<![CDATA[EVERYTHING ABOUT MARKETING, SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS STRATEGY - THE FURNITURE WARS

THE FURNITURE WARS - HOW AMERICA LOST A $50BN INDUSTRY -
BY MICHAEL DUGAN
(A MUST READ FOR ANYONE IN THE INDUSTRY)

And How We Will Continue To Lose Even More If We Don't Change.
That's what I'm writing about today

I wanted to share my thoughts on;Additional Goals/Objectives Manufacturer Brands, Retailers & Sales Reps Can Accomplish At The High Point Furniture Market.

My Thoughts About The Book & Why It's Relevant Still Today.

A VERY good friend of mine gave me this book for Christmas. I read it on the plane traveling to the Vegas Market last January 2016 and I was dumbfounded on what I learned from the history of our industry and how much of the lessons learned back then, have not been embraced today...

THE DIFFERENCE NOW IS, THE "OUTSIDERS" BACK THEN FAILED MISERABLY IN TRYING TO TRANSFORM OUR INDUSTRY.

BUT NOW, IT IS THE "INSIDERS" THAT ARE STIFLING THE CHANGES THAT ARE NECESSARY TO ADAPT TO "TODAY'S CONSUMERS", THUS ERODING OUR INDUSTRY EVEN MORE?

Yep, history is repeating itself, it's the degree of sophistication that has changed, which will continue to erode this category, and we stand to lose $billions more, very quickly.

AND....

in my opinion, we are repeating those mistakes today, but as INSIDERS...not OUTSIDERS like the book explained and outlined.

As I mentioned above, history too often repeats itself, usually masked in the degree of sophistication as to how it repeats itself, by committing the same stupid mistakes, with different rationale, excuses, or just plain ignorance or arrogance of the facts for whatever reason.
We are facing the "commoditization of everything" in this industry, no brands, limited content for consumers to search/find on retailers & brand websites, messaging that focuses on price and "cheap" and the blatant rejection of new technologies and consumer buying trends in creating sales velocity. These rejections, or refusal to even listen and learn new ways of doing business is mainly because these NEW companies or thought leaders are not "insiders" and are labeled as "outsiders" that "Don't understand "our "business".

These rejections, or refusal to even listen, and learn new ways of doing business, is mainly because these NEW companies or thought leaders, are not "insiders"and are labeled as "outsiders" that Don't Understand "our business".....so we don't even acknowledge they exist or rarely entertain the idea of even "listening" to what they may have to help us sell more.

THINK ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENNING IN RETAIL

We have super-regional store chains that are permeating every major market very rapidly, displacing mom-pop local retailers and growing at double digits.

They are growing because they have "adopted outsiders" technologies, knowledge systems and processes.

We have e-commerce retailers offering millions of SKU's on their websites who have also embraced the new ways of engaging the "digital" consumers. Yet we have thousands of retailers sitting back, ignoring or refusing to learn and recognize the changing retail landscape, instead implementing a strategy of hope, that everything will be OK. It isn't OK!

Why is it....that so many brands and retailers ignore new opportunities/platforms to educate, motivate and engage consumers that "want to" engage with them ... see all the products they have on their website with the goal of a visit to their store...LOCALLY,

Yet many continue to ignore or refuse to adopt the means as to HOW THESE CONSUMERS WANT TO BE ENGAGED?

Why is it...?

We STILL ignore the investments necessary to attract consumers with a decent website loaded with thousands of SKU's....when the FACTS show over 80% of people searching for furniture START ON THE INTERNET and over 76% of them are looking for product information on YOUR WEBSITE. AND over 75% of consumers will check your website out when they see an ad for your company. $699/mth is too expensive...REALLY ??? I suppose that remaining 20% of consumers that may not use the website are making your business rock, right...I bet NOT.

Amazon has 5.5MM pages of furniture SKU's, Wayfair has 35,000,000 pages, do I need to mention others like OverStock, etc? Get the message...SHOW MORE...SELL MORE
We ignore putting every SKU we have open to buy on our website, because "We don't want to do Special Order"...even though EVERY on-line retailer's purchase IS A SPECIAL ORDER"!
We ignore the need to have a website MOBILE RESPONSIVE, when it's a fact that over 200 million consumers have Smartphones and tablets...and guess what...they aren't making a ton of phone calls, they are surfing the internet, interacting with websites, watching videos, reading reviews and maybe/hopefully they are spying on your store?
We ignore putting prices or having e-commerce on our websites, even though MasterCard & The Wall Street Journal reported holiday sales of furniture grew HUGE double digits and that it's predicted by 2020, 32% of ALL furniture purchases will be on-line

We ignore technology like live chat, or the new technology, video chat from video engager, when it's a fact that over 70% of consumers WANT LIVE CHAT to engage with you in the shopping process. And even when research shows over 35% of consumers purchase decisions were based off their Live Chat experience AND 70% of consumers would likely purchase from you again, we still don't implement it.

We ignore new ways to show, tell and sell our products using new and innovative technologies, instead we spend huge money on product photography room set shots and outdated printed catalogs that costs millions....that consumers rarely if ever see/use because they are embracing digital, when we still embrace the 90's way of doing business. Yep, we insiders ignore the outsiders, even though those outsider's technologies have PROVEN to increase sales velocity in a multiple of industries.

WE ARE COMMODITIZING EVERYTHING AND QUICKLY EXPERIENCING THE "WALMARTIZATION" OF OUR INDUSTRY.

What's that you ask, you know, where only a few retailers decide what brands/products they will carry....limiting the amount of manufacturers that can "play in that game".

The result, the "non-players go...bye-bye" because they don't have any retailers...Mom & Pops to sell to because they refuse to help them embrace "the new consumer" and what THEY WANT.

And for those that do get to play, what happens? They become totally reliant on those few retailers that buy from them, and then those retailers force them to drive down their selling price, so they can sell more at cheaper prices to where a decent profit becomes difficult, or non-existent.

Then they either fail, or re-structure, to try and sell "more retailers", and that's probably the Mom & Pops they ignored....How much will that cost?

That's the Wal-Mart effect. I know it, I worked for a company that failed because of that "sell the big boys only" strategy, and that's exactly what I warned them would happen...and it did!
WHY IS IT we are failing YOU ASK?

Because it wasn't invented HERE...I mean all of these new ideas, way to show, tell and sell our products, new strategies and tactics and the technologies are coming from outsiders...

AND OUTSIDERS
"DON'T UNDERSTAND OUR BUSINESS".

When you go to market as a retailer, here are a couple ideas to think about:

After you buy all that new product to place on your floor, what's your plan/strategy for sales velocity? Implementing the same thing that has worked, or hasn't worked? Discount everything, maybe sell it even cheaper than before to keep traffic up...damn the profits though, warehouse sales, and the same old stuff ... Leprechauns for St Paddy's day, a flag for Memorial Day, etc....you get it, right?

Have you embraced the new consumer? You do know that 126,000,00 people use technology - The GenX-GenY generations use technology every minute of their lives with social media, digital advertising, Geo-Marketing, Live Chat, e-commerce, product content, BLOGS, fresh messaging and more? When was the last time your child or friends called you...instead of texting you? That says it all.

Or do you just know everything and the outsider's ideas/approach would be a waste of time? Maybe you tried new technology "once" and it didn't work and because of that you've given up on "new" ideas and your comfortable the way you've been doing business for that last...10...20 years?? To me, when you get comfortable, you WILL get ambushed, it's not a question of if ... it's a question of when. I know, I've been ambushed several times in my career, that's why I try to help with these insights and my RANTS because maybe I can help you to not make the mistakes I have, or have witnessed with some past employers!

Maybe you should take a few minutes and talk to some different companies while you're at market. Companies that may have new ideas, marketing techniques, promotions and TECHNOLOGIES that could improve your existing successful ...or not so successful plans.

ou can do this by searching those companies out BEFORE the market, asking them if they'll be at market and maybe schedule a meet with them for a few minutes over coffee, lunch etc, and share some goals, ideas and more.

IT NEVER HURTS TO LISTEN, AND YOU MAY LEARN SOMETHING OR UNCOVER A NEW IDEA TO EMBRACE.

Or when you go to The NAHFA Retail Resource Center for coffee/breakfast, rather than walking by the exhibitors, take a minute and find out what they have to offer......THEN confront those exhibitors and ask them;

How they are different,
What do they have that's NEW & EXCITING,
How they can increase sales velocity for your store, etc.
Challenge them with a constraint you have and ask them how'd they approach a solution?

AS A BRAND.....

As a Brand, think about your business VERY SERIOUSLY, because all those jobs lost and the billions of dollars our industry has lost was in manufacturing, and it is NOW ON YOUR SHOULDERS to stop the insanity of us losing even more! Without the manufacturer brands, we all lose....BIG TIME!

Maybe the head Marketing & Sales person should also seek out new companies and ways to get their products in front of consumers...

You know...in the NOT SO NEW digital world ... and help their retailers sell more. Better ways to standardize products so retailers and your brand can market them everywhere, the web, social media and
more....making it EASY for your customers...retailers and consumers to find you, learn about you and where they can buy your stuff.

You too should seek out new and innovative suppliers and technologies to engage those 126MM+ shoppers who spend 80% of their time online...searching, engaging and shopping.
I know you're there to sell your product, but as I always RANT, once it's sold and on the retailer's floor...

YOU ARE AT RISK OF CREATING FLOOR INVENTORY FOR THAT RETAILER WITHOUT A PLAN TO CREATE/SUPPORT VELOCITY...

and if that happens...you will get ambushed by companies and products that are not as comfortable as you...yep those companies that actually have "A PLAN" to ensure that term floor inventory is irrelevant.

My conclusion:

As Steve Jobs coined Apple's iconic phrase

"THINK DIFFERENT"

AND....

"MAYBE RATHER THAN TRYING TO THINK YOURSELF INTO ACTING DIFFERENT,

START ACTING YOUR WAY INTO THINKING DIFFERENT" And stop the insanity of our industry of losing more brands and retailers.

Just a thought...Maybe we can add a few objectives to why we attend this market?

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​THE DIFFERENCE NOW IS, THE "OUTSIDERS" BACK THEN FAILED MISERABLY IN TRYING TO TRANSFORM OUR INDUSTRY.​BUT NOW, IT IS THE "INSIDERS" THAT ARE STIFLING THE CHANGES THAT ARE NECESSARY TO ADAPT TO "TODAY'S CONSUMERS", THUS ERODING OUR INDUSTRY EVEN MORE?

​THINK ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENNING IN RETAIL

​WE ARE COMMODITIZING EVERYTHING AND QUICKLY EXPERIENCING THE "WALMARTIZATION" OF OUR INDUSTRY.

AND OUTSIDERS"DON'T UNDERSTAND OUR BUSINESS".

​IT NEVER HURTS TO LISTEN, AND YOU MAY LEARN SOMETHING OR UNCOVER A NEW IDEA TO EMBRACE.