Furniture Evolution or Revolution…
A World Of Pine continued to evolve and follow the demands of it’s customers... Thankfully at the ‘millennium’ we were still buying from some fantastic British manufacturers.
New furniture lines and resources heralded the creation of A World Of Furniture . Our most important British manufacturer at that time was Pinetum . A Wiltshire based company which had successfully progressed through pine furniture manufacturing in to the Oak market . Their ideas and designs were ‘cutting edge’ , contemporary and very commercial. Fantastic furniture lines , amazing point of sale and short lead times made for exciting opportunities.
With this new transition , to A World Of Furniture , came more complexity and a more detailed approach to understanding our broadening market and customer base.
With two large stores based in Salisbury and Blandford Forum the company continued to grow . But if I’d left you assuming the evolution from A World Of Pine to A World Of Furniture was seamless then you’ve been misled . The former message had been an ‘outright hit’ .. stack it high and sell it cheap ! Customers leaving with all manners of furniture ‘strapped’ to their cars and their ability to fulfill their furnishings requirements with an immediacy, was still a hit .
Slowly but surely the market altered .. China and Vietnam began undermining the UK manufacturers and more competitors stepped in to the furniture market.
I can remember explaining to a customer that when Lucy and I had first started trading we had a choice of nearly one hundred UK Pine manufacturers and as we entered the second decade of the new millennium the choice was down to less than 10 major ‘players’. The pine manufacturers were in massive decline , oak was the new pine and China was the new furniture manufacturing ‘power base’.
The first major moves towards diversification had started . The stores started the journey from ‘retail warehouses’ to ‘out of town super showrooms’. Wherever possible we sourced furniture from the UK but we became open to the notion of importing more products from Asia.
Looking back now , it’s so obvious that UK furniture manufacturing had run it course and the imports were to flood our supply chain .This ‘revolution’ brought the biggest shift in how we all operated. This shift met or merged with the internet and the world of e-commerce. The shift was ‘super charged’ !
So today we find ourselves looking at very similar ‘objectives’ to those over 25 years ago, although we have a bigger ‘tool box ‘ at our disposal .
Our team firmly believe that our huge array of furniture and accessories need to be seen and appreciated to allow our customers to make the best and most informed decisions. Customers visit the stores in Blandford , Salisbury , Southampton and Poole to experience superb furniture and amazing customer service .
From the earliest days where Lucy and I stacked our furniture in our retail warehouses to today, where we have amazing furniture superstores.
The message is the same – “Beautiful furniture , huge stocks and amazing value for money . All supported by real people offering superb service”.
