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Oskar Huber: Targeting the bedding opportunity

By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, February 24, 2002

Bob Huber has seen the value of bedding, and he's doing everything he can to make it more important to his family's chain of furniture stores.

With four stores in the Philadelphia market, Oskar Huber Furniture is now focusing on bedding as an opportunity for increased sales and profits.

The company has revised its vendor and advertising mix, rearranged its commission structure for bedding sales and improved its sales training for the category.

"The gross margin dollars are very attractive," Huber said. "As far as my back end, it's very easy to prep it and ship it so there's very little work involved. In many cases it's an add-on sale, which is always a help."

Huber recently narrowed his bedding vendor list, focusing on Sealy and its step-up brand Stearns & Foster. With fewer vendors, Huber hopes to earn more co-op support and volume rebates.

Currently, Oskar Huber shows 16 bedding sets in its larger stores and 15 in the smaller units. Of the company's 40 salespeople, Huber estimates that 20 "get it" when it comes to bedding.

As an incentive to the entire staff to get it, Huber sends portions of his staff to factory training with Sealy. Also, he recently introduced a new commission and spiff package that rewards bigger ticket bedding sales. "We will definitely sell them the lower priced product if that's what they want, but we're trying to educate people as to why a better set of bedding might be benefit for them," he said.

Huber said his goal is to raise its average bedding sale from $699 to $899 and to make bedding at least 10% of sales. Currently, it's about 7% of sales, although one store has achieved 10%.

As an in-store promotion, the company put up signs in its bedroom displays offering a 10% on bedding purchases with a new bedroom suite. "Hopefully, that's a trigger for the salesperson to start talking about it, too," Huber said.

To support all these bedding initiatives, Huber now includes bedding in all his advertising, and he has even produced a spot promoting bedding exclusively. "We want people to come in and ask for bedding," he said.

Bob Huber has renewed the focus on bedding at Oskar Huber Furniture.

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