Furniture First Launches Second Performance Group for Members

Furniture World News Desk on 2/24/2018

Furniture First reports that Furniture Warehouse Design Gallery (FWDG) recently played host to the inaugural meeting of Furniture First's second performance group for members. Seven of the furniture buying group's members gathered to tour the host store, compare their performance data, and discuss timely pertinent topics in a high-trust, confidential forum.

The "Beta" performance group follows the success of the "Alpha" group, which held its first meeting in June 2017.

"Our Alpha Group was at capacity," said Amanda Daubert, Director of Services at Furniture First. "With fifteen enthusiastic members in our Alpha Group, we had to launch the Beta Group to satisfy the demand. We are launching Beta with seven members, but we think that will be at capacity, up to twelve, by the end of the year."

Each of Furniture First's performance group will hold three meetings in 2018, with each meeting hosted by a different store. The performance group fee pays for a composite report at each meeting, which allows each retailer to see how they compare to the group as a whole. Participants also have access to a password-protected website where they can access minutes from past meetings review photos and post messages on a private group bulletin board.

"As the owner of the first store visited by the members of the new Furniture First Beta Performance Group, I really didn't know what to expect when the members arrived in town," said Larry Mark, owner of FWDG. "Often times, independent store owners do things their way only because they don't know any other way. This group shared 100's of ideas with each other to improve processes and procedures. We've already put things in motion to change some of our old ways."

"This performance group meeting exceeded my expectations in every way," said Ron Huber, owner of Oskar Huber Furniture. "Having not participated in a group before, I wasn't sure if this would be a good fit. But already we have created a level of trust that is needed for frank conversation about issues we face every day in our businesses. Larry Mark was a great host and I am looking forward to continuing friendships that we have started."

"We are excited to bring more value to our members with this service," said Andrew Kauffman, CEO of Furniture First. "Not everyone knows that our members are the stockholders of Furniture First, Inc. Each member owns one share of stock in the corporation, whether they have one store or a chain of ten. That's why we can offer services that benefit them without a profit motive for the main office. We have the resources to make things like this happen."

More about Furniture First: Furniture First is a cooperative national home furnishings and mattress buying group serving full line independent retailers with sales over $2 million. A recent analysis found that collectively the group represents $2 billion in retail sales through 483 member store fronts. Furniture First occupies showrooms in High Point (IHFC G-770) and Las Vegas where they display products from several of the group's approved vendors. For more information, visit www.FurnitureFirst.coop/join or call 800-411-3477.