The American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA) announced that it will bring industry executives up-to-the minute consumer sentiments about eco-friendly furniture at the 2009 Sustainability Summit December 2-3 at the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, N.C.
The Summit is an all-industry event targeted to executives from retail, manufacturing, import and supplier companies that have an interest in sustainable home furnishings design, as well as sustainable business practices for the residential furniture industry.
AHFA has commissioned custom consumer research designed to measure the importance of various environmental attributes in home furnishings purchases. These attributes range from impact on indoor air quality to wood certification to the environmental reputation of the manufacturer.
“In addition to ascertaining consumer awareness of and interest in the various environmental attributes they might find while shopping for furniture, this research will tell us which attributes are important enough to influence purchasing,” explains Jackie Hirschhaut, AHFA’s vice president of public relations and marketing.
The Shelton Group of Knoxville, Tenn., is conducting the research. The agency’s work focuses on motivating mainstream Americans to make more sustainable product choices. The company conducts four national consumer studies a year to keep its finger on the pulse of shifting attitudes and behaviors around energy and the environment. The AHFA project is the firm’s first survey targeting home furnishings shoppers.
The results will provide essential marketing intelligence for companies planning to develop or promote eco-friendly home furnishings collections or products in 2010.
“Forty percent of the population claims that if they found out a product that had been advertising itself as green turned out not to be, they would stop buying the product,” reports Suzanne Shelton, founder and president of The Shelton Group. “The more interesting finding is that 36 percent say they would not only stop buying the product, they’d also tell their friends and family to stop buying it, too.”
For this reason, marketing executives need to make sure their claims are clear and accurate. AHFA plans to use results of the research to help it develop marketing materials related to its Sustainable by Design certification program.
Additional Summit presentations include:
- The 100-Year-Old Good Housekeeping Seal Goes Green, Miriam Arond, Director, Good Housekeeping Research Institute;
- Promises and Pitfalls of Eco Labels, Heather Gadonniex, co-founder, MindClick Sustainable Growth Management;
- Descriptive or Deceptive? How to Avoid the Risks in Green Marketing, Christie Grymes, partner, Kelley Drye;
- Steelcase’s “Radical Evolution:” Shrinking the Corporate Environmental Footprint 25% by 2012, Angela Nahikian, Director of Global Environmental Sustainability, Steelcase Inc.;
- Reducing Carbon Footprint While Increasing Revenue and Profits – It IS Possible! Diana Dobin, LEED AP, Senior Vice President, Valley Forge Fabrics; and,
- Regulatory Perspective, Steven Levitas, Partner, Kilpatrick Stockton
A retailer panel, supplier panel and three corporate case histories featuring Kincaid Furniture, Flexsteel Inds., and Hooker Furniture, complete the Summit program.
The Summit’s opening day will conclude with a reception honoring finalists in the second annual Sage Award competition, a program co-sponsored by AHFA and Cargill’s BiOH® polyols business unit. The award recognizes excellence in the home furnishings and bedding industries through sustainable business practices, social responsibility and profitable growth. Following a video tribute highlighting the accomplishments of the three finalists – Century Furniture, Copeland Furniture and La-Z-Boy Inc. – the 2009 Sage Award winner will be announced.
The Summit is once again co-sponsored by Cargill’s BiOH® polyols business unit.
A limited number of rooms at a special $169 per night group rate are available at the Proximity. Attendees should call the hotel directly at 800/379-8200 or 336/379-8200 and provide the group name (American Home Furnishings Alliance) to secure accommodations at the reduced rate.
Registration for the Summit is $500 per person, or $450 per person if more than one executive from the same company is attending. The registration form is online at www.ahfa.us. From the home page, click on EVENTS, then scroll down to Sustainability Summit.
The American Home Furnishings Alliance – located in High Point, N.C., and Washington, D.C. – is the largest association of home furnishings companies in the world and represents more than 240 leading furniture manufacturers and distributors, as well as nearly 200 suppliers to the furniture industry worldwide.