NHFA announces sweepstakes, promotions for launch of HomeFurnishings.com
Susan Dickenson -- Home Accents Today, 10/5/2009 3:03:00 PM
The National Home Furnishings Association today announced several new developments in connection with the October 15th launch of its new consumer portal, HomeFurnishings.com.
NHFA is offering its member retailers a free single webpage for each store location through the end of 2009. Retailers who take advantage of the offer can customize their page with store logo, contact information, address and store hours. The web page will be linked to the HomeFurnishings.com web portal for access by consumers searching for local furnishings dealers.
Starting October 15th and continuing through December 31st, consumers who visit HomeFurnishings.com can enter for a chance to win a $5,000 “Inspired Living” home furnishings shopping spree. Steve DeHaan, NHFA executive vice president, said the contest is designed to draw consumers’ attention to the web portal’s suite of services. “Once consumers are there, they will find content-rich articles and photos to inspire them, advice from celebrity designers and color expert Kate Smith, a room planner, buying guides, design tools and a retai
ler locator,” DeHaan said.
Trisha McBride Ferguson, editor in chief of HomeFurnishings.com, announced last week the contribution of articles by guest writers Candice Olson, Jane Seymour and Christopher Lowell as well as Smith who will answer consumer questions as part of a regular Ask Kate column. Ferguson said HGTV and TLC television personality designer Kenneth Brown may also be penning an article for the site.
“We are bringing consumers all of the tools that they need, including advice from experts like these celebrity designers, together in one place,” Ferguson said. “At HomeFurnishings.com they can get inspired, educated, make a design plan and then find a place to shop all on one site.”
Ferguson, a 14-year industry veteran with marketing and editorial experience at Magnussen Home Furnishings, Sealy and Home Furnishings Executive, said she’ll have close to 125 consumer-interest articles ready by the time the site launches and hopes to double that number before year-end, as the site attempts to capture some of the reader run-off from shrinking shelter magazine shelves.
Last month, as part of the Las Vegas World Market Center’s IS IT HOME YET? Promotion, NHFA retailers were linked to the dealer locator on the Room Design section of MSN’s Lifestyle Network. NHFA Chairman Doug Kays said the WMC promotion “gave our retailers a start and now we are offering them the next step with a more comprehensive internet presence.”
As a result, approximately 3700 retail storefronts representing close to 1900 retailers will be searchable in the dealer locator section when HomeFurnishings.com is up and running October 15th.
Retailers who want to go the next step and create their own branded microsite may do so at no charge until the end of the year. Beginning in January, the annual program including microsite set up, hosting and national promotion/advertising, will be based on sales volume and number of storefronts (a $2 million /year retailer with one storefront, for example, would average about $2,400 per year plus $500 one time set-up cost).
To date, program commitments have been received from a number of NHFA-member retailers including RC Willey, Rotmans Furniture, Jerome’s Furniture, Morris Home Furnishings, Spiller Furniture and Garden City Furniture.
In the coming months, a national marketing campaign will roll out as full color ads in shelter publications, interactive media ads and banners, search engine optimization, pay per click marketing and targeted Internet ads. Site organizers hope to drive 100,000 visitors to HomeFurnishings.com each month, with at least half of those visitors clicking through to the HomeFurnishings.com retailer microsites.
Project consultant Ron Carpenter of Strategic Marketing Solutions said the portal will “start simple,” adding more functionality, members and promotions in coming months, as consumers, retailers and suppliers begin to interact with the site’s features and each other. “We’re taking a more measured approach to sustain and build interest over time rather than put all our promotional dollars up front,” Carpenter said. “Our main goal is to be as responsive as we can to NHFA’s member retailers.”
The NHFA has scheduled a series of live demos during the High Point Market: Saturday, Sunday and Monday at 12:45 p.m. and during Saturday’s NHFA market reception from 4:30-6 p.m. The demos will take place in the Retailer Resource Center, first floor Plaza Suites. Retailers can also set up appointments for private demos with Dianne Therry at dtherry@homefurnishings.com, or by calling 1-800-888-9590, ext. 6126.
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