What do you think? From emerging trends to the latest business principles, Furniture News is setting out to gauge the trade’s feelings on a variety of industry-specific topics. Today, we’re asking our panel: What marketing term most frustrates you?
Rob King (Julian Bowen): ‘Double discount’. There is only ever the original price and the selling price
Deirdre Mc Gettrick (ufurnish.com): ‘No-one watches TV anymore’ – everyone watches video, we just watch it differently and call it something else (ie VOD)!
George Sinclair (Nimbus Beds): That one mattress suits all. You really need to be fitted to a mattress, not just order it from the TV and love it forever
Neil Barker (Barkers Furniture): ‘Awareness’ – generally an excuse for “it didn’t work, but …”
Mike Whitman (Iconography): ‘Seamless Integration’. It’s nonsense. I have never yet found an integration that works perfectly every time, and that’s if the developers doing the integration actually know what they’re doing. You’re better off just having a system that doesn’t need them!
Steve Reid (Simba Sleep): ‘Most comfortable ever’
Shane Harding (Highgrove Beds): ‘Think outside the box’ will be up there – in my opinion, most of the answers to today’s challenges can be found inside the box, utilising the skills and expertise of those around you
David Kohn (The Multichannel Expert): It’s not so much a marketing term, but ‘surely you must be able to offer a bigger discount’ is a constant annoyance
Mark Gannon (Sofa Source): The word ‘strategy’. It’s misconceived so much – people confuse goals with their strategies, without much substance
John Northwood (agent): Retail sale adverts on TV where they make outrageous claims and the public seem to always get taken in by it
Martin Seeley (MattressNextDay): Millennials … lifestyle … aspirational … OMG, I’ve nearly fallen asleep visualising agencies talking nonsense
Keiran Hewkin (Swyft Home): ‘Most sustainable xx in the world’ – you can’t prove it and you can’t quantify it, and frankly the most sustainable product is one that you never build in the first place
This article appeared in the July 2023 edition of Furniture News magazine.
