Amazing....

[drcollie]

I put an order in for a customer to Bucks County Furniture on Saturday, 09-05 via the fax. It was a custom-sized cupboard. So with the Labor Day holiday, they didn't see the order until 09-08, Tuesday.

Today they called me up (09-09). First thing I said was 'I bet I screwed up the price for the custom upcharge on it, didn't I? I had to take my best guess since you were closed so I added 15 % for the special sizing on it. How much did I miss by on the price?"

Dennis says "Oh no, that's fine. We have the piece done already and wanted to know if we should cut any cord holes in it for you, is the customer using electronics in it?" (most the time with custom depth pieces they do).

I was shocked. "You have it done??! What??? Are there like ten guys standing around the fax machine waiting for an order or something and everyone jumped on it?"

ONE DAY. I've never seen that. EVER.

Business is kicking at Hancock and Moore by comparison. I know I sent in more H&M orders on Fri-Sat-Mon than I've ever had before as an H&M dealer. Burned that fax machine right up. Interesting times we live in.

[simplyjeff]

Hi Duane,

Something seems to be happening with the economy. August was our biggest month ever at Simplicity Sofas, up 35% from the previous month. September has started up even better. If it continues at the current pace we will double August's record figures.

Jeff Frank
Simplicity Sofas

[artielange]

Our business is an industrial manufacturing business and we were slow compared with our normal year for March through July but August started an enormous pickup and this month has brought us so many orders that we're going to have to add people to get everything built. Sometimes I feel like we've just been through a Media Recession.

[cuse69]

One thing to keep in mind is that inventories throughout the entire supply chain are at historic lows, so demand is quickly transferred to the actual manufacturer.
In the furniture business this might be less pronounced since much of the sales volume is make to order anyway. I would suspect that there will be a very significant upturn in the economy for the next few months and then a slowing again in Q1 and Q2 of next year. My own prediction.

[habs88]

I work for material handling manufacturer and our August orders were terrible again but showed some improvement. We generally have a lag due to lead times. Hopefully we will see some recovery next month

[drcollie]

Hi Duane,

Something seems to be happening with the economy. August was our biggest month ever at Simplicity Sofas, up 35% from the previous month. September has started up even better. If it continues at the current pace we will double August's record figures.

Jeff Frank
Simplicity Sofas

I tried to send you a few customers this month, Jeff. I have a few folks that have impossibly small door openings/hallways that there is no way the sofas they want to buy will go through the angles and the thresholds. I tell them to go to your website and check out ones they can assemble after they carry the individual components into the room.

I think most folks are just tired of being kept on edge about the economy. We've all been on pins and needles for a year now, and after awhile everyone looks around and thinks 'Well, we still have our house, the bills are still getting paid, and I'm still employed - and its time to get ______". I too have seen a very large uptick in certain categories, primarily leather furniture. I'm appx. 35% ahead of last year's numbers with H&M and B-Y both. Other categories (such as wood case goods) continue to remain at lower-then-normal levels, which is why Bucks built that piece in a day.

Interesting times, for sure. My guess is the country is through the worst of it, but will probably be two steps forward, and one step back for awhile.

[simplyjeff]

I tried to send you a few customers this month, Jeff. I have a few folks that have impossibly small door openings/hallways that there is no way the sofas they want to buy will go through the angles and the thresholds. I tell them to go to your website and check out ones they can assemble after they carry the individual components into the room.

I think most folks are just tired of being kept on edge about the economy. We've all been on pins and needles for a year now, and after awhile everyone looks around and thinks 'Well, we still have our house, the bills are still getting paid, and I'm still employed - and its time to get ______". I too have seen a very large uptick in certain categories, primarily leather furniture. I'm appx. 35% ahead of last year's numbers with H&M and B-Y both. Other categories (such as wood case goods) continue to remain at lower-then-normal levels, which is why Bucks built that piece in a day.

Interesting times, for sure. My guess is the country is through the worst of it, but will probably be two steps forward, and one step back for awhile.

Duane,

I appreciate the recommendations. Customers find it hard to believe, but we really can fit one of our full-size sofas through any door or stairway wider than 12". And they really do assemble in 15 minutes without tools.

I would like to pass along to you one of the most effective sales tools that I have come across in the past few months. Not many retailers would be able to use it effectively, but I am sure that you can.

Standard procedure here at Simplicity Sofas is to send an email to customers a day or two after they have received their furniture, asking if everything is OK and whether there are any service issues that need to be taken care of. When I receive the customer responses I then send another email back to the most complimentary (and literate) asking them if they would mind taking the time to write about their experience with us in one of the product review sites on the web. I give them a choice of three sites to click on: www.my3cents.com www.rateitall.com and www.yelp.com. You might do best with Yelp since it is more localized. The resulting reviews are cited by customers as one of the primary factors behind their purchase of our products.

This blog, of course, is unsurpassed as a means of communicating with potential new customers, but it never hurts to have as many sales tools as possible in these uncertain economcic times.

Thanks again,

Jeff Frank
Simplicity Sofas

[drcollie]

Thanks Jeff, good to know.

I'll continue to recommend customers contact you when they have tight space requirements or just need a sofa shipped to them in components.