Bedshed is powering through business right now with a newly launched ecommerce site “exceeding expectations” and a rise in franchise recruitment.
Greg Prussia, national development manager, tells Inside Franchise Business that as a result of the new ecommerce site sales are coming in across all categories, price points and stores.
“The major benefit has been the ease of which orders have come in for our franchisees. The feedback we have received has been extremely positive and has centred around them opening their store in the morning and already having orders and payment in the system leaving them to just organise delivery,” he says.
And the business is on a lift, with more interest from people looking to buy a franchise, he reports.
“Since June people’s confidence has returned and the seriously-business-minded entrepreneurs, mums and dads and those people who want to take control of their destiny have started to showing interest.
“With our record breaking May and June revenues people are realising that their time and money invested into a Bedshed franchise will produce rewards and trade strongly in any financial climate.”
The ecommerce development is the latest for a Western Australia-based business that’s been around for 40 years.
Southeast Queensland, northern New South Wales and Sydney metro are expansion targets over the next couple of years.
Looking ahead with Bedshed
Jo-Ann Hui-Miller at Inside Retail spoke to Bedshed CEO Gavin Culmsee about how the furniture retailer is managing the practical side of trading through the pandemic.
“We’re seeing strong demand right now – business is pretty good. The challenges I think that people are going to see are what they do with their overseas supplier bases. That’s a bit more challenging, especially when you can’t operate face to face.
“We take a group of 20 franchisees on overseas buying trips twice a year. They’re involved in going to factories and the selection process. They love it, and it’s great fun.
“I don’t imagine we’ll do that in September and there’ll be a lot of other retailers who will now have to work out how to manage their supply chains remotely.
“We put steps in place back in March around how to evolve our product ranges and do samplings and showings when we’re not actually there. We’ve put steps in place, but for guys who are relying on other means and working through wholesalers, that will be a lot more challenging.
“I think there are certainly some larger bulky goods retailers who have found this period really difficult and don’t have the agility of a business like ours. Trying to turn the Titanic around is always hard.
“I think a few of those guys will struggle to come out. They won’t come out stronger, so there’s an opportunity for us there in terms of market share and expansion. It might be an opportunity for us to pick up some good people as well.
“We think our business moves quite quickly, but we work really hard with franchisees in terms of alignment and consultation. During training with our franchisees, we spell out the strategy, get them on board and ask them how we should implement things.
“We get great ideas from our guys. That means we get better execution, but also better feedback and ideas – they’re the people implementing it. “