Your First Las Vegas Furniture Market Wrap-Up
Furniture World News Desk on
1/19/2016
The Las Vegas Furniture Market Starts Sunday January 24th! I’ll be attending this semi-annual extravaganza along with tens of thousands of other people in our wonderful amazing industry. Preparation and excitement builds for weeks before the event, and then the time just rushes by. I always plan to write a summary of events, but generally am too busy to make notes, and having too much fun to remember them. As I sit in my office today, a few days before the Spectacular, I will just pre-write my summary of the market before it even starts. Then I can relax after market and see how many things I got right.
This past week at the winter’s market intrepid retailers traipsed from vendor to vendor looking to see who had the lowest cost options. Whether it was accessories, sofas, mattresses, or dining, store owners from the US and abroad compared and looked for bargain basement pricing. Later on when these same retailers returned to the battleground of their storefronts, they chastised their sales team for writing tiny average tickets and cursed their operations team for damage inflicted upon inferior goods.
Meanwhile other retailers spent many hours and lots of money on travel to arrive in Sin City. On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday they concentrated on their favorite 3 or 4 vendors and skipped taking that long 100 yard walk to building A or C. Regretfully they missed the next latest and greatest innovation or passed by a Service or Opportunity to help their business survive and grow. Luckily, their competitors located in their same villages checked out the up and coming vendors and snagged a few items that will soon be in hot demand.
Call them Reps, Marketing Specialists, or just good old Salespeople, those of us who work on the manufacturing side got into the Market Space up to a week before the floodgates open. We spent time learning new products, some of which arrived late Saturday night, and try to figure out which group or item is best for our accounts. We sliced and diced the new selection so all of our retailers can feel like they have an “exclusive” collection. We learned the component parts and ship times, and possibly even a market special-to get those orders in! We can tell you everything about the product, but sometimes miss the most important part-How to SELL IT. Selling it means floor placement, step-ups, step-downs, competitive advantages, and where and when to advertise it. If you are a retailer who has a rep giving you this information, take it!
Also this past week someone rolled out at promotion to attract your shoppers. This deal was off the charts and seemed too good to be true! Retailers even added up the numbers and could not believe that a company can make money at those prices. Some people signed on, and others, still stinging from customer ill will inflicted by Free Gas Cards, Grocery Give-Aways, and Bahamian Cruises just walked on by.
Not only the promotions were hot, but some of the merchandise deals were smoking too. Pre-orders for a few of them or a few containers of them were written and agreed upon. Manufacturers gave their most optimistic ship date and retailers optimistically accepted and relied on that time frame. Others decided to underpromise so they could overdeliver, and even explained the packaging and assembly time to keep their business relations fair and honest.
It never closes! Las Vegas is the City where you can get anything you want any time of the day. During the market those on the selling side love to entertain those on the buying side. Fine dinners with cocktails and wine are great-and the world class shows in the major hotels are a treat. However at this market a certain number of retailers took entertaining beyond reasonable (and unreasonable) limits and tried to break their host’s bank. They may have thought they got away with something, but just gave the vendors someone to talk about until Summer!
I hope you had a successful market and got what you were looking for. It was great to see you all there-and I apologize for spilling that drink! See you in the summer!
Gordon Hecht is a Growth and Development Manager for National Bedding Company’s America’s Mattress stores, nearly 400 locally owned and operated bedding stores across the country selling Serta-branded and America’s Mattress-branded mattresses. He started his 30+ years experience in the Home Furnishings industry in Las Vegas, NV as a delivery helper and driver.
He has been recognized for outstanding sales and management achievement with several organizations including Ashley Furniture HomeStores, Drexel-Heritage, RB Furniture, Reliable Stores, and Sofa Express. He has served as Store Manager, Multi-unit manager and National Director of Sales. With his first-hand knowledge of our industry’s front line, Gordon has devoted his career to guiding others to exceed their goals.
Joining National Bedding Company in 2014, as part of the Serta Retail Concepts Group With over 400 stores, America’s Mattress stores is one of the fastest growing bedding retailers in the country.
Co-author of the “Better Bedding Selling Tips” featured on Furniture World Online, Gordon has been a frequent contributor to company newsletters, and contributing writer for industry magazines.
Read other articles by Gordon Hecht