Retail Q&A: ‘I Am Really Excited About What We Are Doing Here'

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At a Glance

Name: Moda Floors & Interiors
Location: Atlanta
Employees: 17
Showroom size: 9,000 square feet
Annual Sales: $7 million square feet
Annual Hardwood Sales: $2.45 million

WFB's Andrew Averill spoke with Dean Howell, owner of Moda Floors and Interiors in Atlanta.

What services do you offer?

We consider ourselves to be in the home fashion business, specializing in flooring, tile and window coverings. We offer sales and installation services of prefinished and unfinished hardwood products, along with sand-and-finish services. We utilize subcontractors for installation services.

Who are your customers?

Our main location is in the West Midtown area of Atlanta, where a lot of specialty homes services companies are located. Our mix there is 70 percent trades and 30 percent retail. We generally target higher-end trade work. We work with remodelers, custom home builders and designers. We also do insurance work, which covers a wide range of the end-user spectrum.

What about your second store?

Our goal in opening a second store was to flip our focus versus our first store, with 80 percent retail. Specifically, we wanted to target medium- to higher-end clients more inclined to desire a full-service experience. We hired an outside firm that used demographic data to help us select a location that would fit with our targeted clientele. We ended up opening our second store in Town Brookhaven, which is on the northeast side of Atlanta. It is an upscale live-work-play development. There is a grocery store, a Costco, movie theater and other retail, along with bars and restaurants. This showroom is 5,000 square feet.

How did you set up the new location?

We used an outside firm to help with the design and layout. I am a believer in using outside experts to bring in new ideas and fresh perspective. An increasing portion of our sales are shifting to hard surfaces, so we decided to move hard surfaces to the front of the store. In many cases we have tried to showcase larger display samples to help clients visualize their space. We incorporated LED lighting this time, too. We felt the quality was there, and we will realize significant energy savings. We are displaying some categories in terms of good, better and best, which I believe will allow us to sell more high-end goods.

How do you keep an uncluttered showroom?

The design firm put together a basic store footprint that was uncluttered. While we have added a few more displays, our basic rule is that if something is added then something needs to be removed. And of course, we walk the showroom on a daily basis to tidy up.

What type of advertising and social media do you do?

To reach consumers, we advertise in lifestyle magazines, some community newspapers and online. We do social media marketing via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, HomeTalk and Houzz, and we have a blog and e-newsletter. I use a third-party firm to handle our social media, but the staff and I are actively involved in providing content, writing articles and taking photos. To reach trade customers, we do one-on-one sales calls and join trade organizations and sponsor their events.

Is your advertising changing in the long-term?

We are converting a higher percentage to digital media. For example, we purchased a package that includes the online versions of a number of newspapers and magazines. We're able to target the clients we want to reach, like the readers of Southern Living, Architectural Digest and Fox News.

What role will social media play?

This is clearly going to continue to grow. We recently did a focus group interview with 10 affluent female clients. We received very clear feedback that they are going to sites like Houzz and Pinterest to learn about products and to view room scenes. We need to continue to grow our presence on these sites.

What are the most important items to have on a website?

You need to have inspiring photographs of your work, design tools that inspire clients and help them visualize their new space, consumer financing information and consumer reviews.

How do you get reviews from customers?

Each of our retail clients receives an email with a "close-out" packet that includes maintenance and warranty information along with a final invoice. We include a link to our review site that makes it very easy to complete a review. We utilize a third-party service that specializes in consumer reviews. Their service places the reviews on our website. I am really excited about what we are doing here.

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