Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM JULY 2017 52 I was sitting at home yesterday and my doorbell rang. I went to the door and opened it, yet no one was there. As I turned around to close the door, I noticed a box sitting on my front door step. I grabbed the box and opened it up. Inside was everything from hand towels, sheets, and spices to a little plastic cube that keeps your tooth brush clean after you use it. When I asked my wife when she had ordered it all, she looked at me, smiled, and said, "Yesterday." The scary part about this little story is this is happening every day, with total online sales for 2017 projected at more than $440 billion. E-commerce shopping is not on its way, it is not on the horizon — it is here and it is not going away. In fact, it is becoming a force in everything we do. But I am guessing you already know this. The world wants simple, the world wants easy, and the world wants it now. Not that long ago, Blockbuster ruled the movie world. It didn't take them long to discover how powerful this "internet thing" was. Well, while furniture is less e-commerce friendly than electronics and software, we're still vulnerable to losing share to this internet thing. While many shoppers may want to touch and feel the product before purchasing, the home furnishing business in 2014 saw 35 billion dollars in sales, and almost 16% of those sales were made online. (www.statista.com/statistics/278896/us-furniture- and-home-furnishings-retail-e-commerce-sales-share/) Online sites like Wayfair are learning how to crack the code to make it easy for consumers to purchase home furnishings online. Their website is very user friendly, shipping the goods is second nature, and they make it easy from start to finish. I say that to say this: the independent brick and mortar furniture store does not need to fear Wayfair. They need to attack it. They need to go on the offense and become part of this multi-billion-dollar segment of the home furnishings industry. One of the key components in this e-commerce world is finding the right furniture manufacturers to help you thrive. There are many manufacturers that say they can do e-commerce for independents and then there are manufacturers that actually have the infrastructure to make it happen. The key is to find the partner that best fits what you are trying to accomplish. Today, some manufacturers are finding themselves late to the party and are just realizing the opportunity. They are trying to become part of it. Others arrived at the party early and are now perfecting their mature e-commerce strategies. These are the manufacturer/partners you want and need in your life. Once those right manufacturers are chosen, your website needs to be ready for consumer purchases with pricing, shopping carts, and more. You can have a section of your website for online purchases only, featuring just the product that you can have shipped to the consumer's home directly from the manufacturers that you have chosen. Of course, your website needs to have current product, be user friendly, and let these consumers know that the product can be shipped to their front door. Someone on your team will need to manage this process on a daily basis. It requires an investment, but the investment will pay off if it is done correctly. Times have changed, many moms and dads are not taking their kids furniture shopping all day on a Saturday anymore. Some families are too busy and want a simpler option. They want to be able to browse the internet on a Tuesday evening, select a new sofa for the living room or choose a new desk for their kid's bedroom. It's happening every day and the questions is, are these shoppers able to purchase and have everything they want shipped to their homes from your website? If not, another independent has lost a sale to a sleeping giant that no one thought about just a few years ago. Meanwhile there's a former Blockbuster employee in the corner smiling and saying "I told you so." Jeff Rose Furniture Trends THE EVER-CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF THE FURNITURE INDUSTRY Jeff Rose, Director of Furniture, Nationwide Furniture RO

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