Abstract:

MFI, the UK’s leading furniture retailer, recognised the need to develop its trading format as a response to customer feedback and also as a response to pressure on its share of the kitchen furniture market, one of MFCs core product areas. As a test bed for new ideas, the Homeworks’ store concept was developed and tested in the UK. Homeworks primary points of difference from MFCs trading format lay in part in the simplication of pricing, and a move away from heavy price promotions, but more fundamentally lay in the adoption of a radically different store design from the traditional MFI outlet. A programme of exit interviews and observations of shoppers usage of the Homeworks outlets was undertaken in an attempt to test the value of the Homeworks experiment for MFFs core business. The results of this survey work showed clearly the power of store design to reposition the MFI proposition; through the Homeworks store format, MFI was able to reach customer segments previously unavailable to traditional MFI stores whilst maintaining its core shopper base.