Futon Life Secret Shopping Survey:
How customers see your store

What is it like to be in your customer’s shoes? If you entered your own store to browse, what would you think? Would futon shopping be a pleasant or frustrating experience?

Imagine that grabbing a burger at midday was like shopping for a futon. You would be a bit dissuaded if hamburgers seemed to be included on the menu as an afterthought, on a little card clipped to the back. If a server started talking to you about the superiority of hot dogs over hamburgers, you might be deterred. You would be discouraged from considering a burger if the cook didn’t seem to know much about them or couldn’t open their wrapper.

What if shopping for a hamburger was difficult because you had to make too many choices? Imagine if you had to choose between a number of different grades of meat that ranged widely in price. You could select your roll from the standard one-inch roll to the two-inch and four-inch rolls. There might be many types of cheese in addition to bacon, mushrooms and onions offered as toppings. This could be intimidating!

Futon Life’s Secret Shopper

Shopping for a futon can likewise be difficult. I know this because I recently stepped into seventeen retail stores as a secret shopper and found that shopping for a futon can be hard work, a lot harder than ordering a hamburger. I browsed for futons at large furniture stores, mattress superstores, futon specialty shops and specialty bedding stores. Posing as a potential customer was easy, since I am the perfectly typical futon shopper- I am female, middle class, 39 years old (really!). My goal as I set about to shop for a futon sofa bed was to engage in as many shopping experiences as possible. And here is what I discovered some retailers are doing to make futon shopping easier for their customers.

Too Many Choices!

When I shopped for a futon sofa bed, I was quickly entangled in decision fatigue. While retailers may believe that more selection is better, I thought more is worse. I was simply overwhelmed by the number of choices available. To make my point, I crunched some numbers for a futon specialty store I visited.

This store displayed twenty frames on the sales floor and offered eight different mattresses. That means that there were 160 possible combinations of frames and mattresses for me to choose from. But then I had to figure in the number of cover possibilities. This store had 200 custom and ready-made covers to choose from. I multiplied the number of covers by the number of frame/mattress combinations and discovered that when choosing a futon at this shop, I am choosing from 32,000 different ensembles. Talk about decision fatigue.

I found that in futon stores, less is more. By offering me thousands of choices, my shopping experience became more demanding. It would have been easier for me, for example, if the store had pre-selected mattresses and offered me four or five reasonable choices. Choosing from twenty frames also caused overload, especially when many of the frames looked quite similar.

How much was that, again?

Futon shopping was a challenge because it was difficult to figure out how much a futon package would cost. Sales representatives at all the stores I visited could quickly rattle off prices for frames, mattresses and cover varieties. They were very familiar with these numbers and probably quoted them often. But coming in off the street, having prices thrown at me was troublesome— “That frame is 399 plus 299 for the mattress but if you want the upgrade, that adds 89 dollars and the cover is 100 though we do have custom ones for 149.” Perhaps because I am a writer, not an accountant, I had to resist the urge to fetch my calculator.
It was also frustrating because often the prices weren’t posted anywhere. Each store had a mattress cross-section display of my choices, but they weren’t labeled with prices. Sales representatives quickly named them to me, but I also quickly forgot them!

Finally, futon shopping was difficult because even during my initial browsing, some sales representatives changed their prices. “That frame is this much, but I can really get you a better price.” I also heard, “The frame is 299 and this mattress is 250 and the cover is 99 but if you buy all three, I’ll take 100 off, which is like getting the cover for free.” Where did I put that calculator? Another turn off—“This ensemble is $499 but often goes on sale for $399.”

What’s a nice futon doing in a place like this?

The low level of merchandising that I discovered in some stores baffled me. I saw futons displayed against stores’ back walls, tucked away in corners and even in the basement of a store. One salesman had to remove boxes and stray cushions from atop a futon so that I could see it. Often futons were displayed in a manner that left no room for them to be opened. I saw futons lined up like bowling alleys and displayed on a garish red and white-checkered floor.

I found it difficult to have confidence in a futon’s value, beauty and comfort when they were shown in stores that had bare walls, dusty lamps or soiled carpets. As a shopper, I would not likely buy a futon from a store that had obviously dented floor models or sagging and crooked covers. Perhaps I could have been persuaded to purchase a low-end futon at a store that overlooks its appearance. But I question whether I could have been sold a middle or high-end futon because not even these looked like quality pieces. I discovered that sloppy surroundings were able to make high-end futons look dingy. I also discovered the opposite— that even the low end product looked appealing in attractively decorated stores.

Tell Me More

I found that futon shopping was no picnic when customer service fell short. The sales representatives I encountered were generally friendly and accessible, but at times they were not sufficiently knowledgeable. Most were able to name some advantages of futons over traditional sofa beds and were able to open the futon mechanism easily. However, many were not able to name frame or mattress manufacturers or answer questions about the differences between imported and domestic frames.

Most salespeople did not offer to help distinguish why some frames were more expensive than others or which would better suit my needs. This was particularly frustrating because of the homogeneity of the products that I saw in the stores. All of the frames began looking alike. It would have been helpful to have someone point out why a certain natural-finish mission-style oak frame is a better choice than a similar looking, natural-finish mission-style oak frame.

This Is The Place

But shopping for futon furniture does not have to be so formidable. As I visited stores, I noticed how some stores made certain aspects of futon shopping easier. If I could put all of these features together in one store, here is what my ideal futon shop would be like. A store like this would not only make my day but also make a sale.

First impressions count, and it would be great if my first glimpse would be to see sharp looking futon furniture offered in a softly lit gallery. I could see groupings created with tables and other accent pieces that complement the futons well and help me picture what a futon would look like in my home. Other accessories, such as silk flower arrangements, tasteful pictures and wall hangings catch my eye and would also be for sale.

I wouldn’t have to wrestle with the pricing puzzle at my ideal store. The frames would be marked with a package price that includes the price of an eight-inch mattress. But in addition, a reasonable number of other mattresses would be available, and the prices for the frame with these other mattresses would be clearly listed on a large tag. This would make my experience more comfortable because I would not have to recall prices while browsing.

This lovely store would offer a large but manageable number of frames that vary in price point, but would all be up-to-date styles. To further assist my selection, frames could be loosely grouped according to manufacturer. For example, a nook of the futon shop could showcase frames by a regional manufacturer, and this would help me appreciate their unique features. Finally, I’d also like to see the frames loosely grouped by price.

My dream store would have an excellent selection of covers. The many ready-made covers would be current styles and made of quality fabrics. I would be pleased with any number of covers available right in the store, but there would also be a large special order selection in case I needed to match other furniture in my home.

Finally, shopping at this perfect store would be easy because it would offer a high level of customer service. In other stores, very few salespeople offered to open a futon frame without being asked, but here two futons would be opened for me. Sales representatives would be well-versed about manufacturers and the advantages of their particular products. They would be knowledgeable when I ask about the pros and cons of imported and domestic frames. Overall, I would be left with the sense that salespeople here are genuinely excited about the futons they sell, and perhaps could even let me know that they have one in their own home.

Meeting The Challenges

Futon furniture retailers need to view their stores as their customers would and recognize the tangible and intangible things that make futon shopping frustrating or motivating.
Pricing can be made more customer-friendly by relying more on ticketed prices and less on prices verbally quoted by sales representatives. You may have lots of terrific product in your store, but customers will be dissuaded if they cannot easily identify the price for futon furniture ensembles. As I have found, the experience can be exhausting and frustrating. If a customer cannot easily remember prices or calculate in her head, she can be left feeling, well, dumb. By having ensemble prices clearly listed on frames it is easier for the customer to determine a price.

Merchandising adds or detracts enormous amounts of perceived value. If a retail store is not clean, neat and attractive, merchandise will seem to be low quality. On the other hand, if futons are presented in well-appointed and accessorized settings, they will appear to be a greater value. Most customers find home decorating decisions trying and may need help envisioning a futon in their home. Help them out by setting the stage with tasteful accessories.

Servicing customers with well-trained salespeople will help take shopper’s guesswork out of futon furniture shopping. The futon category has grown and diversified. There can be an overwhelming selection to choose from, and your customers need help differentiating one frame from another and one mattress from another. Every sales representative I spoke with showed me the mattress cross-section point of sale display. This was a fine start, but there is a whole lot more that futon furniture shoppers need to know.

Futons are actually three products in one, and therefore the demands on customer service are greater than for traditional sofa beds. Instead of one choice, customers need to be steered through three choices as they select a frame, then a mattress and finally a cover. Futon furniture stores that can speak knowledgeably about all three, provide easy to understand pricing, and set futons in an appealing decor will be pleasant places for customers to shop… and buy!