If Sox Win, Sofas Are Free

Thousands of Red Sox fans are hoping that their team wins the World Series, not just because they are loyal fans, but because they stand to get free furniture.

Free furniture?

That's right. Thanks to a promotion at a regional furniture chain, nearly 30,000 people might get free couches, dinning room tables, beds and mattresses.

Way back in March and April, Jordan's Furniture ran a promotion: buy any sofa, dinning room table, bed or mattress, and if the Red Sox win the World Series yeah, go ahead and make your favorite joke about the once-cursed team then the price of the furniture will be refunded.

Now, that championship could very likely be a reality, and millions of dollars worth of furniture could be given away.

"I've always been a Red Sox fan, lived in Boston my whole life," said Eliot Tatelman, president and CEO of Jordan's. "I said, 'what a great way to support the team, what a great way to tie ourselves in with the Red Sox, and what a great way to get everybody rooting for the Red Sox and sell a lot of furniture.'"

So, with all that money on the line, you would think that Tatelman is rooting for the Colorado Rockies, right?

No way.

Jordan's like most companies that run such promotions  has taken out prize indemnification insurance, which covers the payouts if the team wins the World Series.

"We're rooting for the Red Sox, too," Tatelman said.

Did You Buy Furniture at Jordan's During This Promotion? We Want to Talk With You

Jordan's has four stores spread across the Boston area, and has always taken a fun approach to selling furniture. The company was founded by Tatelman's grandfather about 80 years ago, and was sold in 1999 to Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway.

Two of the Jordan's stores have IMAX movie theaters, and yes, school groups take field trips there. Another store has a motion simulator movie ride.

Oh yeah, and Jordan's is also the "official furniture store of the Boston Red Sox."

Lots of Couches Sold

Tatelman refused to say exactly how much furniture Jordan's sold during the "Monster Deal" promotion, but did say it was just short of 30,000 orders. He would not give a dollar figure.

"They're large orders. There were a lot of dollars involved in this," Tatelman said. "We're not selling $100 items. We're selling $1,000 sofas and $600 pieces, and so forth."

If each order was just $500 a pretty conservative estimate then Jordan's might end up giving away more than $15 million.

But generally, most people bought more than one item. Tatelman said that one customer could get $40,000 back after they furnished their whole house. He also said a motel in New Hampshire bought a large amount of furniture during the promotion.

So, how much did Jordan's Furniture spend on the prize insurance?

Tatelman wouldn't say, but the cost was in the millions.

Mark Gilmartin is president of Odds On Promotions, a Reno, Nev., company that underwrites such insurance policies. While he didn't do a policy for Jordan's, the furniture store did seek a quote from him.

Gilmartin would have insured the contest for 30 percent of the value of all the furniture given away. Using the conservative $15 million prize tally, that means the insurance would have cost Jordan's $4.5 million.

Whatever the cost, Tatelman said it was worth it. Not only did he get customers in the store, but they bought furniture. And a lot of what they purchased is not covered by the promotion.

If somebody bought a couch and a loveseat, only the couch would be free. If they bought a dining room table, chairs, and maybe some china to go with it, only the table would be free.

"The Red Sox winning a world championship, and free furniture I mean, it doesn't get any better," Tatelman said.

A Free Car For a Hole-In-One

Gilmartin's company insures all sorts of promotions like this. These conditional rebates where customers get back the money spent on purchases could be pegged to anything. For instance, if a local sports team beats a rival, all those pickup trucks purchased last week at a local dealership, could end up being free.

Another popular promotion might involve a rebate if six inches of snow happens to fall on Christmas day.

Such sales gimmicks "are designed to increase traffic, and ultimately increase sales," Gilmartin said. "It's an excellent sales promotion, in addition to being able to show your community support, and back your local team."

Besides furniture stores, these promotions often show up at car dealerships and electronics shops. Gilmartin's company just insured a promotion for a Boston-area jewelry shop that will rebate purchases if the New England Patriots go undefeated this season.

Odds On Promotions also has a sister company that insures hole-in-one giveaways typically, a hole in a tournament where a golfer wins a free car if they get a hole-in-one.

Such promotions also appeal to Americans' enjoyment of gambling on sports.

Even Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper are getting in on the action, making a friendly wager.

If the Colorado Rockies win the baseball championship, Menino will send Hickenlooper New England clam chowder from Legal Sea Foods, coffee and Boston creme doughnuts from Dunkin' Donuts, "Curse Reversed" ice cream bars, and "Boston You're My Home" ice cream from Brigham's Ice Cream.

If the Red Sox win, Colorado will send over Quiznos sandwiches, Celestial Seasonings teas, Great Western tortilla chips, Epic Valley salsa and Liks Rocky Road ice cream.

The winning mayor might end up needing a larger desk chair after eating all that food.

Which brings us back to Jordan's Furniture. While this whole promotion might have been designed to sell furniture, Tatelman said it means a lot more than just some sales.

"All of a sudden, everybody is a Red Sox fan," he said. "All summer, they're watching games, because the sofa they are sitting on, they can have for free if the Red Sox win the World Series."

Source: ABC News, 10/25/07

Furniture makers eyeing green with eco-friendly furnishings

HIGH POINT, N.C. - The promotion possessed all the subtlety of a Victoria's Secret fashion show. And, much like a catwalk full of lingerie-clad models, it also proved immensely popular.

The Vaughan-Bassett furniture showroom at the massive High Point Furniture Market was filled with 40 live trees to introduce the company's new initiative: Vaughan-Bassett plans to plant one tree for every tree it uses to produce its furniture. The company estimates it will pay for 150,000 saplings a year to replace trees that are harvested for headboards, dinette sets, and dressers.

"We don't know what we can do to be more environmentally friendly than replacing every single tree we use in the production of our furniture," said Vaughan-Bassett president Wyatt Bassett. "You have other companies trying to get a stamp or seal of approval for doing much less to help the environment."

The eco-friendly edict was echoed throughout 12 million square feet of showrooms in this town, as companies from across the country rolled out new designs at the furniture industry's semiannual, weeklong showcase. Of course, some office furniture-makers have been touting eco-aware products for years, while smaller, independently-owned companies have been making earth-friendly furniture for just as long. But for the first time, large furniture manufacturers such as C.R. Laine, Precedent, Rowe, and Bernhardt are publicly jumping on the green bandwagon, introducing lines of furniture they say are more environmentally conscious.

Industry analysts see the introduction of environmentally-friendly furniture by large companies as an attempt to lure younger shoppers away from specialty stores such as IKEA, which has been drawing customers with chic, inexpensive designs while touting its environmental awareness.

"The furniture industry is slumping because baby boomers are downsizing, they're not furnishing new homes," says consumer researcher Jerry Epperson of Mann, Armistead & Epperson. "The industry needs to reach out to younger customers, and what people like my daughter and her friends care about is the environment and sustainability. This is clearly a way of trying to draw in younger people by focusing on an issue that they care about."

The construction of this new crop of environmentally-friendly furniture is remarkably similar across manufacturers. Most frames are built from wood collected from certified sustainable forests. Cushions, usually constructed of 100-percent petroleum-based foam, are being made from a mix of 80 percent petroleum and 20 percent soy. Steel springs are made of 50 percent recycled metal. The glue is formaldehyde-free. Several companies are even replacing polyester filling in sofa backs and throw pillows with fibers made from recycled plastic soda bottles.

And dressing up those eco-conscious innards are fabrics made from hemp, as well as bamboo-cotton blends and organic cotton dyed according to the Global Organic Textiles Standard, a 20-page list of rules establishing standards for organic fabric. The wood finishes are water-based.

"Everybody's introducing a green program this year," says Peggy Burns, an owner of local chain Circle Furniture as she inspected the environmentally friendly offerings in the C.R. Laine showroom. "You can see it in low-end all the way up to high-end. Everybody who is taking a little bit of chemical out is suddenly saying they're green."

Currently, any company can now claim that their eco-conscious line or initiative is the most green. There are no guidelines or rating systems spelling out what makes furniture environmentally friendly.

But changes are in the works. Some industry members have recently formed an organization called the Sustainable Furniture Council. At the moment, membership in the group is obtained by paying the $1,500 corporate dues ($125 for individuals) and agreeing to promote sustainable practices within a company. Eventually, however, the group hopes to set up standards and a ratings system to help inform consumers about how earth-friendly their love seat truly is. Such standards are at least a year away, according to council members.

Green furnishings - like hybrid automobiles - come with a price. In most cases, these new lines of furniture, with names such as Ecollection, down2earth, and Naturals, cost about 10 percent more than pieces constructed through conventional methods. Initially, C.R. Laine was only planning to offer its down2earth eco-package in its cottage line of furniture. But a C.R. Laine spokeswoman said reaction was so strong among retailers, that Laine now plans to offer the eco-package in all four of its furniture lines. Manufacturers say it's too early to tell what percentage of overall sales will come from green furniture, but consumer interest is growing.

"What's really driving consumers' buying habits right now is the whole green movement," says Woody Williams, CEO of Precedent furniture, which sells to retailers such as Crate & Barrel and Room and Board. "We really got on this about six months ago, and decided to make a real commitment to it. Now that we're all becoming more aware of the environment, it's become a priority for us."

Some smaller furniture-makers that adopted eco-friendly practices several years ago are not entirely convinced that larger manufacturers are going green out of the goodness of their hearts.

"Unfortunately, I think they're using it purely as a marketing tool," says Trevor Webb, owner of California-based furniture company Urban Woods.

Instead of harvesting trees from forests, Webb's company makes tables, dressers, and headboards from wood that has been salvaged from demolition projects. At the High Point show, he was sitting at a table built from timber that was once part of a soundstage at MGM studios - the same soundstage where "The Wizard of Oz" and "Citizen Kane" were filmed. He's also developed a stain for his furniture he claims is so safe that humans can drink it without worry.

"It takes a lot of research and a lot of work to truly make sustainable furniture," says Webb, who's a member of the Sustainable Furniture Council. "What these companies are doing is a step in the right direction, but they still have a long way to go. If you're using 20 percent soy in your foam cushions, that means 80 percent is still petroleum-based."

So how long, if ever, will it take the big furniture manufacturers to go completely green? The challenges lie in how the industry currently operates. According to Epperson, 50 percent of furniture is made from imported wood. A single piece of furniture can be made with wood that comes from multiple factories, making it much more difficult to determine whether elements were harvested from a sustainable forest. Cost is another factor holding back a fully eco-aware furniture industry. Many processes involved in making green furniture require more time and, in some cases, more expensive materials.

How quickly those changes become more widespread across the industry will depend on how consumers respond.

"Right now, it's a monetary choice. You have to pay a little more for the green furniture," says Circle Furniture's Burns. "People will say 'I care about the environment.' But people also love bargains. It's all about the dough. The question is, do people care enough to pay more?"

Source: Boston Globe, 10/18/07

Musical Furniture

Home appliances and furniture are filled with the sound of music. I'm betting that soon you won't be able to turn around in your own home without bumping into a hidden docking station. Here's a look at some of the new arrivals.

Soundolier Duo Lamp: Pronounced like "chandelier," this floor lamp has a built-in set of surround-sound audio speakers. A dimmable lamp and set of speakers in one tall column makes for a terrific space-saver and wire-hider. And the sound quality is not bad either. I got to play with the lamp at a recent demonstration and heard a surprisingly rich and full sound.

Drawbacks? It's a bit on the expensive side ($360) and you also need to buy the wireless transmitter ($80) to send the signal to the speakers. And the lamps won't accept compact fluorescent light bulbs yet. Still, it's a real light and sound show!

Atech Flash iCarta Stereo Dock with Bath Tissue Holder: I'm not sure I wouldn't rather have a magazine rack, but if you're going to sit on the throne for any length of time I suppose a good song helps. The unit has four moisture-free integrated speakers. The stereo speakers are housed inside the toilet paper holder's arms. It's only $79, and the opportunity to create a bathroom playlist is enticing, isn't it? Read more at iLounge.

The iPod Bed: Lullaby yourself with this iPod-compatible bed. Called Pause, the bed has an integrated iPod dock and can accommodate a Bose speaker system. The bed is crafted from New Zealand rimu hardwood.

The Concerto Table is a dining table shaped like a baby grand piano. It's only natural that this mixture of music and company would stash an iPod dock in it too. Listen as you eat. Pricing is available from the manufacturers.

Source: Yahoo, 10/10/07