Canadian Home Furnishings Awards To Sponsor National Sale

Furniture World Magazine

Winners of the 2007 Canadian Home Furnishings Awards will be front and centre in a new national sales event to be held in late spring and early summer of next year. The sale has been developed by the Ontario Furniture Manufacturers Association, which also organizes and operates the program, in co-operation with both of the major buying groups and prominent retailers across Canada. “The Medallion Winners Sale is being organized for several reasons,” said John Power, chairman of the CHFA steering committee. “First of all, we want to give retailers more and better tools to promote Canadian-made furniture and bedding to their customers. CHFA winners are the best-in-class and consumers need to be made aware that Canadian manufacturers are amongst the best in the world. “We also want to prove to Canadian manufacturers that participating in the program brings back to them tangible benefits, and will create more demand for their goods,” he added. Earlier this year, the CHFA steering committee conducted a study of retailers and manufacturers to determine how the program was perceived by the industry and what measures should be taken to enhance its value as a marketing tool for both groups. “Our goal is have major independent retailers across the country support and run this program all at the same time,” said Power, who also serves as sales manager for bedding specialist Serta Toronto. “What’s unique about this sale is that each retailer can tailor his campaign to feature those Medallion winners produced by their current vendor partners.” Cantrex Group and Mega Group as well as destination retailer Stoney Creek Furniture of Stoney Creek, Ontario were consulted in the creation of the campaign. It’s anticipated that both groups will encourage their members to hold a Medallion Winners’ Sale and that Stoney Creek will hold one. The CHFA steering committee is suggesting the sales be held between June 1 and August 31, 2007. However, Power cautions that the success of the sale will be dependent on the manufacturers and retailers who choose to participate. “The success of the program will be based on how much effort the winning manufacturers put into the program,” he said. “Winning the award is step one; the CHFA giving the winning manufacturer the award is step two; but the true success of the program is having the winning manufacturers take the tools we supply and use them to increase and/or merchandise space on existing retail floors and to leverage their win to expand their retail network while creating a more visible profile with the Canadian consumer.” The OFMA is putting together a complete advertising sales kit that will be made available to retailers once the winners are announced at the 2007 edition of the Canadian Home Furnishings Market. The kit will include: hang tags, flyer formats, tent cards, ad mats, posters and a CD with high quality digital images of each of the winners in all 28 categories of the competition. Power said retailers will be asked to pay a nominal fee of between C$75 and C$100 for the kit. Retailers interested in holding a Canadian Home Furnishings Awards Medallion Winners Sale should contact David Hanna, president of the OFMA at (905) 677-6561 or by e-mail at dhanna@ofma.ca.