Reinvented furniture powerhouse once again kicking goals
WHEN Lee Chadwick became chief executive of furniture giant Super Amart four years ago, the Queenslandbased company was struggling to cut through in a competitive sector since being sold by its founder John Van Lieshout in 2006.
The course of action, Mr Chadwick said, was to take the heritage Queensland business back to basics by streamlining suppliers, modernising stores and reinvigorating their image with consumers, resulting in a remarkable turnaround for the company.
Now rebranded as Amart Furniture, it is once again growing revenues year-onyear and has nearly doubled its profitability since 2014.
The company has also doubled its workforce to 2000 staff and expanded from 35 to 63 stores in the past four years, and is now aiming to reach 100 stores within the next three to five years.
Mr Chadwick said the turnaround took time, with the company reorientating itself to better reflect consumer demand and design trends.
“We had to rationalise our supply base,” he said.
“We had about 140-odd suppliers back then, all with little volume and no real purpose about who the end consumer was for Amart, and we are now at around 50 product partners, all of whom are excited and engaged about what it is they are providing.”
Mr Chadwick said that while the furniture market was more resistant than traditional retail to the head-
winds of online shopping, the internet still provided Amart Furniture with opportunity to compete.
“What we do know about the online sales we do have is that typically the customer has been into our stores and chatted with our team, and then gone home and purchased online,” he said.
Amart Furniture has now expanded into every state and territory, and recently signed an exclusive five-year partnership with AFL club Essendon worth $10 million, which Mr Lee said represented the maturation of the brand.
“They (customers) have recollections of the Amart that once was, that was a little bit daggy and a little bit tired and had a product which wasn’t great,” he said.
“If you come into an Amart Furniture nowadays, they’ll see a different product and a different service proposition.”
Mr Chadwick said providing the longest warranty guarantees in the market, rebranding the business around quality furniture, and beating competitors on price by 20 to 30 per cent have been key focuses over the past four years.