Vale-Bridgecraft has appointed furniture marketing specialist Claire Parker – formerly marketing director for Hammonds, Next Kitchens and most recently Furniture Link – to drive the marketing and unique show centre offer for the brand.
MD Stuart Chadwick comments: "Over the years we've been dedicated to creating great products out of our West Yorkshire base and, working with a first-class management team, we've remained secure during the recent difficult period and now are confident, with a further drive on marketing, we will continue to grow, creating new product and supporting retailers throughout the UK."
Claire says: "Vale-Bridgecraft is a dynamic business with an excellent reputation for service, product quality and rising brand recognition throughout the UK. Over the last few weeks, whilst getting to know the company, I've been increasingly impressed, not only by the commitment of the team and the opportunity that we have to grow the brand, but also by the completely unique show centre process that Stuart has developed.
"In the 10 stylish regional show centres we typically have 3000 sqft of display area where we can present all of our Vale and Bridgecraft product plus the extensive ranges of exclusive and designer fabric options. Our highly-experienced sales advisors are able to spend considerable time with each customer, who sometimes visit two or three times before confirming their order. Footfall is generated to these showrooms by our brand marketing which appears in the national press and Sunday supplements, plus our highly-successful sponsorship of Channel 4's Countdown programme. Our retail stockists, who hold a minimum of 10 Vale and three Bridgecraft pieces of furniture, also benefit from this advertising support, and sales created via the show centres or their own efforts.
"I believe that this process, whereby we support our retail partners with specialist show centres, dedicated staff, and a considerable marketing spend, is unique to Vale-Bridgecraft, and is hugely beneficial to furniture retailers who are unable to present our complete range in full. All orders generated by the show centres – either via customers responding to the advertising or retailer-generated enquiries – are fed to the originating retailer or, in the case of the advertising-generated response, to the retailer closest to the customer's postcode.
"Manufacturing brand and retailer working in perfect harmony, in fact! And, with the recession reducing furniture retailing space in the UK by at least a quarter in the last five years, it's a radical solution that has benefited both the brand and its stockists.
"We recognise that our show centre order procedure is different, but are delighted to report that in recent years this model, combined with our commitment to a hand-built quality manufacturing process, has proven highly successful and has led to additional orders for our independent retail partners. And, from this strong basis we'll be able to now drive harder for growth, maximising the opportunity afforded by steadily-rising consumer confidence, our increasing support for our loyal retailers and our continuing commitment to investment in marketing, brand and product development."
