and free shipping offers. So if the online price is higher and they can purchase the same item at the store down the street, they will. Also, shoppers are now experienced and will factor in shipping and handling costs into their decision, so sites with free shipping or coupons are sought after. As an e-tailer you can use the reasons people shop online to help drive traffic to your own site. By understanding the habits of online shoppers and staying true to your unique value proposition, and pricing competitively, your online location can be just as important as your brick-and-mortar.

Online

Getting Ahead of Showrooming Showrooming is when a customer will go shop at a physical store, check out the furniture, sit on the sofa, drink the free coffee, use up the sales associate’s time and expertise, and then leave to buy the exact same piece online soon thereafter. A February 2012 ClickIQ survey reported nearly half (45.9 percent) of U.S. online shoppers researched products in-store, only to buy online. This kind of thing, understandably, makes retailers and sales professionals irritated! Showrooming can be costly to brick-and-mortar retailers, not only in lost sales, but also in the wear-and-tear on products handled by people with no intent to buy. Furniture retailers lose money and good employees when sales are lost to e-tailers. You can’t assume consumers will pay a premium for the convenience and service provided by your brick-and-mortar anymore, or that your “loyal” customers won’t shop your prices. The market once relied on customer loyalty and was product-driven and market-controlled. Now we live in a world where the market is distribution driven, customer controlled and technology facilitated. Furniture retailers’ and manufacturers’ best strategy is to get ahead of “showrooming” by pricing and presenting product in a compelling, and accessible way.  Offer Deals not Found Online —If you can incent local buyers to come to you, they will. Chances are, you can’t win out on price alone, but first you need to research what is available online, and be competitive. Next, offer add-ons that can’t be bought online, such as local art gallery tickets or passes to the local Children’s Museum. Support other local business with reciprocal giveaways and coupons. Create Exclusivity Agreements —Stores like  Target have set up exclusivity agreements with vendors so that certain products can only be purchased through Target. Your buying group or chain can do the same if you have enough power with your vendors to garner this type of arrangement, even if just for certain collections.  Manufacturer Agreements —Manufacturers need to be part of the equation as well, offering incentives or discounts to retailers to be able to competitively sell products in brick-and-mortar locations. Smart manufacturers know that good retailers will be able to present their product best when consumers can sit, feel, and be inspired by the showrooms. Private Labeling —Retailers can offer products  under a different name, and different SKUs than other stores. This strategy works for some product and some consumers, however; a word of warning: really savvy and motivated shoppers can often see past this and identify the original details of a product. With this you also lose the brand-name power the manufacturer has, but it can work for lesser-sought-after names or the retailer themselves, have name-brand recognition in the area and can draw customers to the store.

Use Technology to Your  Advantage —Companies such as Best Buy

provide their store employees training and mobile technology so that they can look up the best online price while customers are in the store, or confirm the customer’s looked-up price and offer that price on the spot—or a comparable deal. While you may lose some margin on these deals for individual products, good sales people and a well-merchandised store should be able to make up for it in addons, accessories, and décor items.  Become an e-Tailer Yourself —If you can’t beat them, join them! e-Tailing can be a second location for your store, offering your products to consumers in your neighborhood, or beyond local! In addition, you can give each of your in-store shoppers who leave a coupon code for a discount to your online store, incenting them to shop with you. After the sale, you can offer the same great service customers would benefit from had they bought at the store that day—local delivery, warranty, return policies, a sales associate to talk to if they have issues, etc. This is ultimately the best of both worlds, since your virtual store can offer much more product than what’s available in your showroom, but can act as a support system for sales that might be lost otherwise and bring people into the physical location as well with incentives and other advertising.

www.retailerNOWmag.com J A N U A R Y | 2 0 1 3

Online

Your Strategy The retailers that are on the cutting-edge, using technology to assist the sales in the store and online, are the ones who are and will be profitable in the new-age of furniture sales. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project: January 2012, of the consumers who research while in the store with their mobile devices, 35 percent will buy from the store location (19 percent buy online, and 8 percent bought at another store). This conversion can be even higher when the sales associate can act as an advocate and advisor for the consumer, showing that they have their best interest at heart, by helping look up other prices while sharing with the shoppers what the value is in buying from the store, or that store’s website, over other sites. If you choose not to sell online, you still need a website to promote the store and you do still need to keep a keen eye on your online competition. In order to price correctly at a physical location, it is imperative that you know your costs and can balance that with the fair market value of the product. Your showroom has certain costs, employees, utilities, rent/mortgage, product, maintenance, etc. but you still need to make sure you are in the same ballpark as when it comes to online price. If you are not, your choice is to change your price, not offer this product in the store, or advertise that you will match online prices when consumers

buy at the brick-and-mortar. This may mean re-thinking what products you sell and what your profit margins are. For many who have used the same pricing formula for decades, this is a hard pill to swallow. So many retailers have grownup on the “we don’t sell on price” mantra. However, this paradigm is no longer maintainable. Today, you have to sell on price, even when you also sell on service! In conclusion, the days of furniture retail sales being simple are long gone. But the market is still there. Retailers just need to adjust their thinking and embrace the tools and knowledge available to them to shift with the times. Meghan Wier holds a BFA from Ithaca College, is a Search Engine Optimization expert and is an internationally known author. Prior to joining MicroD, Meghan Wier was the co-founder and Vice President of Marketing for Biznetix, a web design and development company, and later, founder and creative director for Impact Marketing Group, which provided Search Engine Optimization and Marketing, Web development, and marketing services.

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Bedding

Increase Sales & Profits By Gerry Morris Two trends offer mattress retailers a way to replace fewer footsteps with higher sales and profits: gel mattresses and adjustable bases. It’s understandable that gel is doing well. It’s relatively new, there’s lots of hype, a great, unique feel and a curiosity factor. Their simplicity makes it easy for Retail Sales Associates (RSAs) to learn, and consequently present to shoppers, an important factor with the higher-ticket prices. But adjustable bases have been around for decades. So what’s going on? The increase in memory foam and latex sales have boosted adjustable sales for the last several years, because they are ideally suited for each other. The same with gel. The increased demand has resulted in more availability, lower cost and better design. New models are more sleek, less cumbersome and are touted for their ability to personalize and enhance the sleep experience. Additionally, they can help transform a bedroom into a media haven. So instead of being associated with a hip replacement, adjustable beds are just hip! Yeah.

Suggestions: Display: Showcase the top ticket gel mattresses on adjustable bases with upscale lifestyle images and all the accessories in a bedroom/media center setting. BUZZZZ. Merchandising: Offer multiple levels of price points in both gel mattresses and bases. You can take the gel story down to lower price levels by offering innersprings with gel comfort layers. The same with bases, feature a top model then offer several step-down versions. Presentation: Encourage RSAs to spend more “quality time” with their shoppers. Teach them to use the “curiosity factor”. “You have to come try these awesome new models, and then we can find a model that’s just right for you.” As shoppers step-down, minimize the differences and maximize the similarities. The longer they lie down, the more likely they will buy.

Demonstration: Have shoppers lie on an adjustable bed in a flat position. Let them raise the head and then the foot to a position they like, taking plenty of time. Then ask them to put it back in the flat position. SOLD! Advertising: You get what you ask for. Focusing on price may bring footsteps, but also bargain hunters. Use lifestyle images to feature gel, adjustable and other top quality products. Giving people a “glimpse of what life could be” can evoke the emotions that motivate people to take action. Try these suggestions and ride the wave to higher sales and profits! Gerry Morris is an author, speaker, sales trainer and consultant with over 25 years of experience in the home furnishings industry. Gerry is the author of two widely-read books, “Spring Training” and “Sell More Beds Guaranteed!”. For more information, visit sellmorebeds.com.

www.retailerNOWmag.com J A N U A R Y | 2 0 1 2

Design

with Eco-Chic Interior Designer

Sarah Barnard

Working out of her Santa Monica-based studio, interior design star Sarah Barnard handles projects big and small, from corporate headquarters to beachfront cottages. She defines her range of style as “innovative yet timehonored,” combining a contemporary aesthetic with traditional roots.Throughout her work, there’s also an emphasis on healthy living and sustainability. In this exclusive Q&A, Barnard talks to RetailerNOW magazine about the growing role of health, safety and sustainability in the home and how product content labeling is becoming a more important consideration for consumers.

RetailerNOW: How do health, safety and sustainability influence your work? Sarah Barnard: My firm’s tagline is “Eco Chic Interiors: Where smart design, sustainable choices and healthy living converge.” To me, interior design is a multifaceted practice involving aesthetics, function and home health. My practice integrates all three elements in that we create spaces that are high-performing and functional; respectful of the environment; and, most importantly, healthy and safe for the occupants.

RN: Are environmental safety and health concerns becoming more important to consumers? Barnard: Among my clients, I see a growing interest in home health—the safety of ingredients and the toxicity of materials—and declining interest in big-picture issues like “saving the planet.” In the early 2000s, sustainability meant doing your part for the greater good. Today, people are more motivated by their own health and desire to create a safe personal environment. They are concerned about their bodies and what they put in them and realize that what you surround yourself in the home has the same potential to impact health.

RN: What are the key traits associated with healthy and safe furnishings? Barnard: The top topic of conversation is the safety of ingredients. Take textiles. If I’m sourcing textiles for a client, I want to know if they were organically grown, treated with fire retardants, what the dyes or printing agents are and how healthy one choice is versus another. In addition, there are other topics of interest that fall into the “sustainability basket”—such as the use of environmentally friendly content, such as sustainable woods, and socially responsible manufacturing. Lately, I’ve been hearing more clients say that they are exhausted by the green messaging that has been 54

JANUARY | 2013

in the press for the past decade. They don’t want to be told how to live or lectured that they are not being responsible enough. But they all they want to buy products that are safe and create home environments that are healthy. And they need accurate, easily accessible information so they can make the best choices.

RN: You are leading a panel discussion sponsored by the Specialty Sleep Assn. at the winter Las Vegas Market called “What’s In Your Mattress.” The SSA has developed a Consumer Disclosure Labeling program that encourages the bedding industry to be transparent about the construction and contents of specialty sleep products. Do you think identifying exactly what’s in a mattress will help consumers make more informed buying decisions? Barnard: Absolutely. This is a fantastic program. Having a label that shows the specific components in a mattress demystifies the discussions that salespeople are having with consumers about product construction. Clear, accurate labeling also eliminates the fear of “green-washing” many consumers have—not knowing what a claim that something is “green,” “eco-friendly” or “organic” really means. The SSA’s labeling program gets everything out in the open and gives the consumer a chance to really understand what the product is made of and why pricing may be lower for a similar product that isn’t as safe.

RN: Are certain groups of consumers more interested in product safety and health issues than others? Barnard: Home health is an issue that everyone can relate to, regardless of age, income or gender. Women have a particularly strong level of interest, but men also care about it. And the issue really resonates with younger consumers, who are very concerned about the chemical contents of products. Going forward, younger consumers are going to expect that this type of labeling

www.retailerNOWmag.com

Design

About Sarah

A member of the American Society of Interior Designers, Barnard is recognized by the International Institute for Bau-Biologie & Ecology as a Building Biology Practitioner (BBP) and by the United States Green Building Council as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP). She serves on the Santa Monica Conservancy’s board of directors and specializes in green interior design and historic preservation. In addition to moderating a World Market Center educational event for retailers entitled “What’s In Your Mattress,” sponsored by the Specialty Sleep Assn. (SSA) at the winter trade show in Las Vegas, Barnard is currently putting her green design methods into practice. She is designing the new headquarters of Life Rolls On, a subsidiary of the Christopher Reeve Foundation. Other recent projects include the new corporate offices of National Geographic Entertainment, a Backstage Celebrity Eco-Lounge for the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Teen Choice Awards, and a sustainable penthouse.

Visit www.retailerNOWmag.com to read Sarah's views on health and sustainability.

information be available. As an industry, we need to pay attention to this because younger consumers are our future.

RN: The SSA and Simmons sponsored a research study

in 2009 in which 39 percent of consumers said they would pay more for an environmentally friendly mattress. Fifteen percent said they would pay $200 to $500 more. Is pricing an obstacle for consumers when it comes to buying safe, sustainable furnishings? Barnard: At the high end, it’s not an issue. Those on a tighter budget need to see the benefits immediately to justify the expense. The idea that paying 15 percent more will help workers, for example, doesn’t carry much weight. But if the consumer understands how the extra expense will enhance their own home, making them healthier and safer, that can be very powerful.

It’s also important for consumers to understand that a better-made product is going to cost more than a low-quality product, and that a higher-quality product may provide a much better experience. For example, most people understand the importance of sleep and how their choice of mattress or pillow has an impact on sleep quality. Most people would be willing to stretch their budget to get the sleep system that provides their body with the healthiest, most rejuvenating experience possible.

RN: How about styling: Does buying safe and sustainable mean trade-offs in design? Barnard: People are afraid that sustainability means increased cost and reduced selection. When somebody is building a dream home, especially if they have been fantasizing about a specific look for many years, they don’t want to hear that their plan is going to be restricted by anything. I often have to explain to clients that responsible design does not mean they have to give things up. They can have everything they want and it’s just going to be better. Once they wrap their heads around that—that nobody is going to take anything away from them and that this isn’t a punishment, but rather a benefit—they never mention it again. As long as they get the aesthetic and function they desire, who’s going to say “no” to a nontoxic product?

RN: What role do salespeople and designers play in educating consumers about the health and safety of furnishings? Barnard: Having the sales force educated to discuss the pros and cons of various options is critical. And the ways that they discuss those options is important. We need to present safety and sustainability to consumers and clients as a benefit, not a responsibility.

www.retailerNOWmag.com J A N U A R Y | 2 0 1 3

Online

BRICKS TO CLICKS—

Turn Showrooming into Purchasing By Aaron Wadler Best Buy’s acting CEO Mike Mikan made w a v e s i n t h e re t a i l c o m m u n i t y w h e n he announced bold plans to eliminate “showrooming” in his stores. Showrooming may keep retailers awake at night, but it doesn’t have to ruin your sleep. In fact, some inexpensive technology and a change in your customer service approach could help you ride the trend to bigger sales and enhanced customer loyalty.  Enhance your own mobile shopping experience. Many customers aren’t just using smartphones to hunt down better prices. They’re scouting for product specs and customer reviews. You can leverage a customer’s presence in your own store by encouraging them to seek that information on your own website. Manufacturers now provide spec sheets as data files that you can integrate into your own shopping cart software, enabling your customers to remain on your own website when they compare models. Encourage your own shoppers to rate both the products and the service in your store on your website.  Optimize your price tags. Retail vendors have proposed shooting laser beams through stores that can prevent smartphones from scanning barcodes. Instead of taking such a hostile approach, you can head showrooming customers off at the pass by supplying barcodes that link directly to a mobile-optimized version of your own website. You can even install an iPad near big ticket items, preloaded with product comparison details.  Emphasize immediacy. Although retail analysts have predicted the arrival of same-day delivery from Amazon.com, the online retail giant won’t be rolling that service out in every market or for every product. Keep tabs on your competitors’ delivery options, and use iPads in your store to show customers the real cost of ownership. Your online competitor may post a cheaper sticker price, so don’t be afraid to show customers how shipping and handling charges could erode their savings.

 Reward loyalty with service. Even as online shopping has turned many popular products into commodities, e-commerce companies can rarely match brick-and-mortar retailers when it comes to customer service. You can use store-issued iPads or smartphones to track customer purchases, then offer enhanced returns, repairs, or training for frequent shoppers. Introductory classes and expert clinics give your staff a chance to shine, and to make competitors’ customers jealous. Aaron Wadler is founder and CEO of ShopPad, www.theshoppad.com, the leading tablet optimization company for ecommerce. Before ShopPad, Aaron was founder and CEO of Viddyou Inc.—the first full HD video sharing company.

By Crystal Vilkaitis

2012 saw tremendous social media growth with rapid interest in Pinterest and Facebook exceeding 1 billion users. 2013 is expected to be another year full of technology innovations and social media growth. Here’s what’s trending for the upcoming year: 1. Mobile Marketing 2. eCommerce Sites 3. Social Shopping 4. Loyalty Programs 5. Digital Wallets 58

JANUARY | 2013

So text me, maybe?

Email inboxes are filling up fast and getting someone to act on an email, let alone open it, is always a challenge for marketers. With text or SMS (short message service) marketing, consumers can get offers and sales delivered directly to their cell phones. For retailers, using SMS to market can be a great way to get exclusive event information or time sensitive coupon codes out quickly for customers to easily access and act on.

Tatango is an easy to use service for merchants to integrate texting into their stores. When using SMS marketing, be sure to be selective with what messages you send out and the frequency. Using email marketing is still a great way to connect with customers, and can be a compliment to your text offers. In fact, I suggest using email to promote your text message offers and encourage customers to opt-in.

www.retailerNOWmag.com

Very Pinteresting.

Social Media

Pinterest impacted online retailer sales in 2012, referring more traffic than Twitter and more revenue per click than Facebook. This social platform proved imagery sells and consumers shop online. From these results, more retailers are opening online stores or giving customers the ability to buy products from their Facebook page. U.S. social commerce (sales of physical goods through online social networks) is projected to grow by 93 percent per year from 2011-2015, and predicted to be $5 billion in 2013. Ecwid.com is a good solution for selling products on a Facebook business page.

93%

PROJECTED GROWTH of online sales of physical goods from 2011-2015.

With sites like Shopify and Big Commerce, retailers can create an online store without needing a developer or graphic designer, helping them stay competitive and giving them an additional sales outlet. Mobile shopping is also on the rise, predicted to be $14 billion in 2013, up $4 billion from 2012.

DID YOU JUST SEE THE GROUPON FOR MODERN LIVING?

Come buy with me, let’s buy away!

Social shopping is a method of eCommerce where shoppers’ friends become involved in the shopping experience. This is achieved through group buying sites like Groupon or LivingSocial, product recommendations whether left on the merchant’s website or discussed on social networks, and forums that create communities of shoppers to discuss, share and shop. As eCommerce spending grows, social integration is critical to stay competitive. 2013 will show more eRetailers featuring the “Pin It”, “Share It”, “Like It” button next to every product and will include product recommendations, ratings and community forums. In 2013 we might also see a “Want” button on Facebook for brand pages. (Facebook is currently testing this feature and has not stated if, or when, it will be live to any or all brand pages.)

Old Dogs Learn New Tricks.

Retailers have been using loyalty programs for decades to retain customers. A Deloitte Retail Survey found that retailers with a loyalty program are 88 percent more profitable than their competitors that don’t have one. However, for 2013 we’ll see loyalty programs turn digital, running off of iPads and smartphones. The digital element allows for a more automated, fun and game-like experience.

63 HAVE SOLD AND I SAW CHENY’S JUST BOUGHT—I AM BUYING—YOU?

LoyalBlocks, a loyalty mobile application makes it incredibly easy for shoppers to get rewarded. All they have to do is add the app to their smartphone and walk in to the retail store. Once inside, customers can open the app and either receives tokens, a punch on their digital “card” or an in-store message like “Receive 10% off today!” Continued on p.60 

www.retailerNOWmag.com J A N U A R Y | 2 0 1 3

Continued from p.59

Leave your wallet at home. Loyalty programs

are going digital and so are your wallets. Cashless consumption is already happening in places like Starbucks and Best Buy, but technology companies like Google and Apple are developing apps and programs that enable customers to make purchases with their smartphones, creating a “Digital Wallet” that can be used at local retail locations.

All a consumer has to do is sync an app with their credit card and scan a code at the register. With LevelUp, merchants can accept mobile payments and not be charged a fee, so if you sell something for $40, you’ll receive $40. With predictions of smartphone adoption to continue to grow and account for around 90 percent of all mobile phones in 2013, we’ll see more retailers integrate with this technology. (Note: with the growth of digital wallets will also increase the concern of privacy and security. When implementing this type of technology, ensure you’re using a secure application.)

Crystal Vilkaitis has been using social media to market businesses since 2007 producing results such as: tripled web sales, increased blog traffic by over 2,700% and coverage in Entrepreneur Magazine and USAToday. Crystal was featured in Fast Company’s 2010 Most Influential Person Online campaign, ranking in the top 2% and took third place out of over 1,400 nominations for the Top 10 Small Business Facebook Pages of 2011 by Social Media Examiner. She is currently the owner of Crystal Media, a company dedicated to helping retailers integrate proven social media and mobile marketing strategies into their stores to increase traffic and sales. For more information or to become a member of Social Edge, a membership site for retailers, visit crystalmedia.co.

Also expect: gift giving on Facebook, more rewards for social sharing, social search, paid content placement on Facebook versus ads, increase in video marketing, mobile POS systems like Squareup.com and an increase in SoLoMo (customers using location-based mobile applications to share local business sales, products, events to their online networks like Facebook and Twitter).

Increase Your Sales

in 2013!

With Innovative Advertising & Marketing!  Brand your store apart from others  Develop a strategic plan to reach more targeted households  Hold all your advertising accountable  Integrate loyalty marketing & social media for a greater return on advertising

At Market Contact:

Doug Knorr

(231) 218-1747

Phil Callighan

(231) 342-7590

DougK@knorrmarketing.com

160 E. State Street, Traverse City, MI 49684

Office Phone:

PhilC@knorrmarketing.com

JANUARY | 2013

(231) 947-9707

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• • • Being portable for sales, inventory or business analytics is key for any Home Furnishings retailer. Using a PC, tablet or smart phone to work inside or outside of your store is critical in this day and age of technology.

THINK MOBILE

Your designer meets in the customer’s home to create the shopping cart and check inventory availability for delivery. The warehouse staff needs to quickly receive an item to load it on the delivery truck. The owner or manager is traveling and wants to get a quick glance of their daily or monthly business analytics. All of this can be done with a tablet or smartphone. Myriad Software understands how important it is to be mobile. Whether it’s to close a sale or review the important aspects of your business, a tablet or smartphone will provide access to your business management system in or outside of your daily operation. So if you’re looking for a business system that allows you to work when you’re in your operation and on the go, think Eclicktic™ and Eclicktic™ BE Mobile. Contact a Myriad Software sales representative @ sales@myriadsoftware.com

Please stop by and see us at the Las Vegas Furniture Market WHFA Retailer Resource Center Building C, 4th Floor January 28 - February 1, 2013

1-800-676-4243 • sales@myriadsoftware.com www.myriadsoftware.com www.retailerNOWmag.com J A N U A R Y | 2 0 1 3

The Scoop

the scoop  Sam’s Furniture Opens Second Store In Irving

 RetailerNOW Wins AHFA Home Award

Sam’s Furniture & Appliance, a Fort Worth retail institution since 1946, is opening its second retail / lease to own store in Irving, TX.

The American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA) presented its annual HOME Awards during the Fall High Point Market, honoring exemplary magazine, newspaper, broadcast, trade and social media writers who cover the residential furniture industry. RetailerNOW was the winner in the trade publication category. Unlike the consumer categories, trade entries are judged on the degree to which the writer helps the industry understand product trends or consumer marketing issues. Judges commended RetailerNOW for “opening retailers’ eyes to what the consumer is thinking.”

In addition to offering new, quality retail merchandise from the industry’s leading brands, Sam's has pioneered an innovative lease program that makes it more affordable for customers to own great quality furniture, appliances, and mattresses—all while helping customers establish credit. “Our customers have been asking us to expand our service area further east, and we’re looking forward to bring the special Sam’s courtesy and quality to even more customers,” said Seth Weisblatt, third-generation owner. “This is a great opportunity for more people in the Metroplex to afford the furniture and appliances they want and need in their lives, all while helping them build better credit every month.”

 Mattress Retailer Collects Over 50,000 School Supplies for Foster Kids

One judge commented, “This magazine does a great job explaining who today’s customer is and why she is or is not buying what you’re selling.” Thank you to all of our readers, advertisers and supporters for helping us have a successful launch year!

 The Industry Helps Out—Hurricane Sandy Relief

Northwest foster children went back to school equipped for success this year. Kent, Washington-based mattress retailer, Sleep Country USA, tallied up 50,309 total items donated in its annual School Supply Drive for Foster Kids. School supplies were donated at all Sleep Country locations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho from July 30th to September 9th and donations were distributed among 18 foster care non-profit partners. Sleep Country hosts 6 annual donation drives throughout the year, collecting basic material items for Northwest foster children as part of the Sleep Country Foster Kids Program.

Hurricane Sandy devastated many in the Northeast when it hit last October. Many of our readers in the area only reported light damage, if any, but all saw a decrease in sales. Others in the industry are pitching in to help out the thousands of people effected by the storm. Bob’s Discount Furniture Aids Hurricane Sandy Relief Efforts

Bob’s Discount Furniture is providing support for midAtlantic communities recovering from Hurricane Sandy through a variety of grassroots charitable efforts. Following the storm, Bob’s quickly responded to needs across the region by providing donations and assisting with large-scale deliveries, in addition to individual employees’ efforts, such as collecting supplies needed in the affected areas. continued on p.64 

Share your latest news stories with us. We would love to hear from our retailers about what is going on in your area.

www.retailerNOWmag.com J A N U A R Y | 2 0 1 3

The Scoop

the scoop “Our sympathy goes out to the communities and families whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by the storm,” said Bob Kaufman, co-founder of Bob’s Discount Furniture. “Our company and staff are committed to supporting those affected by this disaster, while continuing to provide significant financial assistance to area schools and charitable organizations in communities where our stores are located.” The company is continuing to evaluate how best to support the affected communities during their recovery. Bob’s has longstanding relationships with many charitable organizations and is currently considering how best to aid these groups, including the American Red Cross, which is working hard to assist storm victims. For updates on what Bob’s is doing to help communities affected by Hurricane Sandy, visit www.mybobs.com. Twin-Star International Donates 31,400 Space Heaters to Aid Hurricane Sandy Victims

Twin-Star International, a leading manufacturer of electric fireplaces and other functional furniture for the home, donated a truckload of space heaters to two relief groups providing help to New York and New Jersey residents

whose homes were severely damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Twin-Star donated 5,000 Duraflame space heaters on Nov. 11 to Island Harvest, Long Island’s largest hunger relief organization. Island Harvest is distributing the space heaters to shelters and individuals most left in need within the storm-damaged metropolitan and oceanfront areas. In addition, Twin-Star donated 26,400 Duraflame space heaters to The Salvation Army, a national charitable and relief organization with a major presence in New York and New Jersey. Safavieh Assists Hurricane Sandy Work Crews

Rug and accent supplier, Safavieh, transformed their corporate headquarters in Port Washington, NY, to a home for 16 FEMA-deployed workers who were part of clean-up efforts in the wake of Super Storm Sandy. Arash Yaraghi, principal of Safavieh was contacted by Mayor Robert Weitzner, mayor of Port Washington North, with an urgent request for help in accommodating two crews of workers who would otherwise be housed in a makeshift tent city in a local park. “The FEMA workers who came to Port Washington had to sleep outside in tents in cold weather with no heat and insufficient toilet facilities," said Arash Yaraghi, a Safavieh principal. "When the mayor called to ask if we could house 16 in our building at 2 Channel Drive, I offered a part of our office space with restrooms, and my brother Michael who runs our Safavieh Home Furnishings retail stores, provided beds, mattresses and pillows. The workers were very happy to be out of the cold.”

JANUARY | 2013

www.retailerNOWmag.com

THANK YOU

Our Associations gratefully recognize all of our supporters whose dedication and committment has strengthened our industry. Acuity A. Mutual Insurance Company

Flexsteel

Myriad Software

Advertising Concepts of America

Furniture of America

Natuzzi Americas, Inc.

Affordable Furniture

Furniture Options

NetSertive

AICO/Amini Innovation Corp.

Furniture Wizard

Nourison Industries

American Express

FurnitureDealer.net

Okinus Credit Solutions

American Leather

GE Capital

Pacific Furniture Dealers

Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc.

Great American Furniture Services

Phoenix A.M.D. International, Inc.

Aspenhome

Guardian Products

Profit Management Promotions

Associated Volume Buyers

Guardsman/The Valspar Corp.

PROFITsystems

Banner Marketing

Harden Furniture Company

Protect-A-Bed

Becker Designed, Inc.

High Point Market Authority

Restonic Mattress Corp.

Bernards, Inc.

Holland House

SAP Retail

Best Home Furnishings

Homelegance USA

Serta Mattress Companies

Braxton Culler, Inc.

Home Furnishings Business Magazine

Simmons

California Furniture Manufacturers Assoc.

Hooker

Sleep-Ezz

Capital Marketing Concepts

Horich Parks Lebow Advertising

Source International, Inc./4 Sales Finance

Cargo Consolidation Services

Impact Consulting Services, Inc.

Sourthern Motion

Celerant Technology

Innovative Delivery Systems

Sphinx by Oriental Weavers

Century Furniture

James Parker Insurance Associates

Standard Furniture

Century Lighting

Jofran Sales, Inc.

Steve Silver Co.

Coaster Company of America

Julius M. Feinblum Real Estate, Inc.

STORIS

Color Ad

Kincaid

Surya

Cory Home Delivery Service

King Hickory Furniture Co

Tempur-Pedic

Craftmaster Furniture, Inc.

Klaussner Home Furnishings

The TV Shield

Cramco, Inc.

Lane Home Furnishings

The Uttermost Company

Davis Direct

Lazar Industries

Tidewater Finance Company

DĂŠcor-Rest Furniture Ltd.

Lea

Tropic Survival Advertising & Marketing

Delivery Solutions

Liberty Furniture

TruckSkin, LLC

Diakon Logistics

Lifestyle Enterprises

Twin Star/Classic Flame

Diamond Mattress Co.

Linon Home DĂŠcor Products

Tyler Net, Inc.

Dom Granat

Magnussen Home

United Furniture Industries

DSI Companies

Mail America

Valassis, Inc.

Ekornes

Massood Logistics

Vaughan Furniture Co.

Elements International

Med-Lift Mobility

Versatile Systems

Elite Leather

MicroD, Inc.

Wahlquist Management Corporation

Emerald Home Furnishings

Mohawk Finishing Products, Inc.

World Market Center Zenith Global

PANTONE SPRING 2013 COLORS

NHFA

National Home Furnishings Association

WHFA

Western Home Furnishings Association

SEHFA SHFA

South Eastern Home Furnishings Association

Southern Home Furnishings Association

New England Chapter

To become an industry partner contact:

National Home Furnishings Association | 800.888.9590 Western Home Furnishings Association | 800.422.3778

Quick Fire

Today’s consumer is bombarded with advertising everywhere: television, radio, billboards, magazines, buses, newspapers, and the Internet... And these are just the usual media suspects. More and more ad space is popping up every day. From people walking down the street wearing signs, to flyers on our cars and in our mailboxes, to ads on the ATM screen as we wait for it to dispense our cash. We see ads all day, every day. The latest trend in advertising is to make it, well, less advertorial. The movement is to steer away from in-your-face ads, where the product is front and center, to movie-like ads that feature “real-life scenarios” with the product strategically balanced throughout the ad. So, when is an ad not an ad and can stand out without standing out? When it’s done with product placement. Once mainly found only on the big screen and for large brands, product placement has been making its way into television, video games, books, and now it has become local.

Here are three ways you can start product placement advertising in your local marketplace. Best Seats In The Stadium Work with your local minor league baseball team, soccer team, hockey team, or high school teams to host the “Best Seats in the House”. Fans can register to win tickets and sit in the “Best Seats in the House” by coming into your store, submitting a form on your website, or liking you on Facebook. This is a great way to grow community awareness and gain customer information.

Morning News Show

Local Coffee Shops and Restaurants

Does your local news station have a morning show? Do they do interviews with local guests? Are they sitting down during those interviews? If you answered yes to those questions, then your missing prime product placement. Contact your local news station to see if you can sponsor the interview portion of the show by providing furniture for their stage.

We all live in a city where you can find a local coffee shop or restaurant that is a town favorite. Why not be a part of that town favorite by providing a section of the coffee shop and designate it “ABC’s Furniture Sit and Sip”. You can introduce your new product lines and it’s a great way to have cross promotion and build community loyalty.

Product placement is a part of advertising and will continue to grow as different forms of media are introduced. If done well you have the chance to impact your consumer in a way not possible through other media mediums. You have the chance to shape that consumer and steer their physiological buying mentality in your direction.

TRIVIA...AND the best of the best in product placement is no surprise:

Apple won this category in last year’s Brandcameo*. Apple products appeared in 17 (or 42.5%) of the 40 films that were No. 1 one films at the U.S. box office in 2011, showing up nearly twice as often as the the nearest brand. Apple has appeared in 50 percent of 2012’s No. 1 films. Dell, Chevrolet and Ford tied for second place, each appearing in 22.5% of the top films. Cadillac, CocaCoca and Mercedes-Benz all appeared in 17.5% of the No. 1 films. Those numbers do not even include the preponderance of Apple product placement in films that did not reach No. 1 at the box office. *brandchannel has tracked product placement and brand appearances in every box officetopping film under the Brandcameo banner.

Quick-Fire Marketing is brought to you by R&A Marketing. Armed with more than 25 years of furniture retail marketing experience as a full-service traditional and digital marketing company, R&A is the industry’s premier agency for retailers in the home furnishings and appliances/electronics industries. Visit us on the web www.ramarketing.com or email us at info@ramarketing.com.

www.retailerNOWmag.com J A N U A R Y | 2 0 1 3

O T Y D A E R S WHOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

L A I C O GET SAS MARKET? AT LAS VEG

Join the Social Spot in celebrating all things social in the Retailer Resource Center in Building C-496

Social Happy Hour Begins @ 3 PM â&#x20AC;˘ Tuesday, January 29th!

Enjoy Complimentary Beverages! Enter to win prizes! Play interactive games!

l a i c o S #Be

Visit www.furnituresocialspot.com for more information!

What’s Selling

Every month, What’s Selling Now features best sellers from across the country— in different styles, categories and price points. Here’s what’s selling now…

Submitted By: Karen Kohlman

Cost: $619

Store Name: West Harvard Furniture

Retail Price: $1,199

Location: Roseburg, Oregon

Product level: Medium

Manufacturer: Stanton International

Why do you think it is a successful seller: Style, quality and price

Product Name: 675 Chocolate sectional Is the product: Made In America: Yes Warehouse ready: Yes Container Product: No

How available is the product from the manufacturer: Ships in 2-4 weeks Additional information about the product: Made in Oregon, quick ship and easy special order program. Only available to retailers in the Northwest.

Submitted by: Nick Lancette Store Name: Beds to Go Location: Helena, Montana Manufacturer: Therapedic Product Name: Thera Wrap— Contessa Euro Top

Look for these symbols to let you know more about the products:

Made in America

Is the product: Made In America: Yes, Idaho Cost: $510 Retail Price: $999 Why do you think it is a successful seller: It features zoned foam encased coils, non-motion transfer and pressure relieving with 3-inches of Gel Memory Foam. It is an extreme value for the consumer and comes with a 10-year non-prorated warranty.

Warehouse Ready

Container Product

www.retailerNOWmag.com J A N U A R Y | 2 0 1 3

Calendar

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THESE INDUSTRY EVENTS Imm Cologne January 14-20, 2013 Cologne, Germany imm-cologne.com

Dallas Total Home & Gift Market January 16-22, 2013 Dallas, TX Dallasmarketcenter.com

Nourison.com

Heimtextil

Las Vegas Market

January 9-12, 2013 Frankfurt, Germany Heimtextil.messefrankfurt.com

January 28-February 1, 2013 Las Vegas, NV Lasvegasmarket.com

The Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market

62nd Edison Furniture & Accessory Market

January 9-16, 2013 Atlanta, GA Americasmart.com/gift/jan-2013

February 3-5, 2013 Edison, NJ Kemexpo.com

Export Furniture Exhibition Malaysia March 6-10, 2013 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia Efe.my/2013

Australian International Furniture Fair February 6-8, 2013 Sydney, Australia aiff.net.au

Thailand International Furniture Fair March 13-15, 2013 Bangkok, Thailand thailandfurniturefair.com

High Point Market April 20-25, 2013 High Point, NC Highpointmarket.org Registration Opens January 8

AD INDEX

Images from High Point: Bernhardt Showroom

ADVERTISER

PHONE

WEBSITE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PAGE#

Arason Enterprises

(410) 703-4412

fu-chest.com

Ashley Furniture Industries

(608) 323-3377

ashleyfurniture.com

Cargo Consolidation Services

(828) 459-3180

cargoconsolidation.com

Classic Concepts

(800) 258-2229

classicconcepts.net

Coaster

(877) 262-7837

coasterfurniture.com

www.facebook.com/coasterfurniture

@CoasterCompany

Inside Back

Cresent Fine Furniture

(615) 452-1671

cresent.com

www.facebook.com/cresent.furniture

@cresentfurn

Diakon

(703) 530-0677

diakonlogistics.com

www.facebook.com/DiakonLogistics

Furniture Wizard

(619) 869-7200

furniturewizard.com

www.facebook.com/furniturewizard

GE Capital

(800) 888-9590

nhfa.org

GE Capital

(800) 422-3778

whfa.org

High Point Market

(336) 869-1000

highpointmarket.org

www.highpointmarket.org/facebook

@hpmarketnews

Home Furnishings Industry Conference

(800) 422-3778

thehfic.com

www.facebook.com/HomeFurnishingsConference

@HFIC2013

48, 49

Knorr Marketing

(800) 968-9707

knorrmarketing.com

www.facebook.com/KnorrMarketing

Las Vegas Market

(888) 962-7469

lasvegasmarket.com

www.facebook.com/wmclv

Legends Furniture

(623) 931-6500

buylegends.com

MedLift

(800) 748-9438

medlift.com

MicroD

(800) 964-3876

microdinc.com

www.facebook.com/microdinc

Myriad

(800) 676-4243

myriadsoftware.com

http://tinyurl.com/myriadFB

Nourison

(201) 368-6900

nourison.com

www.facebook.com/nourison

@nourison

Omnia

(909) 393-4400

omnialeather.com

http://tinyurl.com/omnialeather

@OmniaLeather

Planned Furniture Promotions

(800) 472-5242

pfpromotions.com

Profit Management Promotions

(215) 230-9001

pmpsales.com

www.facebook.com/pmpsales

@PowerfulSales

PROFITsystems

(716) 894-1414

profitsystems.com

www.facebook.com/profitsystems

@PROFITsystems

R&A Marketing

(888) 225-0776

ramarketing.com

www.facebook.com/RAmarketing

@RAmarketing

Restonic

(847) 241-1130

restonic.com

www.facebook.com/RestonicBeds

@RestonicBeds

Serta

(888) 557-3782

serta.com

www.facebook.com/sertamattress

@sertamattresses

Simply Amish

(217) 268-4504

simplyamish.com

@SimplyAmish

Sphinx by Oriental

(706) 277-9666

owrugs.com

http://tinyurl.com/SphinxOriental

@ Sphinx_by_OW

STORIS

(888) 4-STORIS

storis.com

http://tinyurl.com/STORIS

@STORIS

Surya

(877) 275-7847

surya.com

www.facebook.com/SuryaSocial

Truckskin

(877) 866-7546

truckskin.com

www.facebook.com/TruckSkin

@TruckSkin

NHFA / WHFA Sponsors

(800) 888-9590

retailerNOWmag.com

www.facebook.com/retailernow

@retailerNow

60 @worldmarketctr

Inside Fold

@LegendsFurn

31 70

@microdinc

Back Cover 61

Front Cover

About Get Satisfaction Get Satisfaction is the leading customer engagement platform, powering 65,000 customer communities across companies of all sizes. Today, more than 35 million consumers each month use Get Satisfactionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s network to connect with each other to ask questions, share ideas, report problems, and truly engage with the brands and companies they care about. For more information contact us at: (877) 339-3997 or visit: www.getsatisfaction.com

www.retailerNOWmag.com J A N U A R Y | 2 0 1 3

A quick dose of fun facts, random trivia and useful (or useless) bits of info

The Now List What’s in a name?

The growing trend of personalizing messaging is working for brands. On websites, 59% of consumers surveyed say they appreciate personalization, such as “Welcome Jane”.

STARBUCKS The name Starbucks is in honor of Starbuck, the coffee-loving first mate in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.

Source: Pitney Bowes Report: Why Some of Your Customers Are Just Not That into You

APPLE

txt me, baby 2 1:06 PM

May 7, 201

40 to 45% of American adults make one or more resolutions each year. Two weeks later, already 25% of people have abandoned the goal.

One TON of confetti is used to ring in the New Year in Times Square.

Steve Jobs was “on one of his many fruitarian diets” and had just returned from the apple orchard commune in Oregon that he liked to visit. He told Steve Wozniak, the name sounded, “fun, spirited and not intimidating.”

May 7, 2012 1:03 PM

Just got a txt from Deardens across the st. Big sale!

SEND

It takes 90 minutes for the average person to respond to an email. It takes 90 seconds for the average person to respond to a text message.

Apple currently has more money than the U.S. government.

(Source: CTIA.org)

The Time Square New Year’s Eve Ball came about as a result of a ban on fireworks. Created in 1907, the first ball was an illuminated 700-pound iron and wood ball with 100 25-watt light bulbs. The updated ball that is used today was designed by Waterford Crystal and weighs 11,875-pounds, is 12 feet in diameter and is bedazzled with 2,668 Waterford crystals and 9,000 LED lights.

NIKE The company takes its name from Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. By the time a person in the United States is 65 years old, he would have seen an estimated two million television commercials.

JANUARY | 2013

Carolyn Davidson created the famous Nike “Swoosh” in 1971 while she was studying graphic design at Portland State University. She was originally paid $35 for her work.

www.retailerNOWmag.com

Some of the confetti you see raining down on Times Square in New York City contains wishes made by visitors throughout the year.

psst...

“123456” is the most common email password. If this is your password, you should probably change it!

1993 - 2013

Las Vegas Market January 28 - February 1 WMC Building C-496

2 YEARS

upcoming market seminar. Retailer Resource Center MicroD will explain the most important factors that will make your website attractive and highly useful when accessed from a smart phone. See examples and learn best-practices that will attract smart phone users and keep them coming back to your website.

streamline your online marketing. + + + + + + + +

website design, management, & hosting. content creation. mobile iPad application, mobile website homepage, & mobile product pages. full-time customer support, development, & web marketing teams. home furnishings & appliance industry specialization. electronic data interchange software. integrated room planner utility. ecommerce solution.

simplify your selling opportunities. + empower your sales staff. + communicate to a wider audience. + enjoy better results. solutions@microdinc.com | 800.964.3876 | www.microdinc.com