Drexel Heritage testing e-commerce sales
Pilot projects launched in a dozen markets
Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, April 24, 2009
THOMASVILLE, N.C. — In hopes of capturing a growing number of online shoppers, Drexel Heritage has begun a pilot e-commerce initiative that will allow some customers to buy furniture on its Web site.
The program was launched in early April in 10 markets where Drexel Heritage has company-owned stores - Long Island and Westchester County, N.Y.; Washington; Atlanta; Charlotte, Hickory and Jamestown, N.C.; and Jacksonville, Boca Raton and Tampa, Fla.
Drexel also is testing the initiative in two other markets where it has no retail presence, which the company declined to identify.
Under the pilot program, only consumers who are in ZIP codes within those 12 markets will be able to order products from the Web site.
Officials said their intention with the initiative is both to support the company's current distribution by driving traffic to stores, and to reach consumers in areas where it currently doesn't have distribution.
Drexel and its parent company, Furniture Brands International, say the plan gives shoppers another way to purchase furniture.
"We just know from data we are getting from different sources that we are seeing 80-plus percent of consumers who have bought furniture in the past year are researching online before they buy, and well over 80% want to go into a store and touch and feel it before they make a transaction," said Alex Hodges, FBI's chief marketing officer.
"The Internet is becoming critically important in the furniture purchase cycle, and we at Furniture Brands want to use the Internet to drive traffic to our stores."
Drexel Heritage began posting retail prices online about four years ago.
Officials say the new pilot program will help it learn how to manage the online sales process, including service, payment and delivery.
In the test areas where it has company stores, it will take the order online and notify the store a sale has been made. The store will handle the order fulfillment by assigning a salesperson to the task. In turn, the store will receive credit for the sale, Hodges said.
He declined to reveal the margin-sharing arrangement between Furniture Brands and the stores, but said, "We see this giving incremental margin and traffic to our dealers."
In markets where the company has no retail presence, Drexel Heritage would handle the transaction and the delivery.
Drexel President Lenwood Rich said that at this early stage, he couldn't say how long the pilot program would last or how many customers might end up buying product online.
For it to be successful, however, he believes it must be fair to retailers and also adhere to the company's sales and distribution policies - which would prohibit a store in Ohio from shipping to a customer in Florida, for example.
Rich said he believes it's a good time to try new ideas such as the e-commerce initiative.
"If we get the sale from the store or online, we have picked up a customer we didn't have before," Rich said.
Rich will be discussing the initiative this market with retailers visiting the Drexel showroom in the Thomasville Furniture building at 401 E. Main St. in Thomasville, N.C.
If successful, the concept also could be implemented with other FBI brands in the future, officials said. The company's other brands include Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, Henredon and Maitland-Smith.
"We know that most of the top home furnishings retailers are selling online - it's a fact," said FBI's Hodges. "We are seeing the trend and certainly we want to make sure we capitalize on that consumer behavior and give consumers the choices they want and let them purchase product the way they want."
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Drexel launches e-commerce test
Apr 25, 2009
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