Talking Points
By Powell Slaughter
About Powell
Powell Slaughter has been covering the furniture industry for going on 12 years now. While his longtime emphasis had been case goods product coverage, he also spent a fair amount of time examining retail technology and operations, which inspired him to come to work with Home Furnishings Business magazine.The Z Files
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Corraling Consumer Attention
Nice to see the "Is It Home Yet?" campaign get some attention out where it counts--in the media consumers read.
Sheila O'Mara had sent me the above link, but it didn't ring a bell--indeed, I went back and looked through my copy of the New York Times' Sunday national edition to no avail. Turns out it showed up in the local edition on page B4--not too bad, but then again, it ain't the Today Show.
Fact is, as an industry, we haven't made the kind of investment--putting our money where our mouth is--to attract the type of general media attention enjoyed, say, by the Consumer Electronics Show. My hope is that "Is It Home Yet?" is a step toward changing that.
World Market Center sounds committed to underwriting the project, reportedly $5 million in the first year alone, and like it or not, when that organization says something out in public, it has a pretty decent track record of following through. Whichever furniture market you prefer, a lot of people didn't think the Las Vegas Market would make it this far.
What some called a "dust storm" now has the second-largest amount of home furnishings exhibition space around, and they even stuck with their announcement to shift Las Vegas' fall market to High Point's chronological doorstep despite widespread criticism.
If World Market Center keeps pumping money into the program, which launched its Web site Monday, and "Is It Furniture Yet?" strikes a chord, WMC is owed a debt of thanks from everyone in this business no matter their view of market dates, competition with High Point, relative showroom expenses and the like.
There's a lot of work to be done, and a lot more people who need to come on board for this to work, though: When I plugged my zip code into the store locator, two stores came up within a 25-mile radius, and while Greensboro, N.C., is no Manhattan in terms of urban centers ... Well, you get my drift.
The job now for the National Home Furnishings Association (WMC's partner for the Web site's store locator) and World Market Center's partner is to sell the concept to get retailers and vendors on board to make it worth consumers' while to check it out when they finally do hear more about "Is It Furniture Yet?" in the places where they get information.
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Thanks for tracking this Powell. The number keeps growing from the 3,425 it was at on Wednesday morning. Any retailer who wants more information about the program or who wants to sign up just needs to call NHFA at 1-800-888-9590 or 1-336-886-6100. The National Home Furnishings Month campaign runs through the end of September and includes optional participation in a National Sale the last part of September. The retailer simply designs what their sale offering will be (or uses their existing sale) and to the extent possible, adds the sale icons to their advertisements and website. There is no cost for the program.
I'd also like to acknowledge and thank World Market Center - Las Vegas for their initiative in developing this program and their funding of the campaign.
We will all do better when we come together to act as one loud and compelling voice in reaching out to educate and inspire consumers to improve their homes. Furniture purchases can no longer be religated to discretionary status. When the consumer understands the intrinsic and emotional values of a properly furnished home, she will recognise that furniture is a necessity. The "Is it Home Yet?" campaign and HomeFurnishings.com are dedicated to using the aggregated strength of our participants to reach out to the consumer with that message; and to educate and inspire the consumer to place a higher personal value and family value on a properly furnished home.
Here's an update on what I wrote for this blog.
Just got off the phone with NHFA's Doug Kays, who told me that 3,400 stores were added to homeyet.com's store locator this morning.
Seems the number of retailers wanting to sign up had caused a server crash last week, and we're just now seeing the types of numbers we should as far as stores on the locator. Kays also described the current level as a "starting point."
Well, seeing's believing--the store count within a 25-mile range of my neighborhood is now up to 26 from the single store I found the first time I looked on Monday.
Keep it up!
Following up:
The store count for my zip code is now up to four on Tuesday afternoon.
I'll keep updating the figure.
Powell Slaughter