How the Office Furniture Industry is Changing with Paul Holland

02/08/21 • 44 min

Paul Holland is going on 37 years in the furniture industry and he has no concerns about whether or not it will continue. The past year has definitely been rocky and numbers are certainly down, but let’s remember that 2019 was a record breaking year for many.

He’s here to chat about changes in the industry as well as how all the players in the furniture business can and will grow in the coming months.
Here’s the thing, you have to look at our industry, and really any industry, with a positive outlook. Are we down right now, yes, but that doesn’t mean that our landscape will look the same next week, next month, or next year.

So, what can you do right now to stay afloat? Paul says it’s all about adaptation and creating a wonderful experience for your current customers. (I even share a bit about why I will always be a Sewell man when it comes to purchasing vehicles, and it’s all about the experience.)

This was a fantastic episode full of hope and advice for everyone in the furniture industry from manufacturers, to dealers, to retailers and more. Listen in to learn the most important part of thriving in a turbulent market.

In this episode:

[02:12] Welcome to the show, Paul!

[02:48] Paul shares his background in the furniture industry.

[05:45] Paul discusses the recent research he has done on the industry.

[09:21] Listen as Paul shares what people in the industry need to focus on in 2021.

[12:17] Paul believes you have to look at the industry with a positive outlook.

[15:51] Growth happens when you are uncomfortable.

[19:41] Paul says the challenge for manufacturers and the dealers is how they adapt to the new environment.

[22:11] More about the changes he sees in e-commerce and digital strategies.

[27:04] What he hopes the industry will see with the distribution sector of the industry.

[31:35] Floor coverings and architectural products are outgrowing furniture.

[34:27] Retail is transforming, but that it will evolve and be about the customer experience.

[40:33] Paul speaks about finding out what the client wants.

[41:06] The future is bright in the office furniture industry.

[43:55] Thank you for being on the show!

Links and Resources:

Episode 37

BIFMA

Customer For Life: How To Turn the One-Time Buyer Into A Lifetime Customer by Carl Sewell

Connect with Paul Holland

Email

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The Trend Report introduction music is provided by Werq by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4616-werq License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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In this episode:

[02:12] Welcome to the show, Paul!

[02:48] Paul shares his background in the furniture industry.

[05:45] Paul discusses the recent research he has done on the industry.

[09:21] Listen as Paul shares what people in the industry need to focus on in 2021.

[12:17] Paul believes you have to look at the industry with a positive outlook.

[15:51] Growth happens when you are uncomfortable.

[19:41] Paul says the challenge for manufacturers and the dealers is how they adapt to the new environment.

[22:11] More about the changes he sees in e-commerce and digital strategies.

[27:04] What he hopes the industry will see with the distribution sector of the industry.

[31:35] Floor coverings and architectural products are outgrowing furniture.

[34:27] Retail is transforming, but that it will evolve and be about the customer experience.

[40:33] Paul speaks about finding out what the client wants.

[41:06] The future is bright in the office furniture industry.

[43:55] Thank you for being on the show!

Links and Resources:

Episode 37

BIFMA

Customer For Life: How To Turn the One-Time Buyer Into A Lifetime Customer by Carl Sewell

Connect with Paul Holland

Email

Connect with Sid:

The Trend Report introduction music is provided by Werq by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4616-werq License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Previous Episode

Episode 39: CEO Chat with Bruce Platzman of AIS

Next Episode

Rethink, Redesign, Repurpose with Brandi Susewitz

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Covid has certainly rocked the contract interiors industry, but something that we ALL need to be thinking about regardless of how everything rebounds is sustainability. It took the downtime that Covid offered for Brandi Susewitz to do more research on the subject but when she did she was shocked.

More than 17,000,000,000 pounds of office furniture have been dumped into U.S. landfills. In fact it makes up about 25% of all materials in a landfill with another 25% consisting of construction materials.

This is a shocking number and one that should be on the radar of every manufacturer, dealer, designer, and broker. Unfortunately however, it’s not. So Brandi set out to do something about it.

She has created the very first online marketplace where people can buy and sell used office furniture. It’s called ClearOffice and their mission is to reduce the amount of materials going into the landfill each year.

Other furniture manufacturers have done the same but the difference is the way office furniture is built versus big box and home furniture. Office furniture is built to last. That means that it’s much less likely to break down over time which keeps our landfills full and represents an untapped source of reusable materials.

Listen in to learn more about how you can become a part of the sustainability conversation and why it is increasingly becoming an important topic in our industry.

In this episode:

[03:31] Welcome to the show, Brandi!

[03:46] Brandi shares her background in the industry, meeting her husband and starting their first business together.

[07:52] She noticed that the used furniture system is broken.

[08:50] Listen as Brandi discusses what happened when COVID hit and the depression she went through.

[11:20] She took the downtime to revisit her idea of repurposing used furniture that usually ended up in a landfill.

[14:12] Her new company ClearOffice is the first online marketplace where people can buy and sell their used office furniture.

[16:25] The ClearOffice site was launched on October 5, 2020, and she immediately knew that they had something special.

[17:21] Brandi discusses how both buyers and sellers can use their website.

[22:15] Ikea has launched a used furniture division of their company to be more sustainable.

[23:12] How people can use their platform to see and design their offices with used office furniture.

[27:07] Times like this is when the greatest companies are born.

[31:04] Brandi, thank you for being on the show!

Links and Resources:

Connect with Brandi Susewitz

ClearOffice

Connect with Sid:

The Trend Report introduction music is provided by Werq by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4616-werq License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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