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Furniture Today’s Anne Flynn Wear forms the basis for her article about Cariloha showrooms from interview with Cariloha Executive VP of Sales, Dustin Tate, titled, “Cariloha Moves to Experiential Showrooms.” She highlighted a variety of topics discussed including interior designers as part of the staff. Furniture Today’s online piece reached 313,605 unique monthly visitors and was also included in their newsletter reaching a much larger audience.
Cariloha Moves to Experiential Showrooms
Offers Trade Program to Designers
By Anne Flynn Wear
SANDY, Utah – Cariloha, a company which features sustainable bamboo in its products, is converting all of its brick-and-mortar retail locations into experiential showrooms to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.
“Our retail locations are generally less than 1,000 square feet, and we want to encourage customers to come in and feel and touch the mattresses and bedding and then have it shipped directly to their homes,” said Dustin Tate, Cariloha executive vice president of sales. “The company name is a combination of the style of the Caribbean and the spirit of aloha and is pronounced Cari–LOW–ha.”
Tate said the conversion of the company’s 65 stores is now about 95% complete. Sales associates at the retail locations help customers order the products and they are shipped from the company’s global distribution center to homes in the U.S. and Canada. Online sales from each showroom are then attributed back to the individual retailer. Reducing shipments to retail locations will help strengthen the impact of environmental consciousness, according to the company.
Started in 2008, Cariloha relies on an earth-friendly harvesting process that takes the bamboo from plant form to product. It currently offers mattresses, sheets, pillows, quilts and duvet covers all made from bamboo. There are also two comfort bases to go along with the bedding suite.
The pandemic has forced the closure of some of the retail locations, but Tate said 28 of the 65 locations are now open. The company also has a robust website, developed before the pandemic.
“We are glad to have made the transition to omnichannel to allow customers to visit us online,” Tate said. “We have sleep experts on staff who are setting up personal appointments with customers online to help them decide which of our products best fits their needs.”
The company has some interior designers on staff to help customers to select colors and placement in the home but plans to expand the interior design knowledge of its sales staff through training.
Cariloha also offers a trade program to interior designers throughout the U.S. and Canada, which enables designers to purchase the product wholesale.
Read more from Furniture Today here.