Passionate Marketing - it's not what you do but the way that you do it!

In August 2011, sofa retailer Seriously Sofas opened its doors for the first time.  Twenty months later they will be opening their new expanded shop with the UK’s first FamaLiving concept store – a partnership with Spanish independent upholstery manufacturer, Fama.

So how did this come about and what lessons can we learn?

Lesson 1. Be Innovative

Seriously Sofas is an independent retail specialist focusing on bespoke UK and customisable European upholstery.  They started working with Fama 15 months ago when they wanted to add to their European product range.  Fama products are well priced, nicely designed, colourful, flexible and different and they knew we could sell it in the UK.  They experimented with colours, fabrics, designs and customisation - something few of their other stockists had asked them to do before

Within 12 months, Fama products became some of the best selling pieces.

Lesson 2. Get Talking

Spanish upholstery manufacturer Fama is an independent owner/managed business, established in 1972.  They have developed a reputation for comfortable, stylish furniture.  Over the last two and a half years Fama have opened a number of FamaLiving concept stores across Europe and North America. 

In January, Seriously Sofas took the chance to meet up with Fama’s owners while visiting the furniture show at Birmingham’s NEC and used the opportunity to closely inspect a wider range of their products.  Despite the language differences, they were impressed by Fama's attention to service and quality and similarly, they by Seriously Sofas genuine passion for what they do. 

Lesson 3. Believe in your business

Although working at opposite ends of the furniture business (Fama a manufacturer – Seriously Sofas a retailer) it was clear that they both shared the same ethos.

Both believe that it’s not just about business – it’s more than that.  It’s about putting the customer first and only selling it if it’s right for the customer. 

Lesson 4.  Be Passionate!

Fama have chosen Seriously Sofas as their partner for their very first FamaLiving store in the UK and will be opening FamaLiving London, from their newly extended premises in Kingston, south west London, on 25^th April 2013.

  

Fama chose to work with Seriously Sofas not because they were their largest stockist, nor because they sold the most pieces for them.  They chose to work with them because they shared their ideals and their passion.

Believe in what you do, do it well, and do it with passion.  Ole!

Happy Easter - break out the BBQ

So Happy Easter!

The UK's bonus holiday (Easter, Royal Wedding & May Day) has started, with reports of extra flights leaving for supposed hotspots overseas.

But many people will be flying off to cooler climates, with pullovers a precautionary measure in Corfu and Barcelona, while T-shirt weather continues across the British Isles.

The cooler temperatures along the north Mediterranean coast will see London comfortably hotter at 24C (75F) than Barcelona at 16C and Corfu at 17C .

In the UK, roads to the coast are getting busier, with the Met Office confident that the warm, calm spell will continue well into next week.

The Highways Agency announced the suspension of roadworks at many major sites to help holiday traffic flow, although essential repairs will continue on parts of the M1 and M25. The fire-damaged stretch of the M1 between junctions one and four in London has fully reopened.

Network Rail is optimistic about smoother journeys than last Easter, with less engineering work over the holiday and an estimated 18% more trains running. There will be disruption, however, on the West Coast line in north-west England, the Great Western line and at Liverpool Street station in London, where essential repairs and modernisation need the quieter holiday period to get work done.

Holidaymakers travelling overseas this Easter are expected to top 2 million, in spite of the recession and the balmy climate in the UK, with Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris and Rome the favourite European destinations and New York topping long-haul bookings.

Meanwhile with temperatures expected to bemore than 10c higher than the National Average at this time of the year, Homebase has reported a 20% rise in BBQ sales compared with Easter last year and that it is expecting to sell enough gas to fuel 300,000 barbeques along with enough garden chairs to fill Westminster Abbey 30x over!

Enjoy!

Spanish Tourism benefits from N African disruptions..

The demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt have resulted (not suprisingly) in an increase in visitors to Spain this winter.

Sol Melia, Vice President, Sebastian Escarrer, announced that tourism in Spain has recovered due mainly to the 'woes' of it's north African competitors.

Tourism during the first quarter grew 2.4% on top of growth of 1.7% during the last quarter of 2010- three times the growth rate of the Spanish economy (0.7 %).

The main cause for the increase was the riots that occurred in Tunisia and Egypt in February and March, which saw foreign tourists choose Spain for their winter sun destination, specifically the Canary Islands .

Spain received 5.5 million tourists in the first two months of the year, representing an increase of 4.5% over the same period of 2010, according to figures provided by the Inbound Tourism Survey (Frontur) .

The UK delivered most tourists despite a decline of 5.6%, followed by Germany and France, with a fall 0.5%, and France, which showed an improvement in arrivals of 4.9%.

In February, international tourist arrivals reached 2.8 million tourists, representing an increase of 4.3% over the same month last year. This is the first growth in this month after two years of regular falls.

The Canaries have been the main destination for international tourists with 32.2% of arrivals (1.7 million tourists), representing an increase of 13.5% compared to same period in 2010.

The Balearics received between January and February, 259,525 tourists, down 2% over the same period of 2010 due to the reduced inflow of German tourists in February.

In the beach sector, domestic businesses and hoteliers have requested a summit with President Zapatero as the summer sun market has to yet recover. The chief executive of Exceltur, Jose Luis Zoreda,stated that “it takes billions of euros to renovate the product of the Spanish coast."