The Furniture Industry's Marketing Crisis
Hey there design peeps! This blog is a bit of a rant, and also it's more geared toward the CEO's and President's of brands (everyone else is welcome to read...it might give you a little bit of a heads up and insight into the dark side of the design industry).
If you read my blog, “I Smell a Corporate Acquisition Brewing: Is the Future of Furniture Markets Up for Sale?” (To read the full article: Click Here), you already know the troubling signals coming from industry giants like Home Depot. So, you'd expect brands to be scrambling to innovate. Shockingly, they're not.
In the last 6-9 months, I’ve had conversations with major home goods brands and suppliers about their marketing efforts. What I discovered is alarming: the furniture industry seems completely disconnected from what it takes to reverse its current downward trend.
Let’s set aside the real possibility that Blackstone, ANDMORE's ownership group, may someday sell off pieces of the company, leaving the industry without showrooms or reliable distribution networks. That’s a future problem, and while it’s crucial, we’ll tackle it another time. Today, let’s focus on who the industry hires for its marketing leadership.
Here are the three core issues I’ve encountered in my conversations with brands about their marketing strategies:
Brands don’t know how to reach their audience. Their strategies are outdated, and their approach to the next generation of customers is non-existent.
They’re clinging to a broken model. The same methods that have failed them for years are still the primary tactics they lean on.
Their marketing budgets are a joke. The numbers they’re willing to spend on marketing leaders are laughably low. One brand wanted a Marketing Director and offered a salary of $50K. My advice? Don’t even say that out loud—just tell people you’re going in another direction.
Bonus insight? Many brands are trying to bring their marketing teams back in-house, under one roof, like it’s the 1950s again. That’s not how innovation happens in a digital world.
The most concerning part of all of this is that I’ve spoken to two major companies who know their market share is crumbling, yet they still won’t allocate enough budget to make meaningful change.
Here’s my advice to the industry: WAKE UP! The old ways aren’t working. Look at other industries for inspiration. Modernize your approach, and start investing in innovative marketing leadership.
I hear manufacturers at industry events saying things like, “If I just get one good order, the event is worth it.” That’s bottom-of-the-barrel thinking, and it’s going to kill the industry.
Marketing innovation is what’s needed now more than ever. If brands don’t start dedicating serious budgets—$250K, $350K, $500K or more—for top-tier marketing talent, they’re going to get left behind.
The old way? It’s already failed you. And if ANDMORE does decide to sell off, they won’t give anyone in the industry a heads-up. You’ll find out like everyone else—in the news. If you don’t have the right marketing team in place when that happens, your brand could easily be one of the casualties.
This is not the time to go cheap. It’s the time to innovate, invest, and be smart about where your business is headed.
Let’s turn this industry around—before it’s too late.
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