NHFA Unveils HomeFurnishings.com
April 15, 2009
With its new resource center in High Point's Furniture Plaza as a backdrop, on Tuesday the National Home Furnishings Association (NHFA) unveiled its long-awaited national marketing campaign, which centers around HomeFurnishings.com, a comprehensive Web portal aiming to build consumers' need for home furnishings and then drive them to a brick-and-mortar retailer.
The three key elements: a national advertising and promotion program, the HomeFurnishings.com furniture industry consumer web portal and a certified retailer program.
"I believe this is the most unifying project I've seen in 33 years in the home furnishings industry," said NHFA Chairman Doug Kays, who noted that HomeFurnishings.com actually puts the furniture industry on the leading edge of Internet sales and marketing.
“Consumer shopping behavior has changed dramatically and so we need to change the way we reach that consumer," Kays said. "Our traditional ways of reaching her through promotional media--newspapers, radio, TV and the yellow pages--are not as effective as they once were. She is now beginning her shopping process on line, deciding where to shop and what to buy before she leaves her home. NHFA’s new HomeFurnishings.com web portal program is designed to help retailers reach that consumer by identifying her needs and increasing her confidence."
A national ad campaign will launch in January to promote the site in Martha Stewart Living, House Beautiful, Country Living and Real Simple. The campaign also will include interactive banner ads online, as well as Google Words in markets where participating retailers are located.
"Certified Home Furnishings.com Retailers" will get extra preference. Those retailers must be an NHFA member, buy into the program, have a brick-and-mortar location, a written consumer rights policy and dispute resolution vehicle, and be a member of a local Better Business Bureau or retail merchants association. They will have a microsite on HomeFurnishings.com that links directly to their own Web site, and consumers can opt in to have them as their preferred retailer. If a retailer is not selected, a rotating banner of local certified retailers appears on a registered consumer's screen while on the site. All rich content on the portal is available for retailers' microsites.
And for once, Kays said, home furnishings is on the leading edge of Internet marketing.
"This is not a Web site," he said. "Web sites are linear ... (consumers) have to go to each one individually, the same as going to stores. HomeFurnishings.com is a portal that aggregates material from multiple sources, expands that with articles that inspire the consumer, and gives her one place to go. That's the next generation of what you're going to see on the Web. That's right--home furnishings is ahead of the curve." (Click here to see a streaming promotional video online.)
The three key elements: a national advertising and promotion program, the HomeFurnishings.com furniture industry consumer web portal and a certified retailer program.
"I believe this is the most unifying project I've seen in 33 years in the home furnishings industry," said NHFA Chairman Doug Kays, who noted that HomeFurnishings.com actually puts the furniture industry on the leading edge of Internet sales and marketing.
“Consumer shopping behavior has changed dramatically and so we need to change the way we reach that consumer," Kays said. "Our traditional ways of reaching her through promotional media--newspapers, radio, TV and the yellow pages--are not as effective as they once were. She is now beginning her shopping process on line, deciding where to shop and what to buy before she leaves her home. NHFA’s new HomeFurnishings.com web portal program is designed to help retailers reach that consumer by identifying her needs and increasing her confidence."
A national ad campaign will launch in January to promote the site in Martha Stewart Living, House Beautiful, Country Living and Real Simple. The campaign also will include interactive banner ads online, as well as Google Words in markets where participating retailers are located.
"Certified Home Furnishings.com Retailers" will get extra preference. Those retailers must be an NHFA member, buy into the program, have a brick-and-mortar location, a written consumer rights policy and dispute resolution vehicle, and be a member of a local Better Business Bureau or retail merchants association. They will have a microsite on HomeFurnishings.com that links directly to their own Web site, and consumers can opt in to have them as their preferred retailer. If a retailer is not selected, a rotating banner of local certified retailers appears on a registered consumer's screen while on the site. All rich content on the portal is available for retailers' microsites.
And for once, Kays said, home furnishings is on the leading edge of Internet marketing.
"This is not a Web site," he said. "Web sites are linear ... (consumers) have to go to each one individually, the same as going to stores. HomeFurnishings.com is a portal that aggregates material from multiple sources, expands that with articles that inspire the consumer, and gives her one place to go. That's the next generation of what you're going to see on the Web. That's right--home furnishings is ahead of the curve." (Click here to see a streaming promotional video online.)
