At a time when many independent retailers like Marshall’s Home Living of British Columbia are leery of ordering containers full of furniture that may or may not move on their floors, Bellini Modern Living’s quick-ship capabilities are proving invaluable for this and other design-focused stores that must stay ahead of trends to stand out in their marketplaces.
“The beauty of Bellini is that they have stock, and they allow you to see that stock in real time,” said Len Krueger, General Manager of Marshall’s Home Living, a high-end, design-focused furniture store in Kelowna, British Columbia, serving customers from all over Canada, and the world, who come to the resort destination to retire —a nd often fly in with their interior designer to shop. “Of course, having stock that can be delivered quickly doesn’t matter if the furniture is not on trend, and that’s why Bellini is so important to us. It is a spectacularly curated modern line that appeals to our customers and their discerning designers.”
Indeed, the retailer said, “It’s a very different dynamic when you are not just selling a customer, you are selling the designer with them, because designers are simply bombarded on social media now, and if we don’t have a store presentation that’s right on the cutting edge in terms of trends, we lose them to the internet. With Bellini, we don’t have to fill our warehouse with furniture, we can bring in one floor model, keep one in the warehouse, and because they are such a trendsetter, we can quickly sell the product and just keep re-ordering. Bellini enables us to quadruple our floor space, and that’s huge.”
This is particularly true in the dining category, where the leading distributor of modern Italian-made furniture is providing retailers with the best return-per-square-foot on their floor via its ceramic-top table program. “Retailers love our dining program because they are able to show one table on their floor and offer their customers multiple options, with three different sizes, a choice of three sculptural, interchangeable bases and a selection of ceramic tops in different colors with natural looking patterns that are easier to maintain, and more durable than natural marble and stone,” said Hossein Azimi, Chief Executive Officer, Bellini Modern Living.
Bellini Modern Living Showcases Modern Dining Style
According to Krueger, the need to be able to adjust quickly to changing tastes in the dining category was driven home when the live-edge dining table trend, all the rage in the region for the past five years, simply was no more. “Trends are a funny thing and there are so many factors driving them. We saw a huge turn toward live-edge dining tables, but as quickly as it came, and as big as it was, it just dropped off. We sell a lot of brand-new homes through our designer business, and the homes being built now are very modern. Ceramic tables are more appropriate for the style of these homes, especially when they are on trend.”
Krueger added, “There are still a lot of manufacturers struggling to keep up with reasonable delivery times in the dining arena. Thankfully, Bellini is not one of them, and that allows us to control our business, and satisfy our customers. That’s why we’re diving in deep. We bought at least six new groupings at the most recent Market in High Point, and we’re doing very well with them because our customers want to see something different. They get bored quick with what they have, and when they want to change, they want it on trend.”
