Jordan's Furniture: Shoppertaining Its Target Market

Samuel Tatelman began selling furniture out of the back of his truck in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1918. Today, his grandsons, Eliot and Barry, sell more furniture per square foot at Jordan's Furniture than at any other furniture retailer in the country and attract record numbers of guests each week. With just four stores, Jordan's Furniture has grown from 15 employees 25 years ago to over 1,000 today. Now owned by Berkshire Hathaway, Jordan's Furniture is also in the process of a massive expansion and plans to double its number of both stores and employees in the next few years. The company has broken just about all industry standards. Inventory turns over at a rate of 13 times a year, compared with an average of 1 to 2 times a year in most furniture stores. Advertising expenditures are 2 percent, whereas the industry average is 7 percent.

Sales per square foot are $950, whereas most furniture stores average $150 in sales per square foot. When the brothers took over the business in 1973, they decided to focus their efforts on the 18- to 34-year-old market segment. While most furniture stores do not target specific customers, the Tatelmans felt that people with first homes or new families would need furniture more. To bring customers, even those not currently shopping for furniture, into the stores (particularly young families), the brothers invented what they call "shoppertainment" and created stores that were imaginative, fun, and a little Disney-like. Their "shop pertainment" concept paid off because the stores now host more than 4,000 visitors on an average weekend.

When customers walk into a Jordan's Furniture store, they might be greeted with a welcome map, be offered freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, or receive a hearty greeting from an animatronic Elvis. "We've taken furniture shopping and given it new life by making it more of a fun experience rather than this ‘God, I have to go furniture shopping' [experience]," says Tatelman. "Beantown," a re-creation of Boston made of 25 million jelly beans, stands next to an ice cream stand. Indoor fireworks and jazz music enliven a re-creation of New Orleans' famous Bourbon Street, complete with amusement rides for kids, animated characters, and snack stands. Jordan's Furniture also offers a flight simulator and trapeze lessons to adventurous customers.

A 300-seat IMAX theater brings customers in for a movie, but they leave the store by walking through showrooms of furniture. The stores are strategically laid out to make the shopping experience not only fun but also easy. Instead of arranging furniture by manufacturer, Jordan's Furniture puts all its categories together so that customers can see all the store's offerings at the same time. "If you came in looking for a bedroom set, we'll make it easy to see every bedroom set we carry," says Tatelman. The stores are also equipped with Dell workstations so that employees can quickly look up product details and pricing.

Their Sleep Lab (complete with white-coated "Sleep Technicians") offers a questionnaire that helps customers find a mattress suited for maximum personal comfort. The showrooms are also equipped with low level lighting that dims when customers lie down on a mattress. With so many families making Jordan's Furniture a weekend outing and school groups visiting the IMAX on field trips, Jordan's Furniture has expanded its product mix to include nursery and children's furniture. The playful displays of hanging basketballs and soccer balls are designed especially to appeal to young tastes. The youth department uses painted murals to create a fun atmosphere. A safari-themed room showcases bunk beds and lofts. Jordan's Furniture also has added an infants' section with soft white track lights.

Since each department at Jordan's Furniture has its own theme music to set the tone, soft lullabies can be heard in the nursery section. Because of the high volume of families visiting the stores, Jordan's Furniture nursery products have been successful based on word-of-mouth alone. By taking the focus off furniture and putting it on people, Jordan's Furniture has pulled ahead of its competitors. "A lot of people look at their business strictly from the cash register's point of view. I can stand outside and watch people leaving and coming in and see smiles on their faces. When they're walking out smiling, happy, and having a good time," says Tatelman, "I know the cash register is going to be ringing."

Questions for Discussion

1. What type of targeting strategy is Jordan's Furniture using?

2. Describe and evaluate the company's target market.

3. Discuss the positioning of Jordan's Furniture's bedding products.