Charlie Malouf
president/CEO
Broad River Retail
Fort Mills, S.C.
I think consumers want something new, exciting, presentable, fresh and affordable. The store environment needs to be updated, modern, well lit, visually stunning and inviting.
The sales staff needs to be knowledgeable, presentable, not pushy and seen as trusted advisors and consultants. The product needs to be compelling, both in looks, features, delivery speed, and affordability.
Interest free financing options will continue to cut through the clutter in an environment with elevated interest rates. Home furnishings retailers need to continue to promote that availability and accessibility.
Broad River Retail is investing in several store remodels and renovations to keep our stores fresh, current, on trend and visually stunning. We are constantly investing back into our people with sales training, leadership training and even with purpose training. I can expand on any of these.
We’re always bringing in the latest and greatest furniture and sleep experience products to present new features and benefits in a very affordable manner that fits within our customers’ budgets.
We work really hard to present and promote compelling long-term, interest-free financing options for our customers as well as secondary and tertiary credit options to serve guests wherever they are in their credit journey.
Greg Greeson
co-owner and CEO
Collectic Home and Eurway.com
Austin, Texas
I’d say that a shift back to pre-pandemic levels of staycations, in-home entertaining, welcoming guests at home and a return-to-the-office trend (where we were experiencing strong resi-mercial furniture orders) would help getting customers into our showroom. Right now, it’s tough getting them to put down their smart phones and doom-scrolling.
We’ve found that consumers are increasingly interested in bargains, so we doubled the size of our showroom by adding a large outlet store, which we heavily promote on Facebook Marketplace. There, we have a compelling selection of clearance, discontinued, staging and return merchandise.
Answering inquiries online for outlet store individual pieces is time-consuming, but we find it’s worth the effort. Also, the nationwide orders we experience 24/7/365 at our two disparate e-comm stores –– CollecticHome.com and Eurway.com –– continue to be bright spots.
Kyle Deets
president/owner
Deets Furniture|Ashley HomeStore
Norfolk, Neb.
There is a fair amount of pressure on the consumer right now. Everywhere you look, the consumer is now paying more for just about everything. Consumers are looking for value.
We have had success promoting great values across all categories, which has helped to drive traffic into our store. Great values mixed with financing options have helped us during a tougher retail environment.
We have made shifts to our product mix and advertising. We now show more value groups throughout our store. Pair that with promoting great financing options, and we seem to be getting traction with that mix.
Joe Bright
owner
Dunk & Bright
Syracuse, N.Y.
Customers are coming into brick-and-mortar stores around holidays and heavy promotional periods. You don’t have to wait for the calendar to turn.
It’s always a good time to promote your own “biggest sale” so the customer has a reason to shop.
Sara Horacek
creative director
Furniture Mart USA
Sioux Falls, S.D.
Authenticity and trustworthiness are more important in the consumer space than ever before.
The days of haggling for deals are gone; younger consumers want genuine companies that reflect their own personal values. Millennials and Gen Zs, who hold the majority of the buying power, don’t want to be “sold” to. They want to feel empowered to make the right decision for themselves and to purchase from a company they are proud of.
Furniture Mart USA is prioritizing initiatives such as company values, in-store experience, customer service, sales experience, and guest follow-up. By refocusing on these foundational pillars, we are better able to support customers throughout their entire lifecycle and continue to attract customers into the store.
Jim McIngvale
owner
Gallery Furniture
Houston
Obviously, it would help things tremendously if the interest rates went down and people started buying homes again, but that’s a macro thing we can’t control.
One of the things we’re doing to get people in store is with better customer service. We’ve always been good at customer service, but we’re delivering furniture in three or four hours, and I call the customers every day to make sure their experience has been good. We’re making an effort to make sure every customer is being taken care of. Every customer is vitally important to the enterprise.
Kyle Johansen
executive director, merchandising and marketing
HOM Furniture
Minneapolis
In my opinion, to get consumers back into the store retailers need to be offering aggressive promotions including financing offers to help offset the inflation stresses on consumers that is still happening in the broader economy.
With high interest rates and low turn in the housing market, there are plenty of headwinds still in our industry. If you stay aggressive and the Fed starts to cut rates, that should help drive business as the housing market recovers as more furniture buyers enter the market.
We are keeping our pricing as sharp as we can with compelling offers and financing.
Jacob Jones
president
La-Z-Boy Southeast/Tipperary Sales
Evans, Ga.
I think a couple things need to happen to get consumers into the store. First, consumers need to feel confident in their financial stability. When people are assured, they can make purchases without jeopardizing their ability to pay bills, they’re more likely to visit and spend in stores.
Lower interest rates definitely encourage spending, as it also encourages borrowing and when the return on savings are less than the benefit of furniture, consumers are more inclined to invest in new furniture.
Some things we’ve done and continue to do to attract customers back to our stores (is to) focus on enhancing customer experience through our In-Home Design program, keeping our stores updated and focusing on the overall customer experience.
We also continue to improve our product support and service to make every experience enjoyable and worthwhile. We continue to focus on community engagement, supporting our local charity partners through our trade-in event and are bringing on more in-store events.
Oscar Miskelly
CEO
Miskelly Furniture
Pearl, Miss.
When it comes to attracting customers to shop in your store, there is not one right answer. It involves an omnichannel marketing approach including both digital and traditional media. The furniture industry is very visual, so establishing a strong online presence through a well-designed, user-friendly webhttps://amazingbestseller.com/ and active social media channels is essential.
Running limited-time promotions creates a sense of urgency and motivates customers to come to the store. The key to successful promotions is the way a company markets them. Some of the most effective ways to get the word out include digital billboards, paid social media ads, display ads, email blasts, radio ads, direct mail, broadcast, OTT and CTV.
Another important aspect of getting customers in your store is through creating a trustworthy brand. Being involved in the community goes a long way in the consumer’s eye. This could look like local event sponsorships and showing up to local networking events.
Another way to establish your brand is through utilizing your team members to talk about the company environment. Find what makes your brand stand out and talk about that on your marketing mediums.
At Miskelly Furniture, we are using a CRM called HubSpot to facilitate all our marketing efforts. We are able to send out multiple email blasts to all our marketing contacts. We also have the ability to segment that list to target specific customers with personalized emails.
There are a number of digital billboards in our region where we run promotional and branding graphics. For major holidays, we are sending out direct mail pieces and marketing text message on top of our regular marketing strategy. In addition to the above list, our general marketing strategy includes targeted social media ads, organic social posts, display ads, as well as commercials on broadcast and streaming.
However, this is a very challenging time right now. When I travel, I see the airports are full, the restaurants are full, and I hear how hot the economy is running, but we are not experiencing that. Door counts are down substantially as the consumer seems to be stressed by high inflation and dwindling savings.
Certainly, we pulled so much business forward during the pandemic ,and now the housing market challenges brought about by high interest rates have created a very soft demand for housing which drives our industry. We will survive this because we are built for the long run, but there will be many others who will fall out during this time.
Michael Galloway
vice president of marketing
Star Furniture
Houston
Modern consumers seek brands that align with their values. It’s essential to offer what they desire and inspire them, transcending mere affordability.
Trustworthiness and community engagement are paramount; customers need assurance that the retailer shares their principles. In our approach, we prioritize service alongside style and quality, a commitment that deeply resonates with our clientele.
Jessica Talsma-Smith
store manager and buyer
Talsma Furniture
Hudsonville, Mich.
So, I believe a couple things need to happen to get customers into the store. First, you have to make it personal for them. Since they can buy so much from their couch, we need to make the in-store experience worth the trip with something that makes them feel special: Exclusive promotions, personalized service, and before- or after-hours appointments or events.
Then you want to stand out as the company that really cares about the community. Show that you are truly local. Engage the community through sponsorships or fundraising for something they big guys can’t do. Then have cool stuff that people want to buy and help them shop it in a way that will truly solve a problem for them and give them the beautiful home they imagined for their couch.
