"Deck out your pad while we pad your bank account." According to the NHFA, that’s the message retailers hope to send to consumers this fall during the second annual National Home Furnishings Month (NHFM). The 10-day retail sales event, championed by World Market Center Las Vegas (WMCLV) and endorsed by eight leading trade associations, will occur Sept. 18-26.
To generate retailer participation of the home furnishings industry’s only broad-based consumer marketing program, WMCLV is sponsoring an extraordinary prize: an exciting, nationwide consumer sweepstakes that will liberate one homeowner from paying their mortgage for one year. Running throughout the month of September and promoted extensively on-line and with the support of participating stores, the sweepstakes is designed to help lighten a hefty burden on today’s families while giving them to the freedom to experience the joy of owning new furnishings.
To capture their share of traffic—and consumer spending—during this month long promotion, participating retailers can opt-in to be a store where consumers enter to win the grand prize at no cost. Retailers are encouraged to promote this contest in their advertising as well as take advantage of the many free promotional marketing tools WMCLV is offering.
“In our second year sponsoring National Home Furnishings Month, we wanted to eliminate all barriers for entry for retailers by developing a sweepstakes that we believe will be truly valuable to consumers in today’s marketplace. This promotion hopes to lighten what can be a hefty burden on today’s families while giving them to the freedom to rejuvenate their home with new furnishings,” said Robert Maricich, President and CEO of World Market Center Las Vegas. “To make it truly turn-key, we are offering creative content and free tools for retailers to ‘plug and play’ this campaign with their own brand and in their own markets which, in essence, will multiply the collective voice and effect we can have on consumers buying for their home.”
Retailers around the country can run the sweepstakes as their own and promote it in their advertising to increase store visits and capture sales. Participating stores will receive a unique URL that their customers can use to enter the sweepstakes on-line after visiting their store; the point of entry will branded with that store’s information and logo.
The complimentary advertising tool kit provided by WMCLV includes everything retailers need to help drive purchases, including branding and usage guidelines with public relations ideas, print ads, in-store POS displays, an email template, in-store sweepstakes banner and more. Stores may also opt-in to the online Retailer Locator tool to generate added impressions and web traffic. Retailers who are also participating in the sweepstakes will get a premier listing on the Store Locator.
Retailers can sign up for NHFM and the Home Mortgage Sweepstakes by visiting www.homeyet.com/retailer-login or while attending August Las Vegas Market (Aug. 2 - 6). Upon visiting the NHFM kiosk in World Market Center’s Building C Atrium or at C-496 hosted by Western Home Furnishings Association (WHFA), retailers will be able to get their complimentary listing on the store locator, as well as get the information and tools required to participate in this year’s national event.
WMCLV has also extended a partnership with Sale-in-a-Box, America’s premier supplier of sales event materials for the retail industry, to ensure the toolkit is easy to adopt and “turnkey” for store owners and marketers. Sale-in-a-Box will produce printed materials for retailers who want to activate the NHFM campaign in their store.
About Is it Home Yet? and National Home Furnishings Month
Created by WMCLV, the home furnishings industry’s leading international marketplace, and launched in partnership with eight industry associations, the Is it Home Yet? advertising campaign and NHFM was the first-ever industry-wide initiative that encouraged consumers to celebrate the idea of “home” and refresh their living spaces through new home furnishings purchases. In addition to the Home Mortgage Sweepstakes, the campaign’s website, www.homeyet.com, features advice from top designers with home makeover tips and trend information. Exclusive information about sales and promotions at participating retailers across the country is also available online.
In its inaugural year, more than 7,000 retailers nationwide participated in the program and were included on the site’s store locator section. Nearly 2,000 retailers downloaded the National Home Furnishings Month Retailer Toolkit last year, which equipped them with marketing tools to support the initiative in their advertising programs.
The average age of consumers who engaged with the inaugural campaign was 49.9 years old. Of all consumer respondents, which skewed 2:1 female, 78 percent said they planned to make home furnishings purchases in 2010, with the living room ranked as the first choice of rooms to be refurnished in their home.
Rules for 2010 Home Mortgage Sweepstakes – No purchase necessary to enter or win. Open to legal residents of the United States and D.C., who are 18 years of age or older. Void in Puerto Rico and where prohibited by law. Begins on September 1, 2010 and ends on September 30, 2010. Prize will be awarded as $24,000 cash based upon an average monthly home mortgage expense of $2,000 per month for twelve (12) months. For Official Rules, go to http://www.homeyet.com.
This all-industry marketing initiative is endorsed by National Home Furnishings Association (NHFA), Western Home Furnishings Association (WHFA), Home Furnishings Independents Associations (HFIA), Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC), American Society of Furniture Designers (ASFD), Specialty Sleep Association (SSA), Women in the Home Industries Today (WithIt) and International Sleep Products Association (ISPA).
About World Market Center Las Vegas
World Market Center Las Vegas is an integrated home and hospitality contract furnishings showroom and trade complex. The state-of-the-art campus showcases furniture, decorative accessories, gift, lighting, area rugs, home textiles and related segments, as well as the Las Vegas Design Center open daily to consumers and designers. World Market Center currently hosts the biannual Las Vegas MarketTM, the preeminent total home market along with Gift + HomeTM and Vegas KidsTM. For more information on World Market Center Las Vegas and its shows, visit www.wmclv.com. Find us on Facebook and Twitter.