It feels so good to be back on the road again! Zoom calls are great, and they fill a purpose; however, there is no better way to get to know our members than to visit their stores. Honoring our HFA retailers of the year winners, meeting their teams, and seeing
I am not big on gold watches or plaques. While they are historical ways to thank people for their dedication and service, I find that too often, a watch ends up in a drawer and forgotten, and the plaque languishes dustily on a shelf. To me, there is power in
Recently, we held a webinar relating to optimizing eComm, and it was a perfect example of the need for what I call the 3-10 approach. Just looking at eCommerce alone, there are so many aspects of it that you need to get right to be successful. How are you tracking
Like everyone else, I can’t wait for the end of this restricted pandemic life of ours. Indeed, there are going to be work-at-home aspects of this current situation that will stay with us. We are working with that reality at HFA right now. There are customer buying habits that
Traditionally every May, members of HFA head to Washington for what we refer to as “The Fly-In.” It’s a chance to meet with key members of Congress both on the Senate side and the House side of the Capitol. Generally, it’s an effective way of introducing ourselves to key leaders,
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s almost impossible to talk about any significant subject these days without the discussion ending up in a partisan conversation. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it quite like this where there is such a high level of divisiveness that springs up
I am craving contact! I think in home furnishings, we all are craving contact right now. Our industry has many wonderful attributes, but the one thing that I fell in love with and that resonates with me is our business’ collegial nature. We are part of a customer-centric industry, and
I love great quotations. They can capsulize thoughts and feelings or inspire. The late English author Douglas Adams said, “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” In light of last year, I could rephrase that
Most retailers understand the fundamentals of visual merchandising. They know how to build a vignette, create a focal point, and
How to structure rewards that align with measurable outcomes — from sales to delivery accuracy to customer satisfaction. When you’re
The home furnishings shopper no longer follows a simple path to purchase. Consumers often spend weeks researching before ever setting
Furniture retailers do not need more random posting. They need content that earns attention, creates intent, and gives shoppers a
If you’ve ever watched a great candidate slow down at the finish line, or walk away from what felt like
New research from Elevate puts the Gen X woman at the center of the furniture story. Surveying 1,210 Gen X shoppers at every stage of
Men and women often bring different priorities to their jobs, and the companies that understand those differences build stronger teams, deeper loyalty, and better business
