IMPORTANT changes in Hancock & Moore-Jessica Charles-Councill furniture AUGUST 1

[hglaber]

I think we're seeing a little of the forum effect here - the same one that makes car enthusiasts think everyone wants diesel stick shift station wagons and 400 horsepower family cars because everyone (on the forum) wants those.

However, the vast majority of furniture buyers are not doing so long distance. So H&M looks at their sales, and thinks (probably correctly) that if a dealer selling 20 pieces a month gets frustrated when five people come in and try to shop an Internet quote, thinks rightly or wrongly that soon everyone coming in will do the same, and drops the line for another with more protective policies favoring the local dealer, H&M loses 20 sales per month. Copy those protectionist policies, and they might, at most, lose 5. I suspect distance sales are a small part of their volume, but a major irritant to those dealers that don't compete in that market.

My only issue is what Duane mentioned - the selective application of the minimum price. The Apple example is a useful one - I can buy a laptop from the Apple store, or Apple's web site, or Amazon, or my local reseller. Due to minimum price rules, the cost is about the same. Many dealers may not be pleased, especially with Apple competing by selling direct, but at least they are not competing on price. That makes ot easy for me to buy from the local independent reseller, where i get the type of service I prefer.

Had H&M done the same, the delivery charge and inconvenience would have still been a justifiable (IMHO) handicap, so if the B&M lost the sale, the obvious question would be why? Certainly not price. So you need to fix what is obviously broken, or maybe you don't deserve those sales. Being one of The Keeping Room's customers because my (not really all that) local dealer's sales rep knew little of the line, and tried very strongly to steer me towards things they had in their warehouse (first a Lane, then Randall Allen, then finally H&M but only T&C pieces) I know web sellers can compete on more than price.

But H&M does have to protect their bread and butter, which at this point is B&M dealers. This is one way to do it. At least they left a small loophole (dealer can sell at any price in-store). For my next piece (probably a sofa), there's a slight chance I could pay a visit to D.C. since I've never been there. A slightly better chance I might buy from the new, truly local dealer (although I have concerns about them), and a fairly good chance the small, long-established Smith Brothers dealer (I think they just picked up BY as well) 4 blocks from me will get the deal. So be it. That's the nature of capitalism.