Keeping Main Street Mainstream

As a Next Generation Furniture Retailer, you’re in the unenviable position of honoring the past/heritage/legacy of the furniture business while simultaneously attempting to drive your store into the future with massive sales. On the one hand, business as usual sounds like the best way to go about things. But, on the other, you understand that furniture sales are moving online and want to stay relevant – especially as a one- or two-store home furnishings retailer seeking to captivate your local market and compete with the likes of Wayfair.

That’s why this series worked to reveal the simplest, easiest, most affordable key capable of unlocking sales and demand for the store of the future.

Last week, we spent time with the way that what you don’t know can, in fact, hurt your sales. This week, we want to show you how the inverse is true. And how it, when applied correctly, keeps Main Street mainstream.

So, what’s the key? Vendor Catalog Data.

You already know that Vendor Catalog Data is the key to success for the furniture store of the future because it feeds all sales and marketing systems. This not only creates more informed sales people, it also helps customers find out that you’re selling the product(s) they want to buy.

What you may not know is that the process isn’t nearly as cumbersome or costly as you may anticipate.

In fact, when you use a service provider like Amber Engine to automatically update your data on a weekly cadence, you’re saving a minimum of approximately $2,700 versus doing it yourself or in-house. (Full disclosure: This number was calculated using our Mack Daddy, King of All Kings, All Things to All People price. If you’re truly a Main Street shop, you’ll save even more money using Amber Engine!)

When your vendor catalog data is accurate, timely and up-to-date, your site is rich with SEO and you return top in search – especially for your local area.

Here’s how it works. People search for furniture online by the details of the product they hope to buy. For example, if I want to buy something as specific as a ‘tufted circular paisley storage ottoman,’ I’m not going to limit my search to ‘ottoman.’ If, as a purveyor of said paisley ottoman, your product’s details are as robust as my search query, your business returns on page one of Google as my ideal retail destination.

Another way to think of it – online dating. This too, is a concept foreign to older generations that’s perfectly reasonable to you as the Next Generation. You go onto the app and set your criteria to show women between the ages of 35-47 who are within a 50-mile radius of XYZ zip code. If the ladies were truthful about their data, you shouldn’t see an 89-year old in Scotland as one of your possible matches. Likewise, if the app verifies the ladies’ data, you won’t have a surprise on the first date, either. Goodbye, catfish!!!

With verified, up-to-date vendor catalog data, your furniture store becomes top-of-mind for people searching for sofas, sectionals and the oft coveted tufted paisley ottoman!

With Amber Engine, Main Street remains mainstream and doesn’t lose customers to massive online distributors like Amazon.

And the best part? Getting started with Amber Engine is easy. In fact, we have an entire team of REAL PEOPLE dedicated to working one-on-one with retailers like you to ensure the process runs smoothly.

In our next series, we’ll dig into that process a little bit and work through the elements of vendor catalog data. We’ll explore how your alignment with Amber Engine gets you and your staff out from behind the screen and doing the things you love. We’ll also show you how data helps you sell more, quieten customer complaints and embrace your family business as yours . . . only better.

The future looks bright for the transformation of home furnishings retail and we are so glad that you’re bringing your business along for the ride.