100 retailers in 100 days
MöbelFirst's business model thrives on personal relationships. The design furniture portal team knows each of the 500 stationary retailers that cooperate with MöbelFirst personally. Once the technical set-up has been established, the marketing runs by itself - but only almost. After all, business is still done between people - and so the two MöbelFirst founders set themselves an ambitious goal after the pandemic to capture moods and get a feel for where the shoe is currently pinching in bricks-and-mortar retail. That's why their mission over the past few months has been: "100 retailers in 100 days".
Always new discoveries on site
Since the beginning of the year, the two MöbelFirst founders have been traveling to all corners of Germany every two weeks, sometimes alone, sometimes together. About two to three furniture store visits a day are manageable, because in the end it usually takes longer when you finally sit together again after a long time and talk about more than just business. But of course, business is the main focus: "Something always comes up on site. At Möbel Meiser, for example, we learned that Minotti models are being sold off to make room for the new collection. We can now support this with all the means at our disposal on the platform. We can react immediately to such activities when we visit the furniture store, which in turn benefits our 10,000 customers," says Dennis Franken. Because with every visit station, a new batch of exhibition pieces and individual items is always added to the platform - at reduced prices and immediately available!
In work & travel mode
But how can two busy founders implement such a tour operationally? "With a lot of discipline and organization," says Christoph Ritschel. "We work in the passenger seat and in the evenings in the hotel until 10 p.m. with a laptop on our laps, as long as the Wi-Fi works," he laughs. These are busy weeks for the two managing directors, "but this is the campaign we have launched and we realize that the effort is paying off enormously."
Experiences on tour
They travel by car or train and have already covered many thousands of kilometers - and had plenty of funny experiences along the way. In Stuttgart, the two were waved out by the police once, although they were not guilty of any traffic offenses. But the good Swabians probably take a closer look at a Cologne license plate. Apart from that, the trips went smoothly, so that the odometer has now jumped over the 200,000 mark.
The mood in retail
One important observation: as fewer people than usual are visiting furniture stores at the moment, many retailers are coming up with creative ideas. Thomas Christmann in Langenberg, for example, has organized a food & lifestyle fair in his store, which has worked very well. Meiser - Home of Living completely revamped its exhibition to offer something new to its regular customers. Molitors near Düsseldorf had experts speak on the subject of "New Work". The examples show: The retailers who work with MöbelFirst are among the best and most agile furnishing experts in Germany.
The future of the roadshow
Will they go on tour every year? "Definitely - because experiencing the atmosphere on site is important. We also decided to be self-employed because we like working with people from trade and industry. You can only experience this to a limited extent by email and telephone. You can only do that live," says Christoph Ritschel. Our colleague Katharina Müller has also been to a few appointments. She works in Purchasing at MöbelFirst and therefore maintains close contact with the retail partners. "If we want to continue to grow and, above all, provide good support to all retailers, we also need new talent on the road!" says Dennis Franken. The roadshow format, which the two founders invented, is to be carried on several shoulders so that the other 100 MöbelFirst retailers can soon be visited locally.
