When economic uncertainties occur and industry challenges arise, savvy businesses focus on what they can to invest in the future of their business.
Frankford Umbrella is a prime example. Last year, the company’s retail sales were higher than they have been in years — except for 2022 when the company saw unprecedented sales increases.
As that outlier year is indicative of the majority of the industry, so is the decrease in the company’s 2023 retail sales. But that doesn’t mean the company slowed down.
The company didn’t release new collections in 2023 — just a few frame and fabric finishes. Instead, it focused on something that can help connect consumers with local retailers: its Shade Designer technology.
The online tool is accessible through the Frankford website, allowing anybody from the public to retailers, contract clients and more to design and interact with their umbrella in an immersive 3D space, using a web browser. The tech provides hundreds of products, fabrics and frames, and National Sales Manager Laura Dudley says it has been hugely successful.
“Customized shade creates happy, satisfied customers and allows for the possibility of more profit with every sale,” she says. “Our dealers’ clients get access to a back-end part of the tech that gives them a few more tools to make selling a little bit easier. We’ve seen a great increase in leads through Frankford’s website, which means everyday consumers are going to our website.”
After the customer customizes their product, those leads are then sent directly to the closest Frankford retail partner, in addition to the information Frankford collects through Shade Designer.
“Our retailers are seeing a lot of traffic coming in through the Shade Designer,” Dudley says. “It’s been fun for our retailers to see that kind of walk-in traffic, and we are seeing across the board an increase in custom orders. That’s directly tied to the Shade Designer. It allows people to get creative with their shade and make it a little more unique, and all of our customers are seeing an uptick in customer orders, which at the end of the day means more toward the bottom line.”
The company also launched a customer portal for its dealers, which is not open to the public, and this tool gives retailers access to their order information.
“They can see when it’s scheduled to ship or if it has shipped, and they’ll be able to click on that tracking number and see where it is,” Dudley explains. “They can also access live inventory so they’ll be able to check and see exactly what they have access to through our warehouses. It’s another huge tool that our retailers and our customers are just loving.”
She adds that Frankford doesn’t sell direct to consumer, and there’s a strong reasoning behind that. “Our customers really appreciate that because some of them are in competition with their manufacturing partners.”
Looking ahead to the Casual Market later this year, Frankford is releasing something brand-new on the retail side that it’s been working on for years: a cabana.
“We had to push this product back a little while because of Covid, but we’ve had customers both on the retail and the contract side asking for a cabana because more affluent customers are coming in looking for them,” Dudley says.
The Marella is a 10-by-10-foot cabana with a two-tiered canopy top. Engineered for simplified assembly, it comes with curtains to cover the frame, and it has an extruded aluminum structure, stainless-steel hardware and awning-grade fabric.
With exciting introductions and technology moving the company forward, Dudley says she’s optimistic for the year ahead.
“I talk to my reps and my retailers on a daily basis and I hear that everybody’s feeling a lot more optimistic than they were six months ago about where we would be at this time this year,” she says. “Even the people that were sort of cautious back in the fall about buying new product before selling through their inventory have already now sorted through them and they’re increasing their orders. Our pre-season orders were over what I expected for 2024. So that gives me hope going into the season. Frankford is here to be a true partner, to be flexible and responsive to needs and to what works for our clients. Their success is our success, and we are so grateful to every member of the Frankford family.”
