Hooker Furniture Develops “Virtual Market” Initiatives in Response to High Point Market Cancellation

Furniture World News Desk on 4/27/2020

With the cancellation of Spring High Point Market in response to COVID-19, Hooker Furniture reports that it has developed a “Virtual Spring Market” initiative to continue to service its retail and interior design partners. Hosted on its B2B website, the three-phase program kicks off in late April with dynamic web pages that present four major case good collections – Cascade, Castella, Surfrider and Sundance – with lifestyle and detailed product photography, product romance copy and digital sales tools.

Phase two of the program is set to debut in mid-June, with the virtual launch of an additional major case good collection called Dawson. Also part of phase two, the company plans to release several multi-media sales tools including 360-degree virtual showroom tours and video presentations for Hooker case goods and Hooker upholstery. Later this summer, multi-media sales tools will be added for the premium MARQ upholstery brand and sister companies Bradington-Young and Sam Moore. As part of the initiative, Hooker Furniture also has plans to host private virtual tours of its showroom for key accounts by appointment.

“While we are all saddened by the cancellation of High Point Market, we fully support the decision for the health and safety of all of our employees and industry partners,” said Jeremy Hoff, president of Hooker Furniture Legacy Brands. “Our merchandising teams have worked hard over the last several months to develop an incredible lineup of innovative and compelling new products for today’s shifting consumer preferences and we are excited to introduce these great new products to our customers – digitally.”

By logging into the company’s B2B website with their account credentials, existing Hooker Furniture customers can access the Virtual Spring Market landing page to see an overview of each of the four new case good collections. Navigating through each collection, users can view additional information for each group, including room scene photography, detailed descriptions, design inspiration and PDF sales sheets – all available 24/7 for on-demand, convenient access.

In June, the company will add additional content to support its customers digitally, including 360-degree showroom tours as well as virtual presentations from its business unit leaders and merchandising teams across all of its brands including Hooker Case Goods and Hooker Upholstery, MARQ, Sam Moore and Bradington-Young. Private virtual tours of the showroom will also be available by appointment.

“For years we’ve been a company our employees and customers can count on, and we will continue that promise by focusing on what we do best: developing and delivering stylish and relevant products to the marketplace,” Hoff added. “Over the past month, we have maintained top-level service for our partners with strong inventory levels of existing Hooker Furniture case goods and upholstery products available through our domestic warehouses in Virginia and we are looking forward to enhancing our product portfolio with the addition of these new collections across all of our brands.” 

Existing customers can access the Virtual Spring Market by logging into the “Dealer Login” area of the company’s website, www.hookerfurniture.com and navigating to “Spring Market 2020 Collections Preview.” Retailers and interior designers interested in setting up a private virtual tour, or to set up a new account, can learn more by reaching out to their Hooker Furniture, Sam Moore and Bradington-Young sales representative.

About Hooker Furniture: Founded by the Hooker family in 1924, Hooker Furniture Corp. is a designer, marketer, manufacturer and importer of case goods, leather furniture and fabric-upholstered furniture for the residential, hospitality and contract markets. The company also domestically manufactures premium residential custom leather and custom fabric-upholstered furniture through its Bradington-Young, MARQ and Sam Moore Furniture brands. It is ranked among the nation's largest publicly traded furniture sources, based on 2016 shipments to U.S. retailers, according to a 2017 survey by a leading trade publication. Hooker Furniture’s corporate offices and upholstery manufacturing facilities are located in Virginia and North Carolina, with showrooms in High Point, N.C., and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The company operates eight distribution centers in North Carolina, Virginia, California and Vietnam. For more information, visit hookerfurniture.com.