When Pia Sen moved to Boston in September, she ordered $700 worth of furniture from IKEA for her new apartment. On the appointed Saturday, the 28-year-old law clerk waited at home from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but the delivery truck didn't show up. It came on Monday — when she was back at work. Two more scheduled delivery dates came and went without the truck arriving. "I was pretty much in tears," said Sen. Three weeks after the original delivery date, her furniture finally arrived — minus a dresser.
For consumers, furniture delivery is often a Kafka-esque nightmare of endless delivery-day vigils, exorbitant fees, missing trucks and months-long waits for that popular out-of-stock sofa — even damage to walls and floors once pieces finally arrive. Indeed, consumer complaints against the industry have grown — to 14,553 complaints in 2005, up from 13,817 the year before, according to the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
But now, many companies are taking steps to address those problems and make furniture order and delivery faster and more efficient.
In January, Williams Sonoma Inc.'s Pottery Barn shrank the window of delivery waiting time from four hours to two. Companies such as Crate and Barrel and Pier 1 Imports have lowered delivery fees and launched online platforms to provide customers with immediate information on availability and shipping rates. By the end of this month, IKEA will complete a new, online ordering platform that will give users furniture availability and shipping charges immediately. (The old process had irritated a number of customers who thought they'd completed an order online but were then asked to place it again over the phone — only to face a nearly 30-minute wait on hold.) Some firms are training personnel to be courteous about little things, such as wearing cotton booties to prevent scratching floors.
More sophisticated logistics technology, like global positioning systems in trucks, is allowing stores to get items to customers' doors faster. Minneapolis-based Room and Board, for example, is testing a program that tracks trucks via GPS to more accurately let consumers know when their furniture will arrive. This month, it's starting a pilot program in the upscale Hamptons area of New York's Long Island, lining up more trucks for Saturday drop-offs and shrinking the window of waiting time from four hours to three.
Companies are also increasingly making amends when they mess up. After Sen's ordeal, IKEA refunded the cost of delivery and the overlooked dresser. (Sen ended up driving six hours round trip to the store to pick the dresser up herself.) IKEA spokeswoman Mona Astra Liss said the company is sorry for Sen's inconvenience. "In order to offer the best delivery at the best possible price, we are always evaluating our subcontractors in terms of their service and cost," says Liss.
The new flexibility and responsiveness of the industry is partly an attempt to reverse slowing sales. Amid higher energy prices and Gulf Coast hurricanes that disrupted some supply chains, the $76 billion furniture industry grew by 4 percent in 2005, compared with a nearly 8 percent jump the prior year, according to Jerry Epperson, a furniture industry analyst with Mann, Armistead & Epperson Ltd. in Richmond, Va. Veteran furniture retailers are also facing heightened competition from big box stores like Wal-Mart and Kroger, which recently ramped up their home furnishing offerings, and other nontraditional furniture sources, like eBay. "Companies have recognized that making a perfect delivery is a competitive advantage," says Dan Bolger, a Millersport, Ohio, logistics consultant to the furniture industry.
Retailers are also hoping that better delivery service will soften the blow of higher prices on some items. U.S. manufacturers are raising prices on furniture pieces because of high gasoline costs, which affects petroleum derivatives used in some upholstery padding. The industry is also facing tighter federal regulations on fireproofing, which furniture makers say could lead to price increases of $50 to $100 on sofas and chairs.
Some retailers, such as Pier 1 Imports, of Fort Worth, Texas, and Crate and Barrel, of Northbrook, Ill., offer flat fees on furniture delivery. It's a way for customers to cut costs on multiple items, but companies also hope it will encourage customers to buy more. It also changes a traditional practice that infuriates many customers: that truck delivery of small items can cost the same as that of a bigger one. (It could cost $189, for example, to deliver a $199 changing table.)
Last month, Crate and Barrel started a $69 fee for an unlimited amount of furniture in ZIP codes within 50 miles of a store or warehouse, and $229 to locations more than 100 miles out. Under the company's old system, customers could pay a $550 delivery fee for a large order. Pier 1 began offering a $100 flat fee to ZIP codes in the contiguous U.S. after launching a new e-commerce Web site in November that also shows product availability.
Other companies stress customer service. MGM Transport Corp., an East Coast delivery firm based in High Point, N.C., this year began instructing workers to always introduce themselves by name at the front door and be more flexible if a customer wants them to move a piece around the room before choosing a final spot.
Dan Kelley, who owns several Fleming Furniture stores in Kentucky, which carry brands like Thomasville and Lane, last year spent $1.5 million on a new distribution center. As a result, he says he's reduced the delivery from four to five days to close to 48 hours. Kelley said he's created a position to specifically handle customer concerns related to the delivery process.
The training made an impact on at least one customer, 56-year-old Phyllis Stovesand, who is attuned to the details of doing business after spending her career in customer service at a car dealership. When a mattress from one of Kelley's stores was dropped off at her Paducah, Ky., home, she said the delivery team didn't try to wedge their truck into her tight driveway, tearing up the lawn as other trucks had. It was raining that day, and she noticed the men were careful to wipe their feet before coming in.
"It's those little things," she said. "I was pleased."