In an industry where retailers are closing their doors left and right, Kittle’s Furniture is continuing to succeed by investing in its people and brand.
The retailer added the outdoor category to two of its four stores this year, and it’s in the process of building its fifth store in Noblesville, Indiana, which will open next year.
“Even though there’s a lot of turmoil going on in our world, we have been pleased that in these last four months, traffic has held its own,” said Chris Nordhoff, corporate visual director and buyer at Kittle’s. “I am pleased to say that from January through September, the outdoor category is up 11%.”
Nordhoff credits that increase to internal investment in its sales teams, in the form of training, coaching and developing to increase the close rate. He says that these days, if you can get them in the door, you’ve got to close the sale while you can or you might lose the sale. “That’s been a focus for us, and we’re fortunate that we’re seeing the benefits of all that intense focus,” Nordhoff added.
“Half of our approach has been old school,” he said. “We’ve gone back to basics, ensuring that managers, especially sales managers, aren’t sitting there in an office during those store hours. They’re out, making sure that customers are being greeted and closed. We also still invest in visual displays and marketing. The past spring/summer at our flagship store, we repainted, got new signage and did some landscaping. If you sit still too long and stay stale, it’s going to start showing and the customers are going to stop coming.”
He says outdoor is doing better than nearly any other category the store carries besides rugs. The company brought outdoor into two new stores it opened this year in Bloomington and Lafayette, Indiana, and Nordhoff says it was a strong season despite it being the first time these showrooms had outdoor.
But because the stores all have different square footage — the company’s flagship store is 100,000 square feet, another store is 50,000 square feet and the two new ones are 25,000 square feet — Nordhoff says it became important to have the right assortment and merchandising at each store.
“I worked with our operations manager, and he helped me think of a way to show half our assortment inside and half of it outside at the entrance. That helped drive a lot of people in, even if they weren’t familiar with us having patio.”
Kittle’s keeps outdoor on the floor year-round at its flagship store because it sees many customers with second homes or those who are building new or remodeling current homes. A dedicated patio specialist at the flagship store helps design the floor plans in a way that the company can continue to do special orders.
Speaking of special orders, Nordhoff says they make up 75% of Kittle’s total outdoor business.
“We’re still known for our special-order capabilities, and that mentality has carried over into patio,” Nordhoff said. “I think that’s a big factor of our success. We use it in our marketing all the time, regardless of the category on the floor and it continues to grow for us.”
Nordhoff says Polywood continues to be the retailer’s most popular outdoor brand because it’s easy to maintain. While teak is still in, customers are increasingly turning to options that have low maintenance.
“I”m showing less and less teak and more aluminum, woven and recycled plastic collections,” he said. “Lloyd Flanders, Castelle and Jensen are helping us serve high-end customers and continue to do well at a luxury price point, but we are looking at brands that can help us serve opening price points, which is something we need to focus on.”
Kittle’s has been in business as a privately owned company since 1932, and the company isn’t slowing down any time soon. It just opened a new state-of-the-art warehouse, and it has its customer service, trucks and drivers.
Overall, Nordhoff says September ended up exceeding expectations for the company and that the company is optimistic.
“Even though traditionally, these can be slower, we are putting a lot into marketing ad display training that we think we will continue with our increases,” Nordhoff said.
