Elaine Smith recently named Sara Smarr as its new head of sales, and Casual News Now caught up with the industry veteran to learn more about her vision for the company in her new role.
Smarr has 25 years of experience in the luxury home furnishings industry, working with companies like Janus et Cie, Baker Furniture and Stickley. She previously managed Waterworks, a high-end retail store selling luxury faucets and bathtubs. She also worked as the national sales manager for Brown Jordan and director of trade and marketing for Dedon. This experience, Smarr says, has prepared her for head of sales at Elaine Smith.
“Working in the outdoor sector for the last 15 years, I understand what retailers’ needs are,” she says. “I also understand what it’s like to manage a retail store and sell. I’ve managed a sales team before, but what’s going to be slightly different for me here at Elaine Smith is I’m going to be managing an independent rep sales team versus an internal sales team. I’m learning more about how I can support that team and what their needs are.”
Smarr comes to the company at a time of growth, as Elaine Smith has been making capital investments in technology and its back-end operations.
“We’re working on a new website, and that’s going to be really important for us and very helpful for our retail partners and rep groups to be able to provide additional tools and information while increasing the ease of ordering and overall support,” Smarr says.
While the process started before Smarr joined, she’s now able to offer input and insight to help make each process more seamless and elevate the brand’s customer experience to new heights.
The company is also in the process of launching several new initiatives, including its print and digital publications. Updates to the digital publication will offer brand-new tools to retailers, Smarr says.
“We’ve also introduced pillow packages,” she explains. “We’ve coordinated and styled two-, three- and five-pillow packages, which will make it easy for our retail partners to put together a beautifully styled pillow story for their clients. It also makes it easier for our end users to enjoy the beauty of our fabrics and colors and palettes. We’ve also started selling fabric by the yard, so if somebody is using our pillows they can also buy the fabric and use it on stools or cushions or wherever else in the room. This will provide a seamless design story.”
The company also has a new swatch program that allows people to order swatches of almost all of its fabrics and use that to help them complete their order and work on their project.
“We allow our clients to make a massive impact with a minimal investment,” Smarr says. “It’s simple to change out your pillows if you need to refresh for the season, and we offer a great value proposition there.”
She adds that consumers, regardless of what’s happening in the economy or the housing market, are committed to a seamless outdoor living experience, and that’s not going to go away. Because of this, she says Elaine Smith is in a fortunate position in the outdoor industry.
“We handcraft our pillows here in the U.S. with locally sourced materials,” Smarr says. “And therefore we are not rolling out any price increases for 2025. I think that puts us in a strong position.”
