Our thinking

Branding and the furniture market

Getting your brand right is the key to forging emotional connections with your customers and in an increasingly competitive furniture retail market yours shouldn’t be left to chance.

Branding is one of the most widely misunderstood and underestimated elements of business.

Contrary to popular belief, your brand isn’t just your logo. It is everything you stand for and everything that others think about you. It is the emotional connection between your business and your customers. And perhaps most importantly, it is the crucial but intangible factor which can swing a purchasing decision one way or the other.

A brand is a promise, an experience and a memory. When there is a disconnection between the brand promise and the customer experience, your brand loses its value, so it’s crucial to get every step right, and to deliver on your promise.
Getting it right starts with objective self-analysis of that promise – what do you stand for? What makes you different from your competitors? What do you want your customers to think about you? This process requires thought, foresight and honesty so that you can define a meaningful and powerful foundation for your brand.

Considering the marketplace around you and where you fit within it is key. In such a competitive retail environment, you need to understand what your competitors are doing and how you can differentiate your own offering from theirs.
Once you define your market position, your product range needs to reflect that position; not just in terms of price but also the look, feel, quality of design and, crucially, the actual brands you stock.

Be selective about the brands you bring in, and ask whether they match the image you want to project. If you get it right, you build customer trust and mutual endorsement between your business and the brands you sell, creating a beautifully symbiotic relationship. Get it wrong, and you risk devaluing and even damaging your brand.
Once you have your promise in order, the customer experience is the fulfilment of that promise. The retail experience you create should be deliberately designed to reflect and enhance your brand promise.

Getting people through the shop door is only the first step, the rest is about the experience they find within. Service levels, product knowledge of staff and the physical characteristics of the shop are all important. This includes layout, lighting, music, use of space, colour, ease of finding products and how the space is designed to direct people throughout the store.

Your staff are your best ambassadors and the most important way of communicating your brand to customers, so it’s crucial to involve employees, making sure they understand your brand and believe in it.

How you communicate your brand beyond the shop floor is also crucial. It’s important that every aspect of your marketing helps to reinforce the same brand message. If your adverts look as if they’ve been thrown together, it presents a perception that’s how you do business. Advertising should be considered, strategic and well-designed so that it tells the right story about your brand and your products; it’s worth calling in professionals to get it right.

Your website is an extension of your shop window and gives you the opportunity to widen your marketplace, both locally and nationally. Even if you are reluctant to sell online, you can attract new customers by presenting your products well online, and also by getting your e-marketing and search engine optimisation right. Invest in your site and don’t miss out on this opportunity to tell the world about what you offer.

All of these principles are equally as relevant to furniture manufacturers who by getting their brand right can build strong relationships with retailers that “fit” their offering.

The principle of great branding is simple really. It’s about understanding yourself and ensuring that others understand you too. It’s about managing perceptions of your business so that you build the right expectations and then deliver what you promise.

When you get everything about your brand right, from the promise to the delivery, your customers will develop an emotional attachment to you and the repeat business, word-of-mouth recommendations and business success will all follow.

If you would like to get to know us better, call us on 029 2035 3940 or email chris@stills.co.uk