Fawad Zavary never planned on getting into the furniture business. Nearly three decades ago, his brother, Sam, opened a furniture store and asked Zavary to join him. Zavary declined. His brother, however, had other plans. He called Zavary’s boss and resigned on his behalf.
“When I showed up to work after the long weekend, my boss thought I was crazy,” Zavary, vice president of operations at Exclusive Furniture, recalled.
The brothers have worked together ever since. Today, Houston-based Exclusive Furniture operates 10 stores throughout the Greater Houston area, having grown from a single, roughly 2,500-square-foot mall location into a retailer with stores averaging 50,000 square feet.
For Zavary, bedding became an important part of that growth strategy. In the late 2010s, Exclusive Furniture generated approximately $42 million in annual sales, with approximately $4 million from the bedding category. But they wanted more.
“We were thinking, how do we grow our business, rather than opening more stores? What can we do?” Zavary said.
The goal? Double its bedding sales to $8 million and eventually have the category comprise 20% of the company’s business. Today, Exclusive Furniture has exceeded its expectations and bedding represents 23% of the company’s total business. According to Zavary, driving more bedding sales came down to two factors: education and accessories.
Although he had been in the furnishings business for twenty years by then, he admitted he didn’t know much about mattresses. So, Zavary said he became a “student of the game.” He educated himself, hired sleep specialists in the stores and, most importantly, invested in training. For two hours every Monday for the last six years, there has been an educational session. Training is usually led by Zavary or one of the retailer’s mattress specialists. Sometimes Zavary brings in vendors and outside industry professionals, including Bob Muenkel and Scott Wonder, to share their expertise.
“We talk about how we can get better every week,” Zavary said.
For Zavary, his emphasis on education reflects what he perceives as the fundamental difference between selling furniture and selling mattresses. He views furniture primarily as a fashion-driven purchase. Mattresses, however, require a deeper understanding of the customer and the role the product plays in their lives.
“Furniture and mattresses, yes, they co-exist in the same store, but it’s two different types of sales processes, it’s two different types of thinking hats, and it’s two different things for a customer to buy,” Zavary said.
Zavary added that it’s also important that retailers don’t overlook sleep accessories. In August, he said pillows, sheets and protectors were 15.9% of Exclusive’s total bedding business.
“If you’re down 15 points, those three things could be very significant in your store,” Zavary said.
Although business is good, Zavary admitted it’s a tough market right now.
“A really well-run furniture or mattress store closes less than 50%,” Zavary said. “Right now, that number is getting lower and lower. We usually run at a 35 to 36% closing rate, and in the last 18 months, that number’s dropped like two points.”
To help combat this drop, Zavary said they have updated their messaging around bedding.
“We’re not talking about just the mattress, but we’re talking about the whole sleep system: pillows, protectors, sheets and adjustable bases. When you get the customer to think of it as a whole package, I think the customer starts to really understand that they need the whole system.”
Zavary said one key to closing the deal with customers today is to make them feel like winners. One example is the high-impact sales the retailer has been running in addition to its traditional selling holidays. In August, Exclusive Furniture ran the “No No No” sales which included no sales tax, no delivery fees and no interest until 2030.
“I think the customer wants to feel like they got a deal. They already have a mattress, a bed and a sofa,” Zavary said. “In times [like these] where you don’t know if we’ll be in a war next week or everything’s going to be fine, you want to feel like you won today. I think if we all go out there and promote and make the customer feel like they won, we will get the business.”
