Furniture retailers need to make resolutions that focus on devising business solutions for improved performance in 2011. There is no rescue fleet on the way.
That’s the key message and gudiance that will be delivered in a seminar to be conducted by Profit Management Promotions (PMP) at the High Point Furniture Market show, April 1-7, 2011. The workshop will help store owners develop action plans that tie to retailers’ strategic options: staying the course with their current strategies, pursuing restructurings, investing in capital improvements, business expansion, or liquidating.
The PMP seminar will be held on Monday, April 4, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the Resource Center located at Plaza Suites on the 2nd floor.
PMP has now delivered the seminar at several industry trade shows, as well as for individual home furnishings companies. The workshop content dovetails with a new PMP service offering – launched in 2010 – which is focused on providing business planning advisory support to furniture retailers. Established in 1985, PMP is acknowledged as one of the industry’s leading firms offering sales promotion services.
“We continue to see an alarmingly small number of furniture retailers that develop formal business plans in order to keep pace with shifting market challenges and opportunities,” said Ron Cooper, PMP’s director of sales and marketing. “In fact, most companies don’t do planning at all. That has to change. The economy is steadily – albeit slowly – regaining its footing. That means home furnishings retailers need to aggressively map out strategies to capitalize on the opportunities we believe they will see in 2011.”
Themed “If You Plan, Your Business Can Survive & Thrive!” the PMP seminar will study the major marketplace challenges confronting furniture retailers. These include the multitude of new choices consumers have for purchasing home furnishings – namely Big Box Stores, the growing national chains, closeout stores, independent outlets, and web retailers – as well as the changing attitudes of today’s value-oriented consumers, who are unwilling to overpay and who are less concerned with buying products in prestigious “brand name” outlets.
Cooper emphasized that many furniture retailers need to radically revamp their business models to reverse the losses they incurred over the last several years. Many of the companies PMP is currently working with have tapped the firm for its expertise in developing new strategies for merchandising, brand-positioning and marketing, sales management, and financial and operational improvements.
“Our seminar will address each of these areas,” Cooper added. “Importantly, our attendees will come away with a powerful toolkit of strategies to develop action plans that will help them succeed in 2011 and beyond.”
About Profit Management Promotions: Profit Management Promotions has a proven track record in conducting high-impact sales promotions that help furniture retailers raise capital or liquidate under-performing stores. PMP also delivers a range of consulting and marketing services designed to help furniture retailers optimize profitability and capitalize on given growth opportunities.
Cooper will present the seminar with his colleague – Hector Mustafa, the firm’s vice president of operations. Mr. Mustafa and MR. Cooper are members of the National Home Furnishings Association, the International Home Furnishings Representatives Association, and multiple regional groups serving the home furnishings market.
Profit Management Promotions is headquartered in Jamison, PA, and maintains regional offices in New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina.