Gallery's Facebook fans pick ‘best of market.'

Retailer's promo nets consumer input on High Point intros

Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, November 3, 2010

A contemporary black and white bedroom group by Najarian was the top pick from High Point Market among Gallery Furniture’s Facebook fans.	A gothic Emanuel Design Group bed was among the favorites.
A white sectional from Mobital was the second most commented on piece, among more than 300 of Gallery Furniture’s Facebook fans.	An American Leather sectional came in third.
This Ty Pennington bed by Howard Miller was popular with Gallery Furniture’s Facebook fans.	This Berg youth bedroom also won votes.
This Palliser sectional was a Facebook favorite.	Crown Mark’s Click-Clack sofa got high marks.
Gallery Furniture’s High Point buying team of Robert Williams, left, Jason Villarreal, Ian Cameron and George Alipzar posted more than 350 product photos to the retailer’s Facebook page during market.	This zebra print chair from Crown Mark was among the Facebook favorites.

HOUSTON — Gallery Furniture got consumers involved in the High Point Market buying process again this year with a Facebook promotion that's now driving some of its buying decisions.

The Houston-based Top 100 company had more than 300 of its 6,000-plus Facebook fans comment on photos that its High Point marketing team posted to Facebook throughout market week. Gallery owner Jim McIngvale has said the idea was to make the retailer "relevant" to consumers and to infuse some of the hype typical of, say, New York Fashion Week, into the relatively staid home furnishings industry.

The promotion follows an event a year ago in which Gallery brought along nine consumer buyers to High Point to shop the market.

For the Facebook campaign, "We took the top 10 items that received the most comments and ‘likes' and Mack will be talking to the vendors about bringing them to Gallery Furniture," said Robert Williams, director of fun, marketing, ecommerce and social media for the two-store retailer.

He called the promotion, a "huge success," generating the type of buzz that led one High Point exhibitor, Elements, to reach out and invite the Gallery team into their showroom. By the time the team left market, they had posted more than 350 photos to the site, Williams said.

The consumer fans logging the most participation - voting on product favorites and passing along images to friends and family - won prizes, including a Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Cloud Luxe king set, $1,000 Gallery gift certificates, a Crown Mark Click-Clack futon and $500 in Howard Miller gift certificates.

Gallery's Facebook fan count has risen to 6,583 at this writing from less than 5,500 before High Point opening day.

The retailer plans on repeat the social media promotion during the January Las Vegas Market and "wants to hear from vendors that want to participate," by emailing or posting invitations on Gallery's Facebook page, Williams said.

From the High Point Market, the Gallery team put particularly heavy emphasis on contemporary styles. The top vote getter was a black and white contemporary bedroom group for Najarian followed by American Leather sectional and a modern white sectional from Mobital.

Other vendors garnering top picks included Emanuel Design Group, Crown Mark, Howard Miller (for a Ty Pennington bed), Berg, Palliser and Largo.

Asked if Gallery was concerned supplier representatives may have influenced votes, Williams said not at all, noting that he reviewed all the responses.

"Our fan count did not rise much during market and the top eight that participated and won prizes all live in Houston and are not in the business in any way," he said.

We have three reps that I know are fans and they did not boost their product. That is something Mack would not condone."