On controlling your destiny
Ray Allegrezza, Editor in Chief -- Furniture Today, June 27, 2005
Let's face it. We've become an industry of control freaks.
Manufacturers, be they here or overseas, want to control their lists of customers. Large retailers want to have as much control as possible over facets of manufacturing, including pricing, design and delivery. And manufacturers with their own store networks clearly want as much control as possible over what goes on at retail.
Behind closed doors, many manufacturers will tell you they simply feel more confident controlling what goes on in their company-owned stores. That's no knock on retailers, mind you; they just feel better calling the shots on the selling floor. That often translates as: "Retailers don't pay as much attention to showcasing our product as they should."
Retailers, meanwhile, will say they've become more comfortable taking on many functions formerly provided by suppliers. That often translates as: "Some suppliers have dropped the ball in terms of hitting delivery deadlines, ensuring ongoing product quality and generally keeping us in the loop about issues that could affect our business."
The bottom line is the bottom line, so who can blame anybody for wanting to control his or her own destiny?
Just last week, Bassett Furniture Inds. acquired controlling interest in eight Bassett Furniture Direct stores that apparently weren't dazzling Dallas consumers. In a statement, President and CEO Bob Spilman Jr. said the move would provide Bassett's store program with "greater scale, allowing us to drive the consistency and uniformity we believe are vital to our overall BFD program at this time. We will provide both the organizational and financial strength needed to improve the performance of these stores."
At the end of the day, maybe it's not so bad to be a control freak when it comes to your business. Because, after all, either you control the business or it controls you.
