By Powell Slaughter
Originally featured in Home Furnishings Business Magazine – April 2010

Relationship marketing, which extends retailer-customer communication beyond advertising in recognition of the benefits of customer satisfaction for the long term, is new ground for many furniture retailers.

“A lot of what people are doing with relationship marketing depends on their customer base and value proposition,” said Jason Pires, principal and creative director of MVC Agency, a Los Angeles-area marketing agency specializing in brand development, design and advertising for the home furnishings, cosmetics and fashion industries. “If they’re selling on price alone, most of the relationship building is quite simplistic. There might be loyalty being established, but basically they’re selling on price. For retailers emphasizing quality, style and sophistication, it’s a lot more effective for them to use relationship-building techniques.”

It all boils down to what Pires calls a soft-sell and a retailer’s effort to associate the brand with certain images and values.

He cited some examples of services associated with this “holistic” approach. Southern California retailer Pampa Vivienda offers a staging service to outfit homes for sale on the real estate market.

“It does an interesting job of equating the value of purchasing a quality home with quality furnishings,” Pires said. “These are typically homes selling for $1 million-plus. It’s a soft approach to marketing, and it establishes the product with the target demographic.”

And since many of the current home owners bought at the top of the real estate bubble, staging also is a needed service.

“It’s important to have a great-looking house to show if you’re looking to get the best price,” Pires said.

In-home consulting is another service that encourages customers to relate with a business.

“All this can be tied into communications in general through e-mail blasts, Twitter and Facebook,” Pires said.

Special events, especially for higher-end retailers, can help tie stores to the image or values they want to project. Pires cited the example of a retailer that staged a mini-photo gallery event with edgy, artistic, modern photography.

“That’s exactly the kind of store they are,” he said. “If you can translate that event into what’s available at the store in terms of furniture, that can be an image builder.”

Fundraising and benefits tied to current events such as the relief effort in Haiti, or to causes important to your store’s demographic can help define a retailer’s place in customers’ minds.

“You can go a couple of ways—find things that are relevant to what’s happening out in the world,” Pires said. “On the other hand, you might want something tied into the values you believe are important to your customer base. … It depends on what people are passionate about in your region.”

Freebies such as an in-home consultation, or even a salesperson’s offering to sketch out a customer’s room to help choose appropriate goods, help build links.

“In my business, if it’s a difficult sell, I will typically say ‘Give me a chance,’” Pires said. “I’ll give them a taste of something for free, maybe a couple of Web site changes they can track for effect. … Then we might be able to move into ‘Phase 2.’ Go the extra mile to give them a reason to come to your store instead of shopping for price alone.”

While relationship marketing is particularly applicable to higher-priced stores, promotional retailers shouldn’t completely ignore its possibilities.

“Even if consumers are going to you for price, that’s still a relationship, and if the store is junky or the in-store service or delivery is terrible, they won’t be back,” Pires noted. “Those experiences go back to creating loyalty, and loyalty is a relationship. You can pursue a loyalty program, but it will be futile if the experience at your store is terrible.

“It’s cheaper to maintain a client than it is to find a new client.”

December 10, 2009
LOS ANGELES, CALIF.

Armen Living has donated furniture pieces from its new fall collection to be sold at this month’s Project Angel Food “Divine Design 2009″ fundraising event. This unique shopping extravaganza, held December 3-7 in Beverly Hills, offered fashion, home, beauty and gift items at 50-90% off, with the proceeds going to provide meals to men, women and children affected by HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

Mr. & Dr. Kevin Kevonian at the Divine Design Fundraiser

“We supported Divine Design because 100% of the proceeds from the sale directly benefit Project Angel Food’s mission,” said Kevin Kevonian, CEO of Armen Living.

Project Angel Food delivers 13,000 meals each week throughout Los Angeles County and is celebrating 20 years of service.

“The event also provided an opportunity to expose our revamped Armen Living brand and furniture collection to the trendsetting young urban consumers to whom we target, offering great feedback” Kevonian added.

Armen Living recently changed its name from Armen Art Furniture and is in the midst of a major rebranding campaign that repositions the company and its products as “Furniture for Contemporary Lifestyles.”

Among the pieces donated was Armen Living’s classic 5th Avenue Armless Club Chair – a luxuriously sleek and retro “mod” leisure chair design upholstered in plush velvet.

Pieces from Armen Living’s Fall 2009 collection displayed at the Divine Design 2009 event in Beverly Hills, which benefited Project Angel Food.

For more information on Armen Living, visit the company’s website at www.armenliving.com or contact MVC Agency by phone at (818) 718-2005 or email at pr@mvcagency.com.

Los Angeles, CA (December 08, 2009) — Italmond Furniture recently named MVC Agency its agency of choice to direct a comprehensive rebranding campaign to establish the company as a recognized leader in the high-end furniture market.

The custom furniture manufacturer – which works with designers and the hospitality industry – was acquired by new owners in 2007 and with the help of MVC is now positioning itself to take advantage of the rapidly changing furniture industry and the subsequent market opportunities expected in 2010 and beyond.

“Italmond’s mission has always been to manufacture the most exquisite custom furniture and provide customers with a superb experience at every step. Now our image, messages, and marketing will further build on that promise,” said Barbara Jiron, Italmond’s Director of Operations.

Italmond Furniture has a 27-year history in the industry and an acclaimed reputation for its creation and manufacturing of fine traditional and transitional pieces featuring quality wood, fine finishes and fabrics, and flawless custom work. The company will further broaden the scope of its designs to include upscale contemporary pieces equally suited for luxurious and high-end spaces.

“We searched for an agency with a modern approach to furniture marketing that had a track record of successes and could strategically fuse traditional, online, and new media,” Jiron explained. “It is crucial that they understand the high expectations of Italmond’s designer clientele and that their strategy also reflects the lifestyle of our end consumers. We feel this is essential for growth in today’s changing furniture industry.”

“MVC’s primary goal is to rightfully place Italmond at the very top of its market segment in terms of their brand position and the values that it projects about its products and services,” said Jason Pires, President of MVC Agency. “We are starting with a recreation of Italmond’s logo and development of new key messages and taglines, and then we will completely redevelop their website, including its look, feel, and content.”

The revamped website, www.italmond.com, will feature their existing collection of 500 pieces and will allow users to easily prepare and submit custom orders, including options to choose their starting design, materials, colors, and fabrics – while also submitting their own reference images.

MVC is a creative marketing agency specializing in brand development and advertising for the luxury lifestyles industries and specializes in the home furnishings.

For more information, contact (818) 718-2005 or pr@mvcagency.com.