Furniture World Articles
All of the Furniture World Magazine Articles that have also been published
online can be found here. Select a year to begin browsing the articles.
Articles published in
2014
The Sorry Truth About Training
- 12/30/2014
Nothing much will change for the majority of furniture retailers in 2015. But for those few who do what’s necessary to get to the next level, the sky’s the limit.
EDITOR’S CORNER
- 12/30/2014
A Positive Tipping Point For Furniture In 2015?
The Art & Science of Retail Scents
- 11/21/2014
Research and anecdotal evidence shows that ambient scenting in retail stores improves the customer experience. Precisely how to scent a store, however, requires a lot of thought and attention to detail.
The Customer Service Challenge
- 11/21/2014
Challenge yourself to find at least five opportunities in each example presented in this article to turn good into great customer service!
Sell More Rugs Than You Thought Possible - Part 2
- 11/21/2014
More success strategies from rug experts of vital interest to retail furniture store owners, buyers and sales professionals. The discussion continues (from September/October Furniture World) with an emphasis on retail sales training programs and sales techniques.
Reverse Supply Chain Logistics
- 9/29/2014
Reverse supply chain logistics is the practice of controlling resources that are returned, repairable, reusable or recyclable. It’s a catchy phrase for business activities that turn
normally wasteful occurrences into profit.
Sweating The Retail Details - Part 2
- 9/29/2014
Here are ten, non-negotiable, must do items. If you do them you will succeed. If you don’t do them, you will continue to struggle and achieve far less than your company is capable of.
How Much Is Too Much Busy-Ness
- 9/29/2014
There are quite a few four-letter words that might offend. Perhaps one of the most surprisingly offensive and counterproductive four-letter word is BUSY.
Furniture Library Debuts Hadley Court Center For Design Collaboration
- 9/29/2014
The Hadley Court Center for Design Collaboration is a high tech meeting room where designers, students, manufacturers, academics, industry associations and local High Point civic and cultural organizations can collaborate on projects, hold seminars, meetings and educational events.
Leather Education Guide -Part 3
- 9/29/2014
Panel of industry retailers and manufacturers give Furniture World readers advice on how to position leather offerings for maximum sales through intelligent sales and advertising practices. A leather identification chart and glossary of terms rounds out this three part series.
Retail Success Story: Art Van Furniture
- 7/9/2014
Art Van Furniture is the top family owned furniture retailer in the Midwest and the fifteenth largest in the United States.Get the story about how “Mr. Van” made it happen.
Leather Education Guide -Part 2
- 7/9/2014
Panel of industry experts follows up on it’s discussion of current leather trends covered in the last issue, with leather buying facts, advice on servicing and cleaning leather, plus warranties.
Sweating The Retail Details
- 7/9/2014
Business ups and downs you may consider normal, can add up to make the difference between huge profits or crushing losses.
Win At the Name Game!
- 7/8/2014
The last line on the theme song for TV sitcom Cheers went something like, “You want to go where everyone knows your name”. Here are simple inexpensive ideas for keeping your store’s name front and center.
Drop Everything
- 7/8/2014
Ideas, stories and teaching moments adapted from a new, well reviewed book by Larry Schneiderman of Schneiderman’s Furniture.
Managing Change: 2+2=5
- 5/22/2014
How to tell your staff that you plan to do things differently, and motivate them to do it your way!
When To Bring In The Big Guns
- 5/22/2014
A retailer’s perspective on using an outside company to do a GOB, inventory reduction, cash raising sale or other high impact promotion.
Risky Business: Part 4 - Your Risk For Online Exposure
- 5/22/2014
Today the news is full of stories about online threats directed against countries and large businesses. Although high level hackers may not be targeting your store specifically, you are still at risk of loss from a number of internal and external exposures.
Editor's Corner: Taming power of the small.
- 5/22/2014
Often, organizational change is the result of exposure to big ideas that can transform the nature of a business and how its employees, customers and supplers interact.
Retail Success Story: Toms Price
- 3/17/2014
A case study on thriving through four generations. Chicago area based retail chain shares secrets on how they’ve stayed successful when so many mid to high-end stores have not.
Retail: Also A Game of Failure?
- 3/17/2014
Moving from failing 80% of the time to only 70% of the time, your sales volume goes up by 50%. It’s a lot like Baseball in terms of hitting and coaching.
Big Time Social Media Bottom Line Boost - Part 2
- 3/17/2014
To stand out from the crowd you must become the most trusted authority on home furnishings and mattress sets in your marketing area. You must learn to tie peripheral type E beliefs to deeper type D authority figure beliefs as described in this article.
LED Lighting Update 2014
- 3/17/2014
Here’s the latest on price drops and quality improvements for the 4th generation of LED’s.
Sales Process Engineering 2014 - Part 2
- 3/17/2014
You will never maximize your customer opportunities, your store sales and your profitability without a sales staff that controls the sales interaction from start to finish.
Leather Sales Education Guide - Part 1
- 3/16/2014
This two-part series is a complete guide for retail owners, buyers and sales professionals that details leather features, benefits and advantages. It also includes best retail practices from a panel of industry experts.
Retail: Just Like Your First Date
- 1/3/2014
Retail is full of first dates. Gordon Hecht reflects on how a bit of maturity goes a long way in pleasing customers, partners and improving performance in retail organizations.
Sales Volume Planning 2014
- 1/3/2014
By using the break-even sales equation your business can see in advance what volume
will be required to produce your desired profit. You will be able to create a meaningful strategy and plan better for the upcoming year.
Do Your Customers Value Mattress Innovation?
- 1/3/2014
GoodBed.com conducted a survey of 1000 visitors and found out that a large number
of consumers would buy a new mattress that’s an exact replica of their current one. This
article reviews the data and examines the surprising implications at retail.
Retail Success Story: Gallery Furniture
- 1/3/2014
A detailed look at how Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale used W. Edwards Deming’s
teachings to change the corporate culture of retail giant Gallery Furniture. Read how McIngvale scrapped sales commissions and quotas, got rid of his accounts payable department, instituted same day delivery and learned how to foster leadership within his organization.
Big Time - Social Media - Bottom Line Boost!
- 1/3/2014
The first part of a two part series on how the wise independent can now make important inroads in market share by integrating social media and the Internet with other media.
Connecting Through Rooms & Goals
- 1/3/2014
Before salespeople can effectively address shopper’s needs and motivations, managers must work to establish a meaningful connection between your salespeople and your store’s stated objectives and mission.
Sales Process Engineering 2014 - Part 1
- 1/3/2014
Most home sector salespeople are amateurs. For them, selling furniture is like Las Vegas… simply a game of chance. Here’s how you can change all that in your organization.
EDITOR’S CORNER: If It Ain’t Broke...
- 1/3/2014
Retailers make myriad important decisions every day. Each of these can be a choice to tweak, alter, destroy, build, or do nothing at all.