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Long-standing retailer Barkers Furniture operates two stores in Hillsborough, Sheffield – one dedicated to bedroom and flooring products and the other selling upholstery, dining and casual furniture – alongside a growing website development business, explains director Neil Barker…
The three words that best describe our business are friendliness, quality and service
The last trade show I attended was Minerva Furniture and Beds Spring Show
Our most praised supplier is Cormar carpets – they are superb. Everything about their business is brilliant. Their order processing is smooth, product selection is fantastic, marketing is brilliant and delivery is second to none
Our top performing product line is probably Wiemann, it does very well for us – especially a range we call Karnack. All products in this range perform brilliantly. It’s something we’ve been running for the past 15 years and it’s stood the test of time. Weimann are excellent at updating products and colors in this range so it never seems to be out of date. This is a really reliable product range that is priced well for our market
My personal favorite is Kaimed’s Mighty Bed. I admire the way the company innovated with this product. To take foam that they used for other applications and adapt it for extra firm beds was a brilliant idea. Rock hard beds are such a big niche and this product serves that market well
Our approach to staff training is to allow as much autonomy as possible. I truly believe that experience is the best way to learn. I also believe it creates higher job satisfaction and is testament to why we have such a long-standing team here at Barkers. The vast experience of our staff then rubs off on all new hires and quickly acclimatises them to the business and industry
The most significant change we have made to the business recently is is starting to branch out into garden furniture. Since the pandemic we have seen people start to enjoy their outdoor space more and more, our data has also shown that there has been a huge increase in interest in garden furniture. So naturally we decided to offer a full range of garden seating and dining and filled a floor of one of our stores with these products
The flavor that best reflects our audience is middle market. Our customers want good quality products, but they don’t want to pay the world for them. In general, we have an audience of over 35 years. We see that many have tried budget furniture in the past – say when they first moved into their own homes – but now want quality furniture that lasts
The technology we introduced most recently is Facebook Marketplace and proved to be a useful channel to introduce our products to more local customers. In addition, we are always implementing new digital improvements in our business.
From the late 1990s to 2010 we spent around £30,000 on four different websites, but we still found that these websites didn’t work the way we needed them to for furniture, so I set out to learn to code. After I created a website for Barkers, many retailers became interested in me creating websites for them. This has since evolved into our own company, Abacus Solutions, where we offer a range of services including website development, website management and digital marketing. We currently have over 40 independent retailers with us.
Our expertise and experience in digital allowed us to implement all the improvements for Barkers in the same way as we do for the retailers we have with us at Abacus and helped us to adapt to the changing macro environment
My number one selling tip is do what you say you’re going to do. It really is that simple
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