Furniture stores think pink in October

Lauren Heist
Green may be the color of money, but furniture retailers looking for ways to boost sales this October should think pink.

October is officially Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and that means pink is going to be everywhere: on cereal boxes, handbags and yogurt containers, not to mention on politicians’ lapels.

Since most furniture consumers are women, it makes sense that furniture stores would want to show their support for the fight against breast cancer, too.

Design Within Reach, a chain of 65 furniture stores in the United States and Canada, is stepping up its efforts this year in the hopes of raising about $90,000 for Susan G. Komen for the Cure — three times what the company raised in 2017.

To reach its goal, Design Within Reach asked a group of manufacturers to design five pink chairs that would be auctioned online, with the proceeds going entirely to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The results were a white, powdercoat rocking chair with a pink seat from Emeco; a curvy, round chair upholstered in pink wool from Fritz Hansen; a pink leather office chair from Herman Miller; a round pink stool on a white base by Knoll; and a slingback, pink leather chair, also from Knoll.

In addition, a number of Design Within Reach employees took part in Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure events throughout the country, and the company also held a warehouse sale in San Francisco and donated 5 percent of the proceeds to the cause.

Ray Brunner, CEO of Design Within Reach, spearheaded the company’s initiatives. “The DWR community, like many others, has been personally touched by the devastating effects of this disease. This is our chance to fight back,” he said.

Design Within Reach wasn’t the only home furnishings store to support breast cancer awareness this month.

Art Van Furniture, a chain of 30 furniture stores in Michigan, is handing out pink ribbons and literature about breast cancer at all of its stores through Oct. 18, and Hudson’s Broyhill Furniture Galleries, a chain of furniture stores in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, is donating a portion this month’s sales to the cause.

But the most common way that retailers support breast cancer awareness is to sell a specific item and guarantee that a portion of the sales from that item go to a breast cancer charity.

Pier 1, for example, is carrying a pink candle and selling it for $15, then donating 25 percent of the sale of each candle to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. That may sound small, but last year, Pier 1 guaranteed a minimum donation of $250,000 to the organization with that promotion.

Often, furniture stores can opt to carry items that are already linked with breast cancer charities.

This September, Company C unveiled its Sachi Pink accent rug and agreed to donate 20 percent of the retail price of each rug sold to support breast cancer awareness.

Made out of 100 percent wool, the 2-foot-by-3-foot rug features pink azaleas and chrysanthemums on a brown background. The rug retails for $68, and has a wholesale price of $29.

Each rug comes with a tag explaining the mission, and retailers can also display signs from Company C to highlight the cause.

“We’re very excited about the response we’re getting and we’re happy to be contributing to a cause that we feel so passionately about,” said Kristi Lefebvre, Marketing Manager for Company C.

Similarly, Mohawk is donating 25 cents to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for every yard of certain kinds of carpets that are sold to interior designers and architects.

In the past, Serta Mattress Company has sold mattress with a pink ribbon pattern and donated a portion of the proceeds to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, as well. (This year, the promotion has been discontinued because the foundation is working with one of Serta’s competitors).

If you can’t find an item that’s already linked with a breast cancer organization to carry, you can build your own promotion around something pink.

“Typically, the best way to partner with our organization is through retail ‘cause-marketing efforts — that is picking a product that has a breast cancer theme, most typically a pink product,” said Brent Hail, Vice President, Operation of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. “Then, you would create signage and a press release for distribution with us and amongst your partners. We would receive a percentage of net retail sales, typically 10 to 15 percent. The benefits for your organization are goodwill, larger sales and most importantly employee and company buy-in of a good cause.”

However, David Hessekiel, President of the Cause Marketing Forum, an organization dedicated to helping retailers create better cause-marketing campaigns, says just slapping a tag on a pink item isn’t going to be enough to draw more customers into your store or raise a significant amount of money for your charity of choice.

Hessekiel said cause-marketing efforts do work – he cited a study that was released last week by Cone and Duke University that said 79 of Americans would be switch from one brand to another if the other brand is associated with a good cause – but only if shoppers are aware of the promotions.

That’s why Hessekiel says it’s important to plan your efforts far in advance to make sure that they meet your store’s goals.

“Before deciding on a cause to support, furniture retailers should focus on their objectives,” Hessekiel says. “Are you seeking to drive store traffic, enhance your company’s reputation, target a specific demo? Based on your goal, you can then explore how a cause-related program could help you get there. If you are targeting women, breast cancer could be a good issue for you, but there are many other causes to consider.”

Dan Butler, Vice President of Merchandising and Retail Operations at the National Retail Federation, suggest linking up with local organizations to maximize the impact of your efforts.

“If they’re a small, local retailer with one of two stores, I would say give locally,” Butler says, adding that you’ll benefit from building relationships and good will in your local community.

Butler says instead of trying to develop a campaign from scratch, ask the local organizations how you can help. “The charities have a lot of experience knowing what works for them,” he says.

If your promotion is especially innovative, you can often get the local media to cover it, which ends up helping both you and the charity.

But whatever you decide to do, make sure it’s from the heart.

“What is tacky are clearly promotional programs that could be seen as exploitative and insincere,” Hessekiel says. “There is nothing tacky about a well thought-out and executed, sincere cause marketing effort.”

Taken from http://furniturestyle.com