Best Furniture lures savvy shoppers
Online shopping has shaken up the retail world by allowing consumers to compare prices and zero in on good deals at the touch of a button.
For many traditional stores it has been a rude awakening, while for others like The Best Furniture Shop, it has put wind in their sails.
That’s because for the past 10 years The Best Furniture Shop has embodied the online approach of giving customers the best possible price, day or night, without making customers pay for the overheads of a flashy showroom.
There is still a large bricksand-mortar store in New Brighton with a coveted range of high-quality and downright funky furniture, but the space is low cost; the Brighton Mall location was chosen for its rent advantage and even in winter the heating is turned off.
Sales are also eschewed so that anyone stopping by – in person or online – will find a bargain when it suits them, not when the store decides it’s convenient to hold a ‘‘sale’’.
The Best Furniture Shop owner Kim Booth says it was designed this way so savings could flow on to customers.
‘‘We get people coming in all the time who started by looking online, and others who buy directly through the website. It could be they saw a piece of furniture they liked somewhere, googled it and found us. We get a lot of business that way because our prices are so good.’’
The strategy is working. Last October, The Best Furniture Shop recorded its best sales month to date, topping a record set only the month before.
The store ramped up its online presence last year and now has more than 600 items listed on its website.
This includes sought-after collections like the Linea range, with customers able to browse by brand or area of their home.
Kim says a number of items may be familiar to shoppers because the store’s suppliers also supply the country’s bigname furniture chains.
‘‘We all go to the same trade shows and buy from the same manufacturers. The only thing that might be different for the customer is how much they have to pay.
‘‘We stock really cool, trendy stuff too. It’s fantastic to see people coming in from across town or out of Christchurch, telling their friends about us and then coming back later for more. Those happy customers are what we do it for.’’
The Best Furniture Shop ships items nationwide and offers Christchurch customers $50 deliveries for however much will fit in the van.
There is always a large selection of beds, including a popular range of pocket-sprung mattresses sold in a tight roll for easy transporting in the back of a car. These are ideal for holiday homes or students setting up a room, Kim says.