Furniture First group gathers in Bahamas
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, March 12, 2006
Nassau, Bahamas — Furniture First held its 10th Annual Symposium here, along with a two-day planning session for board members to chart the long-term future of the retail buying group.
"Speakers Pat West of West Retail Consulting and Martin Roberts of Grid2 offered our members insightful seminars and individual attention," said Shelly Burd, Furniture First director of operations.
West and Roberts also attended networking and roundtable sessions with the members.
West presented a refresher on how day-to-day operations add to profits. His topics included how to develop key performance indicators for customer care departments and other retail functions.
Roberts spoke about reaching out to customers under the age of 35. He said that since these shoppers usually like lifestyle retailers in malls, they may find shopping in traditional furniture stores boring. Roberts suggested several tactics to attract them, including acknowledging the seasons with accessories and signage, and placing colorful merchandise at the front of the store.
The symposium's Best Idea session was a hit, with members sharing success stories from 2005, including new product lines, new value-added customer services, and charitable initiatives that benefited both stores and their communities.
"Learning from other members as to what works when it comes to bringing in customers and making sales is one of the biggest benefits to the membership," said Bill Hartman, Furniture First president.
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