If you’re going to compete as a home furnishings retailer, then profitability is a must. And what makes for outstanding profits? Exceptional sales . . . except that no one wants to be know as a salesperson.
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A competitive spirit can only carry you so far in home furnishings. After all, you can outfit your store with the hottest product lineup and all the latest technology – but if you don’t have a team with a sense of accountability, you’re going to be dead in the water.
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In a world where a cell phone costs more than a sofa, how does a small home furnishings business leverage a competitive edge to put them ahead of the competition? A series of smart and strategic choices led by a firm understanding of what differentiates a competitive edge from an unfair advantage.
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A decade ago it was inconceivable that someone would order a sofa while sitting on their sofa. Now, we don’t think twice about it. Why the shift? An evolving comfort level with technology’s influence on our product selection and buying habits.
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Listen, we get it . . . whether you’re a retailer or a manufacturer, product data is a drag. You’re typing, adding, finding, asking, listing, measuring and fact checking – hour, after hour, after hour, after hour, after hour.
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As it relates to the customer’s purchase journey, we can’t stress the importance of SEO enough. After all, everything – from an online order to a showroom visit - starts with search.
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Competition is essential for a healthy business eco-system. It forces improvement and innovation, builds drive and determination and inspires research and customer understanding. At it’s best, it encourages every business owner or furniture manufacturer to be their very best. At worst, it creates a loathsome measuring stick that consistently takes your eyes off the prize.
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October is Fair Trade Month, which means we will shine a collective spotlight on the products we buy and the people we support. Extending far beyond the familiar chocolate and coffee markets, Fair Trade also includes items in floral, produce, clothing, home goods, seafood and consumer packaged goods. Bookmark on home goods.
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With a market saturated by entities like Wayfair and Amazon, online furniture shopping is no longer a niche. Which means that it’s time to reinvent your business - and identify a new niche market - for added sales and future success.
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You can have the most gorgeous, thoughtfully designed collection of furnishings made of premium materials - and it’s not going to do you any good unless someone decides to buy.
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Have you ever read a product description so rich and textural that it made you skip the specs, forget the reviews and head straight to the Buy Now button? Welcome to your new goal.
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We’ve assembled 8 great productivity tools, techniques and time hacks to help us all play a little catch up and come out ahead by Q1.
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Amber Engine exists to help furniture manufacturers and retailers maximize their business with the seamless creation and distribution of product data. Here’s how it works!
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Grab the brass ring for your business, by making sure your products and services stand out to those living in transitional and temporary housing situations.
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Amber Engine's very own Dan Wieczorek is recognized by Home Furnishings Business as one of its 2018 Forty Under 40 honorees! We spoke to Dan about this exciting recognition.
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Gone are the days of relying on anecdotes from store employees to judge the effectiveness of a display or the fluidity of a footpath. Technology takes things a step further with hard and fast data from heat mapping.
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Whether you’re on the retail or manufacturing side of the home furnishings industry, inventory matters. That’s why the store of the future will likely rely on smart shelves and weighing pads to stay ahead of the curve.
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With an ever-growing emphasis on “customer experience,” retailers seek to merge old-school customer service with new-school technology. The result? Mobile as a Personal Shopping Assistant.
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These days, people are beating the Busy Drum – which means your business must rise above the rhythm to be discovered, much less shopped. After all, how can one enjoy the luxury of furniture shopping when they don’t even have the luxury of time. This means you have to take the furniture store to them.
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Sales success doesn’t always come down to having a “way with words” or possessing “gravitational charm.” Sometimes, it’s something as simple as eliminating the barriers your customers face when considering a purchase. So, we did a round-up of top customer complaints and assembled a few easy tips to help you fix them for improved sales.
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