Finally, they're actually giving it away
Carole Sloan -- Furniture Today, July 19, 2004
Well, it finally happened!
After years of writing about no-no-no furniture advertising — and what message that sends to consumers — and half jokingly predicting the next step would be to simply give furniture away.... It's actually happening!
In the last week of June, New York-based Seaman's ran a lollapalooza of a promotion, which screamed, "Seaman's 48 hours of FREE PIECES OF FURNITURE".
Yes, there was a proviso that the freebies came only with "select room packages," and that the free stuff "varied by store." But still, furniture retailers are now giving customers furniture as an enticement to buy.
And, of course, Seaman's joined the ever-growing chorus of retailers now offering no-no-no till 2006.
Then there's Marlo Furniture, the metro Washington furniture retailer, which formalized the deflationary factor in furniture pricing with a recent four-day event. Granted, Marlo doesn't appeal to the upper end of the marketplace, but it is mainstream.
Here are their prices for some of the categories offered in this Marlo event: a 92-inch sofa, value $625, now $299; an 83-inch sofa, "impeccably styled with 100% leather seating" at $399, formerly $800; a $499 leather sofa, "value at $990, 100% leather seating." And there were dining room and bedroom values at similar price points.
When was the last time some retailer other than Wal-Mart dipped down to the $299 price point?
And, of course, there was the "pay nothing til 2006" offer.
So I ask, not so jokingly: Is the next step in furniture promotions to pay consumers to come into the store? It may sound far-fetched, but so did free furniture a couple of years ago.
