Jerry Lewis and the Furniture Business

I watched a bit of the Jerry Lewis Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy over the Labor Day weekend. The man, at 84 years of age has created an enviable legacy for himself over the last 50 years in the donations he has raised and indeed the lives he has been instrumental in prolonging. Love him or loath him, he understands one thing that has been at the core of his success as a fundraiser. He is unafraid and unapologetic to rip at the heartstrings of his viewers. He has learned, all too well, that those watching his show are easy prey when he appeals to their emotions with a heavy hand.There is a lesson to be learned by this for furniture retailers.

FURNITURE BUYING IS AN EMOTIONAL PURCHASE.

Make no mistake…if a person only wanted to obtain something to sit on or someplace to store their clothes they could just go out and get an orange crate and a foam cushion or stack a bunch of cardboard boxes, one on top of another. No …when they buy furniture there is a very real emotional component in their decision-making as what to buy and where.

Indeed, when they shop they are thinking of how beautiful the sofa will look in their living room and, by extension, how good and proud they will be. Or they are daydreaming about how happy or envious their friends will be when they come a-callin’. Or they are thinking of pleasant but frosty Sunday afternoons, alternately watching the football game and the crackling fire in the fireplace, as they sit lazily on the comfy, beautiful new motion sofa.

I believe this message is appropriate not only for the higher-end retailers but also (perhaps even more so) for the more promotional. For far longer than I have been in this business, lower-end retailers have hammered home this type of message: “SOFA…FOR 3 DAYS ONLY, REG $500, NOW $399″. Maybe a little copy about the sofa but essentially the focus is on this week’s Sale event.

I certainly would not suggest the day of marketing furniture through the use of sales, discounts and other promotions of the like is over. I am suggesting that these approaches might be so much more effective if retailers appealed to some of the emotional motives their customers may have, along with the savings story.

This approach has been shown to work in the bedding arena with retailers promoting a great night’s sleep in a luxurious cloud-soft, pillow-top Mattress and Foundation and “Oh by the way, this $800 queen sized set of bedding can be purchased for three days only for $499″.

There is nearly always an emotional element involved in selecting any fashion based product whether the item in question is $299 or $4,299. Further, just because a customer only has a budget of $299, he or she still wants the absolute best sofa that will fit his or her needs both functionally and emotionally. There are lots of sofas available to consumers out there at every price point. The retailer that speaks to the customer’s emotional fulfillment in addition to the savings (while a competitor only promotes the discount) will likely get the sale.