In the 80s I was warming up to a Vic 20, then Commodore 64 and Apple IIe. But now I use a badass Dell laptop, widescreen monitor and high speed Internet connection. The 80′s are fun to look at and reminisce about but I’ve moved on.

Unfortunately, many businesses haven’t.

Take Furniture Traditions, a highly respected furniture manufacturer out of California. These guys make some high end solid wood furniture that most anyone would love to own. But they’re stuck in the 80s.

Check out this page about their Internet Sales Policy.

When I first saw this, I couldn’t believe it.  If you’ve read my open letter to manufacturers you’d see several immediate problems with their ‘policy’.

The biggest problem I have with this is that they are restricting their own dealers that want to sell online.  They put down the Internet as a big bad thing that will hurt you and steal your milk money.

You Gotta See It to Believe It

First, none of us here at the factory would ever buy bedroom furniture over the internet. Why? Furniture is a product that must be seen in person to really understand what you are getting. The quality of the wood, finish and construction must be seen and touched to understand and appreciate the purchase.

Sure, ten years ago everyone was afraid to buy things online.  Beyond just eBay scams, people were afraid that their credit card numberss were going to get stolen.  But nowadays things aren’t like they used to be.

You make a good product, right?  You are proud of what you build? And you’re a legit company, aren’t you?  Then why would you fend off a person who wants to buy your product sight-unseen?  (And in reality it’s not sight-unseen anyway. You’ve got pictures on your website.)  If you say the quality is good, and your dealer’s website says it’s good, then purchasers should have no need to “really understand what you are getting”.  Take their credit card and ship them their stuff.  End of story.

Shipping is the Devil

…any savings that you gain by buying direct would be lost because of the astronomical costs of small shipments.

Aren’t you shipping your items to your vendors around the country?  Are you shipping it to them for free? I didn’t think so.  So are you worried about the fact that you’d have items online that cost more because there would be double shipping?  If so, why not drop ship for your vendors?  What a great service that’d be.  You’d make more sales and dealers would enjoy the convenience.

We’ve Got Dealers to Help You! (but we’ve restricted what they can do)

You may think you are saving money on the internet, but your real costs will be much higher in the long term. We have a wonderful dealer network all over the country who would love to help you before, during and after the sale.

…

We have no authorized dealers selling over the internet. If you buy Furniture Traditions products over the internet, it is very possible that you are being ripped off. You may receive a copy of our line, or worse, receive nothing at all. Again, we do not permit our furniture to be sold over the internet.

Get With It

Here’s the big problem.  You’ve got this crappy policy because of your 80′s way of thinking.  You think no one would be crazy enough to buy over the Internet, yet you personally checked your bank balance online this morning.  And you’ve got a select group of dealers around the country who are dragging your company along into the 2000′s.

So you insult them with a “policy” that your Grandpa wrote.

Is the problem because you can’t control pricing if your stuff goes online? That’s easy – enforce MAPP pricing.  Is it that you think your brand will be watered down by being sold online? I got news for you – you’re either going to have to change your policy or watch your revenues fall.  A growing portion of your dealers want to be on the leading edge, and will simply drop you from their vendor list.

See, they realize that there’s an audience out there.  They’re putting their money into marketing your products. But you won’t play ball because you’re still in your 80′s coma.  And it’s time for you to come out.

I’d love to hear from someone at Furniture Traditions or any other business that won’t let their products be sold online about their point of view on this subject.